Electricity Market and Power System Operations

Undergraduate | 2026

Course page banner
Mode icon
Mode
Mode
Your studies will be on-campus, and may include some online delivery
On campus
area/catalogue icon
Area/Catalogue
ENGE X406
Course ID icon
Course ID
206613
Campus icon
Campus
Mawson Lakes, Adelaide City Campus East
Level of study
Level of study
Undergraduate
Unit value icon
Unit value
6
Course owner
Course owner
School of Elec and Mech Eng
Course coordinator
Course coordinator
Ali Pourmousavi Kani
Course level icon
Course level
4
Work Integrated Learning course
Work Integrated Learning course
No
Study abroad and student exchange icon
Inbound study abroad and exchange
Inbound study abroad and exchange
The fee you pay will depend on the number and type of courses you study.
Yes
University-wide elective icon
University-wide elective course
Yes
Single course enrollment
Single course enrolment
Yes

Course overview

This course provides a broad knowledge of the wholesale electricity market and power system operation in terms of energy and ancillary services. It includes the evolution of the power system industry and electricity market over time, rules and regulations, energy and ancillary services markets and transmission system operation with a focus on the Australian Electricity Market.

  • Fundamentals of Mathematical Optimisation: Basic definitions, linear programming, modelling tools and solvers (GAMS, MATLAB, Gurobi), problem formulation and implementation.
  • Fundamentals of Mathematical Optimisation: Duality, mixed-integer linear programming (MILP), quadratic optimisation, nonlinear optimisation, and stochastic optimisation.
  • Economic Dispatch: Basic definitions, ED formulation and characteristics, ED solution methods and implementation, multi-period ED with generator ramp limits.
  • Economic Dispatch: Multi-objective ED with greenhouse gas emissions, value of lost load (VOLL), and energy storage modelling.
  • Optimal Power Flow: AC optimal power flow (OPF) and DC OPF formulations as natural extensions of economic dispatch, and network losses estimation.
  • Unit Commitment: Basic definitions, UC formulation, security-constrained unit commitment (SCUC), and network-constrained unit commitment (NCUC).
  • Energy and Ancillary Services Co-optimisation: Definition and need for ancillary services (AS), brief introduction to contingency analysis, procuring AS, and co-optimisation of AS and energy spot markets.
  • Renewable Integration and New Market Participants: Impact of intermittent renewables on electricity markets, intermittent renewable participation mechanisms, renewable generation prediction, operating electricity markets under uncertainty, and new market participants in evolving energy systems.
  • Electricity Market Deregulation: History of electricity markets, vertically integrated utilities (VIU), problems with regulation, need for deregulation, entities in deregulated markets, market procedures, types of markets, deregulation evolution, market architecture, and open electrical energy markets.
  • Microeconomics for Electricity Markets: Modelling consumers and suppliers.
  • Microeconomics for Electricity Markets: Market equilibrium, Pareto efficiency, global welfare, theory of the firm (short-run and long-run), profit and fixed cost recovery, pool market pricing schemes, marginal cost fallacies, scarcity rent, economy of scale and scope, and market power.

Course learning outcomes

  • Describe the evolution from vertically integrated utilities to deregulated electricity markets, explain market architectures and participant roles, and apply microeconomic principles including supply-demand modelling, market equilibrium, welfare economics, pricing schemes, and market power to electricity market analysis.
  • Develop mathematical optimisation models from fundamental concepts, including linear programming (LP), mixed-integer linear programming (MILP), and quadratic optimisation, interpret duality and shadow prices, and implement solutions using GAMS and MATLAB with optimisation solvers.
  • Formulate and solve economic dispatch (ED) problems including multi-period ED with ramp limits, multi-objective ED with emissions considerations, energy storage modelling, and value of lost load analysis.
  • Formulate and solve optimal power flow (OPF) problems using AC and DC formulations, estimate network losses, and develop security-constrained and network-constrained unit commitment (UC) models.
  • Describe ancillary services products and procurement mechanisms, explain contingency analysis fundamentals, and analyse the co-optimisation of energy and ancillary services in spot markets.
  • Evaluate the impacts of intermittent renewable resources on electricity market operations, analyse renewable generation prediction and participation mechanisms, examine market operation under uncertainty, and identify the roles of new market participants such as virtual power plant operators.

