Abstract:
The economic dispatch of power plants is a classic problem, the solution of which has been refined over many decades and is used on a daily basis by the electricity industry. In many regions of the US, the solution of the dispatch problem is used to set wholesale prices. However, the physical operating constraints of power plants are complex, and some key features cannot be easily modeled within the economic dispatch optimization. One example is the unit comittment problem; power plants can be very expensive to start up, and there are some basic reasons why these costs cannot be easily monetized in the wholesale prices. This leads to "make whole payments" to the individual power plants. We will discuss some recent work, "Convex Hull Pricing," which attempts to solve this problem within the economic dispatch optimization.
Biography:
Dr. Maurizi received his BA in Mathematics from Claremont McKenna College and his PhD in Mathematics from Washington University in Saint Louis. His mathematics research has focused on Fourier Analysis and non-linear estimation problems. He is currently the Senior Quantitative Analyst for Ameren Energy Resources, a merchant generator and power marketer in the Midwest with over 5000 MW of capacity. His work at Ameren has focused on Load Forecasting, Retail Pricing, Structured Products, and Financial Transmission Rights.