Experiences on Incorporating Market Experiments into Energy System Education

Abstract

This paper summarizes an experience on integrating electricity market experiments into a senior-level course in Columbia University: Energy System Economics and Optimization, which attracted a diverse student body covering various engineering programs as well as public policies and business school. In accordance with the virtual instruction method due to Covid-19, these experiments are assigned to students in the form of online quizzes. In these experiments, students role play electricity market participants by submitting bids or estimating future scenarios spanning topics including centralized market clearing, demand serving contracting, and wind power contracting. These experiments where performed using down-scaled real data from New York Independent System Operator, and the instructor will perform market clearing and analyze the results with the students. Experiences from this course show that these economic experiments attract students’attention and study interests especially at the beginning of the course, but also show rooms for improvements especially on better engaging student in more complex market settings.