Technique for aggregating an energy service

A computer-program product for use in conjunction with a computer system, the computer-program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium and a computer-program mechanism embedded therein to aggregate an energy service from a number of participants for use by a power-system operator, the computer-program mechanism including:

• instructions for estimating a probe price to elicit energy service from one or more participants;
• instructions for providing the probe price to a respective participant in a group of participants;
• instructions for receiving, from the respective participant, a supply-function approximation that includes a slope, α, and an intercept, β, to map a price of the energy service to a supply amount that the respective participant can provide;
• instructions for calculating a purchase price, λ, the group of participants of the energy service using the function:
• λ
• =
• C
• -
• ∑
• i
• =
• 1
• N
• cons
• ⁢
• ⁢
• α
• i
• ∑
• i
• =
• 1
• N
• cons
• ⁢
• ⁢
• β
• i
• ,
• wherein C indicates a total supply quantity, and i iterates over N participants in the group of participants;
• instructions for recalculating the purchase price responsive to the purchase price not being approximately equal to the probe price, wherein recalculating the purchase price involves:
• sending, to a respective participant, an updated probe price that includes the purchase price;
• receiving an updated supply function approximation from the respective participant;
• and
• recalculating the purchase price using the updated supply function approximation;
• and
• instructions for providing the purchase price to the participants responsive to the purchase price being approximately equal to the probe price.

A computer system, comprising:

• a processor;
• memory;
• and
• a program module, wherein the program module is stored in the memory and configured to be executed by the processor, the program module to aggregate an energy service from a number of participants for use by a power-system operator, the program module including:
• instructions for estimating a probe price to elicit energy service from one or more participants;
• instructions for providing the probe price to a respective participant in a group of participants;
• instructions for receiving, from the respective participant, a supply-function approximation that includes a slope, α, and an intercept, β, to map a price of the energy service to a supply amount that the respective participant can provide;
• instructions for calculating a purchase price, λ, for the group of participants of the energy service using the function:
• λ
• =
• C
• -
• ∑
• i
• =
• 1
• N
• cons
• ⁢
• ⁢
• α
• i
• ∑
• i
• =
• 1
• N
• cons
• ⁢
• ⁢
• β
• i
• ,
• wherein C indicates a total supply quantity, and i iterates over N participants in the group of participants;
• instructions for recalculating the purchase price responsive to the purchase price not being approximately equal to the probe price, wherein recalculating the purchase price involves:
• sending, to a respective participant, an updated probe price that includes the purchase price;
• receiving an updated supply function approximation from the respective participant;
• and
• recalculating the purchase price using the updated supply function approximation;
• and
• instructions for providing the purchase price to the participants responsive to the purchase price being approximately equal to the probe price.