Professor Mohsenian-Rad Receives the BCOE Excellence in Teaching Award

Associate Professor Hamed Mohsenian-Rad has received the Marlan and Rosemary Bourns College of Engineering (BCOE) Excellence in Teaching Award. This award is given annually in special recognition for dedication and contribution to advancing the teaching profession through creative engagement and innovation. The award was presented to Prof. Mohsenian-Rad by Prof. Sharon Walker the Interim Dean of the College of Engineering in the 2017 Annual BCOE College Meeting.

Professor Mohsenian-Rad Receives $270K from NSF to Study Counter Intuitive Observations in Electricity Markets

Associate Professor Hamed Mohsenian-Rad has received $270K from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to build new mathematical tools to investigate and explain the complex and sometimes counter-intuitive results of placing convergence bids (CBs), a.k.a., virtual bids (VBs), in wholesale electricity markets. Several Independent System Operators (ISOs) in the U.S. have adopted CBs with the general assumption that CBs would enhance market efficiency by lowering the gap between the prices in the day-ahead market (DAM) and prices in the real-time market (RTM).

However, analysis of ISO market data over the past few years has led to a current state of uncertainty and debate about the true advantages or disadvantages of CBs in electricity markets and their impact on utility customers and generation firms.

What is alarming is the reason behind having such debates: there is currently no clear scientific understanding of how CBs work (or don't work) in wholesale electricity markets. Professor Hamed Mohsenian-Rad's recent studies have shown that some of the concerns that are recently raised by ISOs about CBs are fundamental and have root causes that can be understood through mathematical analysis and illustrative examples.

In brief, many of these issues are due to the physics of transmission lines, generators, and loads, which do not allow application of the generally accepted principles of market efficiency as observed in trading in other financial and commodity marketplaces.