An Application of Agent-based Simulation to the New Electricity Trading Arrangements of England and Wales

This paper presents a large-scale application of multi-agent, evolutionary modelling to the proposed new electricity trading arrangements (NETA) in the UK. This is a detailed, plant-by-plant model with an active specification of the demand side of the market. NETA involves a bilateral forwards market followed by a balancing mechanism, and then an imbalance settlement process. This agent-based simulation model has been able to provide pricing and strategic insights, ahead of NETA's actual introduction, to an extent which have eluded conventional economic analysis.