Bidding behavior analysis of generating companies in Iran´s electricity market

Modeling and analyzing behavior of market participants is a crucial task towards optimized design and operation of electricity markets. In this paper, we study bidding behavior of generating units in Iran´s electricity market using publicly available data such as hourly demand, weighted average price and bids of generator units. Structure of power market in Iran allows each generator to bid its capacity in several steps/blocks. First, this paper analyzes and discusses about the number of steps offered to the market. Due to the nature of Pay As Bid (PAB) markets, we expect that the bidding behaviors of the companies highly depend on the grid´s demand; therefore, as the next step, effects of demand value on distribution of bids in off-peak, shoulder and peak hours are investigated. Finally, using bidding data of the generating units, we try to explain why price peaks and load peaks are not coincident in summer days of 2011.