Analysis of a monthly auction for financial transmission rights and flow-gate rights

A monthly transmission rights (TR) auction issuing both point-to-point financial transmission rights (FTRs) and flow-gate rights (FGRs) is studied in this paper. Initially, a locational marginal pricing (LMP) based energy market is presented, in which the linear security constrained optimal power flow (SCOPF) problem is solved for each hour of system operation, determining the nodal prices, the transmission link capacity prices and the transmission congestion charges (TCCs) that should be collected by the ISO in case of congestion. A monthly auction is conducted in the TR market issuing FTR obligations, FTR options and FGRs to market players, building a link between all types of transmission rights under the same market structure. Combining the advantages of financial and physical rights, the market efficiency can be enhanced by offering a variety of choices for risk management to market players. The monthly TR auction is tested on several case studies using the IEEE three-area RTS96 and useful conclusions are drawn concerning the utility of the various types of transmission rights as compared to one another, in terms of the reimbursement they provide to their holders.