MASCEM: a multiagent system that simulates competitive electricity markets

Around the world, the electricity industry, which has long been dominated by vertically integrated utilities, is experiencing major changes in the structure of its markets and regulations. Owing to new regulations, it's evolving into a distributed industry in which market forces drive electricity's price. The industry is becoming competitive; a market environment is replacing the traditional centralized-operation approach. This transformation is often called the deregulation of the electricity market. MASCEM, a multiagent simulator system, is a valuable framework for evaluating new rules, new behavior, and new participants in the numerous electricity markets that are moving toward liberalization and competition.     

Detection of ageing in the reliability analysis of thermalgenerators

The importance of aging in the reliability analysis of repairable systems is pointed out. A methodology for the detection of ageing is presented. This methodology is based on H.B. Mann's (1945) nonparametric statistical tests for detection of trend. The technique is illustrated by application to ten thermal units on the Brazilian electric network