Assessing Improved Price Zones in Europe: Flow-Based Market Coupling in Central Western Europe in Focus
构建了一个评估基于潮流的市场耦合（FBMC）的模型框架，并通过对中西欧电力系统的案例研究，发现改进的定价区域配置能显著降低再调度量和系统总成本，同时解释了增加定价区域数量不一定提高福利的原因。
Theoretical papers have identified several sources of inefficiencies of flow-based market coupling (FBMC), the implicit congestion management method used to couple the Central Western European (CWE) electricity markets. These inefficiencies ultimately lead to welfare losses. In this paper, a large-scale model framework is introduced for FBMC assessments, focusing on modeling the capacity allocation and market clearing processes. The present paper completes this framework by presenting a newly developed redispatch model. Furthermore, we provide a case study assessing improved price zone configurations (PZCs) for the CWE electricity system, motivated by the debate on the currently-existing PZC. Our results show that improved PZCs—even while maintaining the number of price zones—can significantly reduce redispatch quantities and overall system costs. Moreover, making use of the insights of (Felten et al., 2021), we explain why increasing the number of price zones may not always increase welfare when using FBMC.