Integrated Transmission and Distribution (ITD) Project:
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Last Updated: 2 November 2023

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Leigh Tesfatsion
Research Professor & Professor Emerita of Economics
Courtesy Research Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering
260 Heady Hall
Iowa State University
Ames, Iowa 50011-1054
https://www2.econ.iastate.edu/tesfatsi
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Integrated T&D System

Table of Contents:

Regular Project Meeting Time/Place for ISU Participants

Weekly meetings (virtual since March 2020)

ITD Project Description

The growing penetration of diverse intermittent power resources (wind, solar, ...) in modern electric power systems at both the transmission and distribution levels has increased the uncertainty of net load as well as the frequency of strong ramp events, complicating the maintenance of net load balance. In response to these trends, power system researchers and operators are proposing new market-based initiatives intended to facilitate the reliable efficient provision of power and ancillary services from a wide array of transmission and distribution resources. The implementation of such initiatives implies tighter feedback connections between transmission and distribution level operations.

Three major premises of the ITD Project:
  1. To ensure the reliability and efficiency of future power systems, researchers need to consider with care the operation of ITD systems over time.
  2. Researchers need to develop scalable market-based approaches that permit ITD system operators to ensure the advance availability of reserve to service the just-in-time power requirements of ITD system participants as the number and diversity of these participants continues to increase.
  3. To evaluate the physical and financial feasibility of these approaches in advance of implementation, researchers need computational platforms that permit ITD systems to be modeled and studied as coherent dynamic systems with grid sizes ranging from small to realistically large, and with an appropriate degree of operational verisimilitude.

General objective of the ITD Project:

The general objective of the ITD Project is to investigate the ability of Independent Distribution System Operators (IDSOs), functioning as linkage entities for ITD systems, to facilitate the availability of reserve (physically-covered insurance) for the reduction of volumetric grid risk in ITD systems. Reserve for a future operating period T consists of the guaranteed advance availability of flexible dispatchable power-production capabilities for possible system-operator dispatch during T to service just-in-time customer power demands and grid reliability requirements.

This general project objective is in accordance with FERC Order No. 2222, titled "Participation of Distributed Energy Resource Aggregations in Markets Operated by Regional Transmission Organizations and Independent System Operators." The Final Rule for FERC Order No. 2222 was issued on September 17, 2020.

ITD Project Contributions:

A primary contribution of project participants to date is the development of several new types of bid-based and negotiation-based IDSO-managed Transactive Energy System (TES) designs for distribution-level participants in ITD systems.

Project participants have also developed new types of swing contracts facilitating the ability of IDSOs to harness ancillary services from a wide variety of TES-design participants that are then used to facilitate the reliability of ITD system operations. The payments received by the IDSOs from cleared ancillary service offers (in flexible swing-contract form) at the transmission level are passed back to the providers of these services at the distribution level, thus creating additional revenue streams for these providers.

The efficacy of these TES designs has been demonstrated by means of detailed conceptual analyses as well as test case simulations. To implement the latter, project participants have developed the ITD TES Platform V2.0, a computational platform that permits the software modeling and co-simulated implementation of ITD system operations over time. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) energy region has been used as the empirical anchor for the development of this platform.

As indicated below, conceptual and test-case work carried out to date by project participants has been reported in a Wiley/IEEE Press book, journal articles, book chapters, and professional presentations. In addition, the key components comprising the co-simulation ITD TES Platform V2.0 have been released as documented open-source software at GitHub code/data repositories.

ITD Project Participants (Alphabetical Order)

Swathi Battula (Assistant Prof., EE Dept., IIT Kanpur; ISU ECpE PhD 2021), Jan 2017 - present.

Subhonmesh Bose (Associate Prof., ECpE, U of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), July 2019 - June 2021.

Rui Cheng (Assistant Prof., North China Electric Power University, Beijing, ISU ECpE PhD 2023), Aug 2019 - present.

Shanshan Ma (Principal Engineer, Quanta Technology, LLC, ISU ECpE PhD 2019), Jan 2017 - Dec 2019.

Mariola Ndrio (PSERC Project GRA, U of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, UIUC PhD 2021), July 2019 - June 2021.

Hieu Trung Nguyen (Assistant Prof., North Carolina A&T State U., ISU Post-Doc 2017-2018), May 2017 - Aug 2018.

