Are organized markets necessary in the U.S. Western Interconnection for cost-optimal integration of renewable energy resources that, in accordance with state mandates, must be brought online in the coming decades? We examine the technological components of the western power grid as well as its...

A long-standing issue with centrally committed electricity markets is the design of non-confiscatory and equilibrium-supporting prices. This is because the social planner's problem in such a market is a non-convex unit commitment. O'Neill et al. (2005) propose a pricing scheme that overcomes...

We examine the economic consequences of a bid-based security-constrained centralized unit commitment paradigm based on three-part offers, which is the prevalent day-ahead market-clearing mechanism in restructured electricity markets in the United States. We then compare this approach with an...