Distributing resources in a market-based resource allocation system
Disclosed herein are representative embodiments of methods, apparatus, and systems for distributing a resource (such as electricity) using a resource allocation system. In one exemplary embodiment, a plurality of requests for electricity are received from a plurality of end-use consumers. The requests indicate a requested quantity of electricity and a consumer-requested index value indicative of a maximum price a respective end-use consumer will pay for the requested quantity of electricity. A plurality of offers for supplying electricity are received from a plurality of resource suppliers. The offers indicate an offered quantity of electricity and a supplier-requested index value indicative of a minimum price for which a respective supplier will produce the offered quantity of electricity. A dispatched index value is computed at which electricity is to be supplied based at least in part on the consumer-requested index values and the supplier-requested index values.
1 . A method for generating an offer value for offering to supply electricity in a market-based resource allocation system, comprising:
using computing hardware, computing an offer value indicative of a value at which electricity can be supplied by a generator for a current time frame, the offer value being based at least in part on dispatched values from previous time frames, the dispatched values representing values at which electricity was dispatched by the market-based resource allocation system during the previous time frames;
transmitting the offer value along with a value indicative of a quantity of electricity that can be supplied by the generator during the current time frame to a central computer; and
receiving a message from the central computer indicating a dispatched value for the current time frame.
2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
comparing the dispatched value to the offer value; and
activating the generator in response to the comparison.
3 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising repeating the acts of computing, transmitting, and receiving for subsequent time frames.
4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the current time frame and the previous time frames has a duration of 15 minutes or less.
5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the current time frame and the previous time frames has a duration of 5 minutes or less.
6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the dispatched value was computed by the central computer using a double auction technique.
7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the dispatched value was computed by the central computer using the offer value and bid values transmitted from consumers to the central computer during the current time frame.
8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises computing a standard deviation for the dispatched values from the previous time frames, and wherein the offer index value is additionally based at least in part on the standard deviation.
9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the offer value is additionally based at least in part on a startup cost for supplying the electricity.
10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the offer value is additionally based at least in part on a shutdown cost for supplying the electricity.
11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the offer value is additionally based at least in part on a remaining number of time frames available in an operating license associated with the electricity.
12 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the computing hardware is a computer processor or an integrated circuit.
13 . A computer-readable medium storing computer-readable instructions for causing computer to perform the method of claim 1 .
14 . An integrated circuit comprising computing hardware configured to perform the method of claim 1 .
15 . A method for generating a generator bid value for bidding to supply electricity in a market-based resource allocation system, comprising:
using computing hardware, computing a generator bid value indicative of a price at which a generator can deliver electricity into a power grid;
transmitting the generator bid value and a value indicative of a magnitude of electrical load the generator can remove from the power grid to a central computer that manages the resource allocation system; and
receiving a message from the central computer indicating whether the generator should be activated.
16 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the generator is an asynchronous generator.
17 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the message from the central computer includes a current market price value indicative of a current market price for electricity, and wherein the method comprises activating the generator if the generator bid value is less than the current market price value.
18 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the generator bid value is based at least in part on a license premium value that is computed using a remaining number of hours the generator can operate according to the generator's operating license.
19 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the generator bid value is based at least in part on a fuel cost value indicative of a cost of fuel for operating the generator for a fixed period of time.
20 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the generator bid value is based at least in part on an operating and maintenance cost value indicative of a cost for operating and maintaining the generator for a fixed period of time.
21 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the generator bid value is based at least in part on a startup cost value indicative of a cost for starting the generator.
22 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the generator bid value is based at least in part on a shutdown cost value indicative of a cost for shutting down the generator before a minimum operating time threshold is achieved.
23 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the generator bid value is computed according to the following equation,
bid=licensepremium·(fuelcost+O & Mcost+startupcost+shutdownpenalty),
wherein bid is the generator bid, licensepremium is a value associated with remaining unused licensed hours for the generator, O&Mcost is a value associated with the operating and maintenance cost, startupcost is a value associated with penalties or costs for starting up the generator, and shutdownpenalty is a value associated with penalties or costs for prematurely shutting down the generator.
24 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the computing hardware is a computer processor or an integrated circuit.
25 . The method of claim 15 , further comprising repeating the acts of computing, transmitting, and receiving over fixed periods of time.
26 . The method of claim 25 , wherein the fixed periods of time are periods of 15 minutes or less.
27 . A computer-readable medium storing computer-readable instructions for causing computer to perform the method of claim 15 .
28 . An integrated circuit comprising computing hardware configured to perform the method of claim 15 .