Rohit Reddy Takkala (Research Analyst, Centre for Social and Economic Progress, New Delhi; ISU ECpE MS 2018), Sept 2017 - June 2018; Aug 2023 - present.

Leigh Tesfatsion (Professor Emerita of Economics, Courtesy Research Professor of ECpE, 375 Heady Hall, ISU), Aug 2015 - present.

Auswin George Thomas (Senior Market Validation and Quality Analyst, CAISO, ISU MS 2012) Aug 2015 - Dec 2017.

Jianhui Wang (Professor of Engineering, Southern Methodist University), Jan 2017 - Sept 2020.

Zhaoyu Wang (Northrup Grumman Endowed Associate Professor of ECpE, 1113 Coover Hall, ISU), Aug 2015 - present.

Anna Winnicki (PSERC Project GRA, U of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), July 2019 - June 2021.

Contract & Grant Support for ISU Participants

Colciencias Programa 852
Sponsor: Colciencias, Modalidad Programas
Title: "Valuing Variability in the Colombian Electricity Market"
External Expert Advisor: Leigh Tesfatsion
Start Date of Award: March 2020
End Date of Award: February 2023

PSERC Project #M-40
Sponsor: Power Systems Engineering Research Center (PSERC)
Title: "Market and Control Mechanisms Enabling Flexible Service Provision by Grid-Edge Resources within End-to-End Power Systems"
PI: Leigh Tesfatsion (ISU)
Co-PI: Zhaoyu Wang (ISU)
Co-PI: Subhonmesh Bose (UI)
Start Date of Award: July 2019
End-Date of Award: August 2021

DOE Project
Sponsor: Office of Electricity (OE), U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)
Title: "Flexible Service Contracting for Risk Management within Integrated Transmission and Distribution Systems"
PI: Zhaoyu Wang
Co-PI: Leigh Tesfatsion
Co-PI: Jianhui Wang
Start Date of Award: January 1, 2017
End-Date of Award: September 30, 2020

PNNL Project
Sponsor: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)
Title: "Regional Scale Transactive System Study in the ERCOT Region of Texas"
PI: Leigh Tesfatsion
Co-PI: Zhaoyu Wang
Collaborators: PNNL Team
Start Date of Contract: March 19, 2018
End Date of Contract: July 31, 2019

PNNL Project
Sponsor: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)
Title: "Development of an Integrated Transmission and Distribution Test System to Evaluate Transactive Energy Systems"
PI: Leigh Tesfatsion
Co-PI: Zhaoyu Wang
Collaborators: PNNL Team
Start Date of Contract: April 1, 2017
End Date of Contract: July 31, 2019

EPRC Project
Sponsor: Electric Power Reseach Center (EPRC)
Title: "Integrated Distribution and Transmission Effects of Demand-Response Initiatives"
PI: Leigh Tesfatsion
Start Date of Award: August 1, 2015
End Date of Award: July 31, 2016

Project-Related Publications by ISU Participants (Chronological Order)

Book:

Leigh Tesfatsion (2021), A New Swing-Contract Design for Wholesale Power Markets, 20 Chapters, 288pp., John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (IEEE Press Series on Power Engineering), Hoboken, NJ, USA. (BookReview), (Presentation,SlideSet pdf), (Wiley/IEEEPressBookFlyer)

Journal Articles and Book Chapters:

Rui Cheng, Leigh Tesfatsion, and Zhaoyu Wang (2023), "A Consensus-Based Transactive Energy Design for Unbalanced Distribution Networks" (IEEEPreprint,pdf,2.5MB), (SlideSet,pdf,2.7KB), IEEE Transactions on Power Systems 38(1), January, 114-128.

Swathi Battula, Leigh Tesfatsion, and Zhaoyu Wang (2020), "A Customer-Centric Approach to Bid-Based Transactive Energy System Design" (IEEEPreprint,pdf,1.2MB), (SlideSet,pdf,3.8MB), IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid 11(6), 4996-5008. DOI: 10.1109/TSG.2020.3008611

Swathi Battula, Leigh Tesfatsion, and Thomas E. McDermott (2020), "An ERCOT Test System for Market Design Studies" (WPPreprint,3.4MB), Applied Energy, Vol. 275, October, 115182. DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2020.115182

Shanshan Ma, Zhaoyu Wang, and Leigh Tesfatsion (2019), "Swing Contracts with Dynamic Reserves for Flexible Service Management" (IEEEPreprint,1.4MB,pdf), IEEE Transactions on Power Systems 34(5), 4024-4037. DOI: 10.1109/TPWRS.2018.2831924

Hieu T. Nguyen, Swathi Battula, Rohit Reddy Takkala, Zhaoyu Wang, and Leigh Tesfatsion (2019), "An Integrated Transmission and Distribution Test System for Evaluation of Transactive Energy Designs" (AEPreprint,pdf,1.9MB), Applied Energy, Volume 240, 666-679.