Prerequisite(s)

N/A

Corequisite(s)

N/A

Antirequisite(s)

N/A

Availability

Enrol by date
Enrol by date
Fri 21/08/2026
Census date Icon
Census date
Fri 04/09/2026
Last day to W
Last day to W
Fri 18/09/2026
Last day to WF
Last day to WF
Fri 16/10/2026

Class details

Mawson Lakes

Group 1

Class number
Class number 51050
Section
Section FR01
Size
Size 25
Available
Available 22
Dates Days Time Campus Location Instructor
7 Aug - 28 Aug Friday 10:10am - 11am Mawson Lakes Sir Charles Todd, SCT2-49
11 Sep - 25 Sep Friday 10:10am - 11am Mawson Lakes Sir Charles Todd, SCT2-49
16 Oct - 16 Oct Friday 9:10am - 11am Mawson Lakes Sir Charles Todd, SCT2-49
23 Oct - 13 Nov Friday 10:10am - 11am Mawson Lakes Sir Charles Todd, SCT2-49
4 Sep - 4 Sep Friday 9:10am - 11am Mawson Lakes Sir Charles Todd, SCT2-49
Class number
Class number 55462
Section
Section WS01
Size
Size 25
Available
Available 22
Dates Days Time Campus Location Instructor
7 Aug - 25 Sep Friday 3:10pm - 5pm Mawson Lakes Sir Charles Todd, SCT2-38
16 Oct - 13 Nov Friday 3:10pm - 5pm Mawson Lakes Sir Charles Todd, SCT2-38
Class number
Class number 60019
Section
Section LE01
Size
Size 25
Available
Available 22
Dates Days Time Campus Location Instructor
- Mawson Lakes ,

Adelaide City Campus East

Group 1

Class number
Class number 51051
Section
Section FR01
Size
Size 55
Available
Available 47
Dates Days Time Campus Location Instructor
7 Aug - 28 Aug Friday 10:10am - 11am Adelaide City Campus East Engineering South, S111
4 Sep - 4 Sep Friday 9:10am - 11am Adelaide City Campus East Engineering South, S112
11 Sep - 25 Sep Friday 10:10am - 11am Adelaide City Campus East Engineering South, S111
16 Oct - 16 Oct Friday 9:10am - 11am Adelaide City Campus East Engineering South, S112
23 Oct - 13 Nov Friday 10:10am - 11am Adelaide City Campus East Engineering South, S111
Class number
Class number 60018
Section
Section LE01
Size
Size 200
Available
Available 192
Dates Days Time Campus Location Instructor
- Adelaide City Campus East ,
Class number
Class number 55463
Section
Section WS01
Size
Size 55
Available
Available 47
Dates Days Time Campus Location Instructor
7 Aug - 25 Sep Friday 3:10pm - 5pm Adelaide City Campus East Barr Smith South, 2060
16 Oct - 13 Nov Friday 3:10pm - 5pm Adelaide City Campus East Barr Smith South, 2060

Fee calculator

To display course fees, please select your status and program below:

We’re updating this Fee Calculator. It currently shows fees for programs only. Please check the relevant program for full fee details.

Study Abroad student tuition fees are available here.

Only some Postgraduate Coursework programs are available as Commonwealth Supported. Please check your program for specific fee information.

If you are studying in a Professional Pathway Psychology, Clinical Psychology or Social Work program, please refer to the Student Contributions amounts published here.

The Student Contribution amount displayed below is for students commencing a new program from 2021 onwards. If you are continuing in a program you commenced prior to 1 January 2021, or are commencing an Honours degree relating to an undergraduate degree you commenced prior to 1 January 2021, you may be charged a different Student Contribution amount from the amount displayed below. Please check the Student Contribution bands for continuing students here. If you are an international student, or a domestic student studying in a full fee paying place, and are continuing study that you commenced in 2025 or earlier, your fees will be available here before enrolments open for 2026.