Econometric modeling of regional electricity spot prices in the Australian market

Abstract

Wholesale electricity markets are increasingly integrated via high voltage interconnectors, and inter-regional trade in electricity is growing. To model this, we consider a spatial equilibrium model of price formation, where constraints on inter-regional flows result in three distinct equilibria in prices. We use this to motivate an econometric model for the distribution of observed electricity spot prices that captures many of their unique empirical characteristics. The econometric model features supply and inter-regional trade cost functions, which are estimated using Bayesian monotonic regression smoothing methodology. A copula multivariate time series model is employed to capture additio..