Tianguang Lu, Zhaoyu Wang, Jianhui Wang, Qian Ai, and Chong Wang (2019), "A Data-Driven Stackelberg Market Strategy for Demand Response-Enabled Distribution Systems" (IEEEXplore), IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid 10(3), May, 2345-2357.

Auswin G. Thomas and Leigh Tesfatsion (2018), "Braided Cobwebs: Cautionary Tales for Dynamic Pricing in Retail Electric Power Markets" (IEEEPreprint,546KB,pdf), IEEE Transactions on Power Systems 33(6), 6870-6882. DOI: 10.1109/TPWRS.2018.2832471

Leigh Tesfatsion (2018), "Electric Power Markets in Transition: Agent-Based Modeling Tools for Transactive Energy Support" (ScienceDirect), Chapter 13 (pp. 715-766) in Cars Hommes and Blake LeBaron (Eds.), Handbook of Computational Economics 4: Heterogeneous Agent Models, Handbooks in Economics Series, North Holland (Elsevier), Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Wanning Li and Leigh Tesfatsion (2018), "A Swing-Contract Market Design for Flexible Service Provision in Electric Power Systems" (WP,pdf,463KB), (SlideSet,pdf,694KB), Chapter 5 (pp. 105-127) in: Sean Meyn, Tariq Samad, Ian Hiskens, and Jakob Stoustrup (Eds.), Energy Markets and Responsive Grids: Modelling, Control, and Optimization, The IMA Volumes in Mathematics and its Applications Series, Springer.

Leigh Tesfatsion (2017), "Modeling Economic Systems as Locally-Constructive Sequential Games" (Preprint,pdf,654KB), (Slides,pdf,1MB), Journal of Economic Methodology 24(4), 384-409.

Dheepak Krishnamurthy, Wanning Li, and Leigh Tesfatsion (2016), "An 8-Zone Test System based on ISO New England Data: Development and Application" (pdf,642KB), IEEE Transactions on Power Systems 31(1), January, 234-246.

Zhaoyu Wang and Yanyi He (2016), "Two-stage Optimal Demand Response with Battery Energy Storage Systems", IET Generation, Transmission and Distribution 10(5), April, 1286-1293.

Deung-Yong Heo and Leigh Tesfatsion (2015), "Facilitating Appropriate Compensation of Electric Energy and Reserve through Standardized Contracts with Swing" (Preprint,pdf,902KB), Journal of Energy Markets 8(4), December, 93-121.

Zhaoyu Wang, Bokan Chen, Jianhui Wang, and Miroslav Begovic (2015) "Stochastic DG Placement for Conservation Voltage Reduction based on Multiple Replications Procedure", IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery 30(3), June, 1039-1047.

Zhaoyu Wang, Bokan Chen, Jianhui Wang, Miroslav Begovic, and Chen Chen (2015), "Coordinated Energy Management of Networked Microgrids in Distribution Systems", IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid 6(1), January, 45-53.

Project-Related Reports by ISU Participants (Chronological Order)

Leigh Tesfatsion (2023), "Locational Marginal Pricing: When and Why Not?" (WP,pdf,394KB), Economics Working Paper #23003, ISU Digital Repository, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, Original Posting: July 2023.

Leigh Tesfatsion (2023), "Economics of Grid-Supported Electric Power Markets: A Fundamental Reconsideration" (pdf,1MB), Supporting Document (Attachment A) for Comments (Assession #20230117-5051) e-filed (17 January 2023) for FERC Order Directing Reports (Modernizing Wholesale Electricity Market Design), Docket #AD21-10-000, U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Issued 21 April 2022.

