Optimization-Based Approach for Price Multiplicity in Network-Constrained Electricity Markets

This paper addresses the problem of price multiplicity in network-constrained pool-based electricity markets under marginal pricing. This problem consists in the existence of multiple vectors of locational marginal prices for the same optimal market-clearing dispatch solution. As a consequence, delicate conflicts of interest may arise among market participants. Price multiplicity may take place even in auction designs based on convex formulations for the market-clearing procedure. An effective duality-based solution approach is proposed in this paper to handle the issue of price multiplicity. Once the optimal market-clearing dispatch is known, we propose the subsequent solution of a simple pricing problem in order to determine the vector of locational marginal prices. Unlike previously reported methodologies, the proposed approach presents two salient features: 1) it is based on sound mathematical programming, and 2) it is computationally inexpensive since it relies on the solution of a linear program. Numerical results are provided to illustrate the performance of the proposed tool.