An Evaluation of Intraday Trading and Demand Response for a Predominantly Hydro-Wind System Under Nordic Market Rules

Many countries are planning for a large-scale expansion of wind power. This development will have a significant impact on power system operation and economics. One of the challenges is that the difficulty to forecast wind power generation will increase the need for real-time balancing. This paper presents a study of how the impact of wind power forecast errors can be reduced by changes in the market design. The study is based on the conditions in the Nordic electricity market. A characteristic of this market is that there is a large share of flexible hydro generation; hence, ramp and unit commitment constraints rarely constrain dispatch. The need for regulation during real-time is provided in a voluntary real-time balancing market, where players can be compensated for their redispatch costs. Case studies are presented which show that a shift from day-ahead to intraday trading and increased demand response can improve the performance when the share of wind power is increasing.