Leigh Tesfatsion, Zhaoyu Wang, and Subhonmesh Bose (2021), "Market and Control Mechanisms Enabling Flexible Service Provision by Grid-Edge Resources within End-to-End Power Systems" (pdf,4.3MB) , Final Project Report M-#40, Power Systems Engineering Research Center (PSERC) Publication 21-12, October.

Rui Cheng, Leigh Tesfatsion, and Zhaoyu Wang (2021), "A Multiperiod Consensus-Based Transactive Energy System for Unbalanced Distribution Networks" (pdf,1.1MB), WP #21005, Economics Working Papers, ISU Digital Repository, Iowa State University, Ames, IA. (Shortened revised version published in the IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, 2022)

Swathi Battula (2021), Transactive Energy System Design for Integrated Transmission and Distribution Systems (pdf,6.3MB), PhD Dissertation, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Iowa State University, Ames, IA.

Leigh Tesfatsion and Swathi Battula (2020), "Analytical SCUC/SCED Optimization Formulation for AMES V5.0" (pdf,1.7MB), WP #20014, Economics Working Paper Series, ISU Digital Repository, Iowa State University, Ames, IA.

Leigh Tesfatsion and Swathi Battula (2020), "Notes on the GridLAB-D Household Equivalent Thermal Parameter Model" (pdf,819KB), WP #19001, Economics Working Paper Series, ISU DIgital Repository, Iowa State University, Ames, IA.

Swathi Battula, Leigh Tesfatsion, and Zhaoyu Wang (2019), "A Transactive Energy Approach to Distribution System Design: Household Formulation" (pdf,1.7MB), WP #19010, Economics Working Paper Series, ISU Digital Repository, Iowa State University, Ames, IA. (Shortened revised version published in the IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid, 2020.)

Hieu Trung Nguyen, Swathi Battula, Rohit Reddy Takkala, Zhaouyu Wang, and Leigh Tesfatsion (2018). "Transactive Energy Design for Integrated Transmission and Distribution Systems" (pdf,1.4MB), WP #18004, Economics Working Paper Series, ISU Digital Repository, Iowa State University, Ames, IA. (Shortened revised version published in Applied Energy, 2019.)

Wanning Li and Leigh Tesfatsion (2017), "An 8-Zone ISO-NE Test System with Physically-Based Wind Power" (pdf,870KB) WP #17017, Economics Working Paper Series, ISU Digital Repository, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa.

Leigh S. Tesfatsion, César A. Silva-Monroy, Verne W. Loose, James F. Ellison, Ryan T. Elliott, Raymond H. Byrne, and Ross T. Guttromson (2013), "New Wholesale Power Market Design Using Linked Forward Markets: A Study for the DOE Energy Storage Systems Program" (pdf,1.4MB), Sandia National Laboratories Report, SAND2013-2789, Unlimited Release, April.

Project-Related Presentations by ISU Participants (Chronological Order)

Leigh Tesfatsion (2023), "Economics of Grid-Supported Electric Power Markets: A Fundamental Reconsideration" (HandOut,pdf), (SlideSetShort,pdf,985KB), (YouTube,Day 2,7:34:00), Virtual (Zoom) Presentation to the FERC Technical Conference 2023, Docket No. AD10-12-014 (Increasing Real-Time and Day-Ahead Market Planning Efficiency Through Improved Software), Washington, D.C., June 27-29.

Leigh Tesfatsion (2023), "Economics of Grid-Supported Electric Power Markets: A Fundamental Reconsideration" (SlideSet,pdf,985KB), (HandOut,pdf,205KB), Virtual (Zoom) ECpE Power Seminar, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, April 18.

Leigh Tesfatsion (2023), "Economics of Grid-Supported Electric Power Markets: A Fundamental Reconsideration" (SlideSetLatest,pdf), (HandOutLatest,pdf), Virtual (WebEx) Presentation: Part II, Monitoring Analytics (PJM Independent Market Monitor), March 1.

Leigh Tesfatsion (2023), "Economics of Grid-Supported Electric Power Markets: A Fundamental Reconsideration" (SlideSetLatest,pdf), (HandOutLatest,pdf ), Virtual (WebEx) Presentation: Part I, at Monitoring Analytics (PJM Independent Market Monitor), Feb 15.

