Programming model for supporting flexible power plants

The German government proposed to offer support payments to flexible power plants, in order to smooth out variations in supply due to the increase in numbers of renewable energy sources, in .particular wind farms located in the north of the country. In collaborative research involving UCL Statistical Science, a bi-level programming model was developed to determine which plants should receive payments and how much they should receive. The model incorporates a stylised representation of the German system with information on plant and transmission characteristics, as shown in the accompanying image