Two studies on Auction Theory: Procurement Auctions and The Design of Competitive Mechanisms for Accessing the National Interconnected System (NIS)
Auction Theory, Procurements Auctions, Mechanism Design, Brazilian Power Sector, National Interconnected System, Remaining Flow Margin Auction
This master’s thesis is composed of two different works related to Auction Theory. The first work presents, from a procurement auctions perspective, the main models and results of auction theory. Although procurement auction theory is, fundamentally, a reinterpretation of the traditional auction theory, with the existence of a strategic equivalence between the equilibrium obtained in each of them, usually the treatment of procurement processes is not directly approached in the reference literature. By offering the results for procurement auctions in a direct and detailed way, thus making them accessible to the interested public, the contribution of this first part has, therefore, a more didactic goal. The second work was motivated by ongoing transformations in the Brazilian Power Sector, in which a scenario of great competition for the transport capacity of the National Interconnected System (SIN) was established, characterizing it as a scarce resource and making the queue criterion used inadequate for allocating the remaining margins. To accommodate the new reality of the sector, in which the adoption of a competitive mechanism for contracting the flow margin becomes primordial, a proposal was developed for granting access to the transmission system based on the use of auctions. Although this type of solution has been conceptually approached in some previous works or diagnoses, this work innovates by presenting, in addition to an initial proposition, a complete solution, fully grounded in the auction theory. As the main result, in the end, it is proposed the implementation of a new procedure, called Flow Margin Auction, based
on an open ascending format, with all the years in the reference horizon of the Extensions and Reinforcements Plan (PAR) being made available sequentially and with participants being able to compete on any preferred bus of their choice.