Leigh Tesfatsion (2023), "E-Filed Comments and Supporting Document" (EFiledComments,pdf,1.4MB), (FERCStaffMeeting,SlideSet,pdf,1MB), U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), Docket AD21-10-000, "Modernizing Wholesale Electric Power Market Design," E-Filed: 14 January 2023; Virtual FERC Staff Meeting: January 30.

Leigh Tesfatsion (2022), "Economics of Grid-Supported Electric Power Markets: A Fundamental Reconsideration" (WP,pdf,1.1MB), Virtual Presentation, Transactive Energy Theory Workshops 2022, Sponsored by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Dec. 6-7.

Leigh Tesfatsion (2022), "U.S. RTO/ISO-Managed Wholesale Power Markets: A Fundamental Reconsideration" [ (SlideSet,pdf,990KB), (KeyPoints,pdf,207KB), Virtual Presentation, Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Oct. 5.

Rui Cheng (presenter), Leigh Tesfatsion, and Zhaoyu Wang (2022), "Consensus-Based Transactive Design for Unbalanced Distribution Networks" (SlideSet,pdf,2.7KB), IEEE Power and Energy Society General Meeting, Denver, Colorado, July 17-21.

Leigh Tesfatsion (2022), "Transitioning to Linked Swing-Contract Wholesale Power Markets for Net-Zero 2050" (SlideSet,pdf,1.3MB), FERC Technical Conference 2022 (Virtual): Increasing Real-Time and Day-Ahead Market Efficiency through Improved Software, U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Washington, D.C., June 21-23.

Leigh Tesfatsion (2022), "A Next-Generation Analytical Approach to Policy Design: Complete Agent-Based Modeling (c-ABM)" (SlideSet,pdf,346KB), Next Generation Analytical Approaches to Policy, Virtual Roundtable, Organized by the NYU School of Global Public Health, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development OECD), and New Approaches to Economic Challenges (NAEC), April 12.

Leigh Tesfatsion (2021), "Agent-Based Platforms for Electric Power Systems", IEEE Power and Energy Society General Meeting (Virtual), July 26-29.

Leigh Tesfatsion (2021), "A New Swing-Contract Design for Wholesale Power Markets", FERC Technical Conference on Increasing Real-Time and Day-Ahead Market Efficiency Through Improved Software (Virtual), U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Washington, D.C., June 22-24.

Leigh Tesfatsion (2021), "A Multiperiod Consensus-Based Transactive Energy System for Unbalanced Distribution Networks" (SlideSet,pdf,1.8MB), PI Project Presentations, PSERC Industrial Advisors Board (IAB) Meeting (Virtual), Power Systems Engineering Research Center (PSERC), May 12-14.

Rui Cheng (2021), "A Multiperiod Consensus-Based Transactive Energy System for Unbalanced Distribution Networks" (SlideSet,pdf,1.7MB), PSERC 2021 Student Poster Competition (Virtual), Power Systems Engineering Research Center (PSERC), April 8.

Swathi Battula (2021), "TES Design for ITD Systems" (SlideSet,pdf,3.8MB), Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECpE), ISU, February 1.

Leigh Tesfatsion (2020), "A New Swing-Contract Design for Wholesale Power Markets", Research Seminar (Virtual), ARPA-E/I-CPIE event, sponsored by Lehigh University, December 17.

Leigh Tesfatsion (2020), "A New Swing-Contract Design for Wholesale Power Markets", sponsored by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), September 18.

Rui Cheng (presenter), Leigh Tesfatsion, and Zhaoyu Wang (2020), "Multi-Period Consensus-Based Transactive Control in an Unbalanced Distribution Network", Transactive Energy Systems Theory Workshop (Virtual), Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), September 17.

Leigh Tesfatsion (2019), "Flexible Service Contracting for Risk Management within Integrated Transmission and Distribution Systems", DOE/OE Transmission Reliability, Reliability & Market Program Peer Review Meeting, Sphinx on K, Washington, D.C., June 11.

Leigh Tesfatsion (2018), "Market and Control Mechanisms Enabling Flexible Service Provision by Grid-Edge Resources within End-to-End Power Systems", Power Systems Engineering Research Center (PSERC) IAB Meeting, UC Berkeley, Dec 5-7.

Leigh Tesfatsion (2018), Keynote Address: "Agent-Based Modeling Support for Institutional Design", CSS 2018, The Computational Social Science Society of the Americas, Santa Fe, New Mexico, Oct 25-28.

