Strategic behavior in electric generation markets via dynamic governor control design

摘要

Previous work has demonstrated the potential for coordinated control of a group of generators in a generation market, with the goal of destabilizing other machines in the system, while maintaining (nearly) completely satisfactory performance within this control group. Such action would clearly achieve an anti-competitive objective, and might be attractive strategic behavior if the entities involved believed it would go undetected. The work here examines the degree to which, among all competing generators, a subset may be specifically `targeted' to experience instability. It refines the earlier design technique to demonstrate that anti-competitive control can indeed selectively target competing generators. This form of strategic behavior will be termed `predatory control.' The results presented suggest that the risk of predatory control is more severe than earlier analysis might have suggested, and provides a cautionary note to indicate that entities responsible for system security must have tools to guard against such behavior.