Improvements to transmission expansion planning and implementation :treating uncertainty in commercial operation dates and increasing aunction efficiency

Abstract

Three proposals contributing to the electricity transmission expansion planning and implementation process are presented in this thesis. The first proposal refers to the use of combinatorial and simultaneous descending auctions to treat the exposure problem and increase the efficiency of multi-item transmission auctions. A simulation framework to quantify potential benefits of using these auctions protocols, for transmission companies and grid users, is proposed. The second proposal refers to an expansion planning methodology that explicitly accounts for uncertainties in facility implementation times while determining the capacity additions and their optimal implementation schedule. In the third proposal, principal-agent theoretic concepts are applied to develop a methodology for the optimal design of winner-selection and risksharing mechanisms, with the goal of managing uncertainties in implementation times of transmission facilities, when competitive processes are used to select the agents to which concessions to implement and operate these facilities are awarded. Classical optimization approaches, notably mixed-integer linear programming, are used in the mathematical formulations that underlie the simulation and analyses carried out for all three proposals; and qualitative conclusions aiming at aiding planners and regulators are drawn from the quantitative results of case studies.