Shanshan Ma (presenter), Zhaoyu Wang, and Leigh Tesfatsion (2018), "Swing Contracts with Dynamic Reserves for Flexible Service Management", IEEE Power & Energy Society General Meeting (GM 2018), Portland, OR, Aug 5-9.

Leigh Tesfatsion (2018), "Theory Development Through Agent-Based Modeling" (webinar), Symposium I: State of the Art & Epistemological Perspectives on Theory Development Through Agent-Based Modeling, Hannover, Germany, July 4-6.

Leigh Tesfatsion (2018), "Swing Contract Transactive Energy System Designs for End-to-End Power Systems", Hybrid Economic-Control Theory Workshop, MIT, Cambridge, MA, June 11, 2018.

Zhaoyu Wang (2018), "Agent-Based Modeling for Integrated Transmission and Distribution Test Systems", 2018 IEEE PES T&D Conference and Exposition, Denver, CO, April 16-19.

Leigh Tesfatsion (2018), "Electric Power Markets in Transition: Agent-Based Modeling Tools for Transactive Energy Support" Invited Talk (via Skype), Invenia Labs, Cambridge, UK, March 22.

Zhaoyu Wang (2018), "Integrated Transmission and Distribution Test Beds", Invited Talk, University of Bath, Bath, UK, January 16.

Leigh Tesfatsion (2017), "Modeling Coupled Natural and Human Systems as Locally-Constructive Sequential Games", Invited Talk (Skype), ABM Seminar, University of Minnesota, Mpls., November 8.

Zhaoyu Wang (2017), "Integrated Wholesale and Retail Power System Testbeds", Invited Talk, Springfield City Utilities, Springfield, MO, October 19, 2017.

ITD Project Team via Skype (2017), "Transactive Energy System Designs for End-to-End Power Systems with Massively Distributed Energy Resources", PNNL TESP Workshop, Richland, WA, October 16.

Leigh Tesfatsion (2017), "Agent-Based Modeling Tools for Electric Power Market Design: Implications for Macro/Financial Policy", Heterogeneous Agents and Agent-Based Modeling: The Intersection of Policy and Research, Joint Conference of the Office of Financial Research (U.S. Treasury), Brandeis University, and the Bank of England, held at U.S. Treasury, Washington, D.C., September 21-22.

Leigh Tesfatsion (2017), "Electric Power Markets in Transition: Agent-Based Modeling Tools for Transactive Energy Support" (via Skype), Amsterdam Business School, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, June 1.

Zhaoyu Wang (2017), "DOE Project Research Summary", Electric Power Research Center IAB Meeting, Iowa State University, May 14.

Leigh Tesfatsion (2017), "Modeling Economic Systems as Locally Constructive Sequential Games", Social Behavioral Modeling and Simulation Workshop, Sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA), RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, CA, April 3-4.

Leigh Tesfatsion (2016), "Economic Systems as Constructively Rational Games: Oh, the Places We Could Go!", International Congress on Agent Computing, George Mason University, Nov 29-30.

Leigh Tesfatsion (2016), Keynote Address, "Economic Systems as Constructively Rational Games: Oh, the Places We Could Go!", Economics in the Era of Natural Computation and Big Data, Duke Forest Conference, Durham, NC, Nov. 11-13.

Auswin G. Thomas (presenter) and Leigh Tesfatsion (2016), "Using Test Systems to Explore Integrated Transmission and Distribution System Operations with SmartGrid Functionality: A Demand- Response Illustration", IEEE PES General Meeting, Boston, MA, July 17-21.

Wanning Li (presenter) and Leigh Tesfatsion (2016), "Market Provision of Flexible Energy/Reserve Contracts: Optimization Formulation", Proceedings, IEEE PES General Meeting, Boston, MA, July 17-25, 2016.

Wanning Li and Leigh Tesfatsion (presenter) (2016) "Market Provision of Flexible Energy/Reserve Contracts", FERC Technical Conference, Washington, D.C., June 27-29.

Leigh Tesfatsion (2016), "Facilitating Flexible Service Provision in Electric Power Markets via Swing Contracting", Control at Large Scales: Energy Markets and Responsive Grids, Institute for Mathematics and its Applications (IMA), Mpls, May 9-13.

