Solving optimal dispatch problem for a competitive wholesale power market by using PowerWorld

The transition to competitive wholesale and retail markets for electric utilities around the world has been a difficult and controversial process. One of the difficulties that hindered the development and growth of the competitive wholesale power market is the absence of efficient computational tools to assist the design, analysis and operation of competitive power markets. PowerWorld simulator is a software that has strong analytical and visualization functions suitable for extensive power flow study of an electric power system. However, PowerWorld is not designed in such a way that can be used for the analysis and evaluation of a competitive wholesale power market. This paper investigates mathematical models associated with a competitive wholesale power market and how these models can be converted and transformed in such a way that makes it possible to use the PowerWorld for the competitive power market study. To validate the effectiveness of proposed strategy, models of several small-scale competitive power markets are built by using Matlab. Results generated by both PowerWorld and Matlab are compared. Finally, the paper demonstrates how PowerWorld simulator is used to investigate an 8-bus competitive wholesale power system.