The Operation Platform Recommendation For The Deregulated Utility Industry In Thailand

Transmission Congestion Management (TCM) plays a significant role in power system operation under today deregulated environment. It has two major functions of an apparatus to keep power system running within acceptable security limits, and of a tool allocating financial obligation to market participants then paying back to transmission grid investors. TCM issue has been widely debating during a past decade, until now, it is still an opened issue extensively discussed in the current structure of competitive environment. In the United State, there are existing two successful stories of TCM under different operation schemes, the former is PJM with Nodal Congestion Management (NCM) based on the renowned Location Marginal Price (LMP), while the latter is Zonal Congestion Management (ZCM) deploying in Electricity Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT). Though PJM model is adopted in some developing countries where the processes of restructuring of Electricity Supply Industry (ESI) is still under the beginning phase, many concerns such as: advance in an information technology, energy security, social equity, price volatility, and the need to subsidize the poor consumers, are necessary to be considered before the establishment of TCM and settlement processes. Thailand is a developing country located in the heart of South-east Asia, and now being on the processes of transformation in ESI structure. Although the first initiation in this issue has been discussed since 1999 by government and related agencies, however, there is still unclear direction for the new reforming paradigm. Taking into account all above concerns, together with the studying of Transmission Congestion Management Techniques, Power System Security, and System wide economic benefit, this dissertation proposes a recommendation platform of the deregulated utility industry in Thailand during its transformation stage in order to have a smooth transition moving from the traditional vertically integrated system to a new competitive environment.