Steve Widergren, Koen Kok, and Leigh Tesfatsion (2016), "Transactive Energy Systems", Webinar, IEEE SmartGrid, March 10.

Koen Kok, Steve Widergren, and Leigh Tesfatsion (2015), "Intelligent Systems Support for Transactive Energy Systems: The Fundamentals", Half-Day Tutorial, IEEE Power and Energy Society General Meeting, Denver, CO, July 26-30.

Leigh Tesfatsion (presenter) and Deung-Yong Heo (2015), "Facilitating Appropriate Compensation of Electric Energy and Reserve Through Standardized Contracts with Swing", Panel Session: Effects of Contract Design on Electricity Market Performance with Increased Penetration of Distributed Energy Resources and Variable Generation, IEEE Power and Energy Society General Meeting, Denver, CO, July 26-30.

Auswin G. Thomas (presenter) and Leigh Tesfatsion (2015), "Integrated Transmission and Distribution Effects of Demand-Side Participation", Panel Session: Wholesale and Retail Market Interaction Requirements for Effective Demand-Side Participation, IEEE Power and Energy Society Meeting, Denver, CO, July 26-30.

Project-Related Software Developed by ISU Participants

ITD TES Platform V2 (open-source, co-simulation platform, Java/Python/C++/C): Released 8/2021.

The ITD TES Platform V2 (GitHub Repository) is a co-simulated platform developed by Swathi Battula and Leigh Tesfatsion at Iowa State University, with support from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). It permits the modeling and implementation of an Integrated Transmission and Distribution (ITD) system operating over successive days. It has specifically been developed to facilitate performance testing of bid-based Transactive Energy System (TES) designs proposed for implementation within ITD systems. The current default transmission component of the ITD TES Platform V2.0 is the ERCOT Test System, implemented in part by means of AMES V5.0; see below.

ITD Project/Household Formulation (open source, Python): Released 10/2020.

The ITD Project/Household Formulation (GitHub Repository) provides Python code/data in support of the household modeling used in S. Battula, L. Tesfatsion, and Z. Wang (2020), "A Customer-Centric Approach to Bid-Based Transactive Energy System Design," IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid 11(6), 4996-5008.

AMES V5.0 (open source, Java/Python): Released 8/7/2020

AMES V5.0 (GitHub Repository): Version 5.0 of AMES (Agent-Based Modeling of Electricity Systems) is an open source agent-based computational platform capturing salient features of U.S. RTO/ISO-managed wholesale power markets operating over high-voltage transmission grids during successive days, with grid congestion handled by Locational Marginal Pricing (LMP). AMES V5.0 was developed by Swathi Battula and Leigh Tesfatsion at Iowa State University, with support from researchers at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (Tom McDermott, Mitch Pelton, Qiuhua Huang, and Sarmad Hanif). AMES V5.0 consolidates features from previous AMES versions and continues the main developments in these previous versions.

AMES V5.0 supports the submission of supply offers and demand bids (in both fixed and price-sensitive form) into daily DAM SCUC/SCED and RTM SCED optimizations formulated as Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) problems with a comprehensive set of system constraints. It permits continual updating of initial state conditions to permit market operations to run over successive days. The package includes an 8-bus test case based on data, operations, and market timing for the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) energy region.

In addition, AMES V5.0 is integrated with a high-level simulation framework that permits it to function as a software component within larger systems, such as multiple seamed energy regions or integrated transmission and distribution systems.

ERCOT Test System (open source, Java/Python, implemented in part by AMES V5.0): Released 8/7/2020

The ERCOT Test System (GitHub Repository) was developed by Swathi Battula and Leigh Tesfatsion (at Iowa State University) and Thomas E. McDermott (at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory).

In default mode, the ERCOT Test System models ISO-managed day-ahead and real-time markets in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) energy region operating over a high-voltage transmission grid during successive days, with grid congestion handled by Locational Marginal Pricing (LMP). Market participants include dispatchable generators, load-serving entities, and/or non-dispatchable generation such as unfirmed wind and solar power. The transmission grid is constructed by means of a synthetic grid construction method developed by Tom Overbye and collaborators, which is included in the download of the ERCOT Test System package.

Users can configure a broad variety of parameters to study basic ERCOT market and grid features under alternative system conditions. Users can also easily extend the test system's Java/Python software classes to study modified or newly envisioned market and grid features.

In addition, the test system is integrated with a high-level simulation framework that permits it to function as a software component within larger systems, such as multiple seamed energy regions or integrated transmission and distribution systems.

A detailed description of the ERCOT Test System, together with illustrative 8-bus and 200-bus ERCOT test cases, can be found in the following paper:

Eight Zone ISO-NE Test System (open source, Java/Python, implemented in part by AMES V4.0): Released 11/30/2015

The 8-Zone ISO-NE Test System, based on ISO New England data and characteristics, was developed by Dheepak Krishnamurthy, Wanning Li, and Leigh Tesfatsion at Iowa State University. Code for the test system and illustrative test cases can be accessed at the 8-Zone ISO-NE Test System Repository.

A detailed description of the 8-Zone ISO-NE Test System, together with illustrative applications, can be found in the following two papers:

Online Background Materials

Software:

GridLAB-D: Electric Energy Distribution Platform (open source, C++/C)

GridLAB-D is a distribution system simulation platform developed by researchers at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in Richland, Washington. PNNL maintains a GridLAB-D Site at SourceForge.

See: David P. Chassin, Jason C. Fuller, and Ned Djilali, GridLAB-D: An Agent-Based Simulation Framework for Smart Grids (pdf,2.9M), Journal of Applied Mathematics, Vol 2014, Article ID 492320.

Articles and Reports:

Tony Clark and Vincent Duane, "When is a MWh not a MWh?" (html), RTO Insider, February 8, 2023.
Abstract: In current U.S. RTO/ISO-managed wholesale power markets, amounts of energy (MWh) scheduled for delivery at designated grid locations b during designated future operating periods T are settled by means of Locational Marginal Pricing (LMP); that is, by the demand=supply determination of a uniform per-unit energy price LMP(b,T) ($/MWh). Clark and Duane question whether LMP will still work for these markets as they become increasingly reliant on intermittent (weather-dependent) power resources with near-zero fuel costs, such as wind and PV solar power.
    Author Contact Info: Tony Clark, Senior Advisor, Wilkinson Barker Knauer LLP, tclark@wbklaw.com; Vincent Duane, Principal, Copper Monarch LLC, vincentduane@coppermonarch.com

NERC, Distributed Energy Resources: Connection Modeling and Reliability Considerations (pdf,1.8MB), North American Electric Reliability (NERC) Corporation Report, Atlanta, Georgia, February 2017.

NAS, Analytic Research Foundations for the Next-Generation Electric Grid (pdf,9.3MB), National Academies of Science, The National Academies Press, Washington, D.C., 2016.

Philipp Ringler, Dogan Keles, and Wolf Fichtner, "Agent-Based Modelling and Simulation of Smart Electricity Grids and Markets - a Literature Review" (DOI Link), Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 57 (2016), 205-2015.

Maria Lorena Tuballa and Michael Lochinvar Abundo, "A Review of the Development of Smart Grid Technologies" (DOI Link), Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 59 (2016), 710-723.

Websites:

General Resources on Electricity Restructuring

Agent-Based Computational Electricity Market Research

EE/Econ 458: Economic Systems for Electric Power Planning
Note: This power economics course has been designed for long-distance access. All lecture notes and assigned readings are posted on-line.

Open-Source Software for Electricity Market Research, Teaching, and Training

MISO: Midcontinent ISO Homepage

ISO-NE: ISO New England Homepage

PJM Homepage

NY-ISO: New York ISO Homepage

CAISO: California ISO Homepage

ERCOT: Electric Reliability Council of Texas Homepage

SPP: Southwest Power Pool Homepage

The Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) maintains a MISO Dynamic LMP Contour Map for day-ahead and real-time LMPs (refreshed every five minutes), accompanied by information in chart and tabular form.

The New England Independent System Operator (ISO-NE) maintains a ISO-NE Dynamic LMP Contour Maps for day-ahead and real-time LMPs (refreshed every five minutes), accompanied by information in chart and tabular form.

The New York Independent System Operator (NYISO) maintains an NYISO Real-Time Dashboard that includes contour maps for day-ahead and real-time LMPs (refreshed every five minutes), accompanied by information in chart and tabular form.

The Southwest Power Pool (SPP) maintains an SPP Price Contour Map that includes contour maps for day-ahead and real-time LMPs (refreshed every five minutes), accompanied by information in chart and tabular form.