Decentralized electricity markets are often dominated by a small set of generator companies who control the majority of the capacity. In this paper, we explore the effect of the total controlled electricity capacity by a single, or group, of generator companies can have on the average electricity price. We demonstrate this through the use of ElecSim, a simulation of a country-wide energy market. We develop a strategic agent, representing a generation company, which uses a deep deterministic policy gradient reinforcement learning algorithm to bid in a uniform pricing electricity market. A uniform pricing market is one where all players are paid the highest accepted price. ElecSim is parameterized to the United Kingdom for the year 2018. This work can help inform policy on how to best regulate a market to ensure that the price of electricity remains competitive. We find that capacity has an impact on the average electricity price in a single year. If any single generator company, or a collaborating group of generator companies, control more than ${\sim}$11$\%$ of generation capacity and bid strategically, prices begin to increase by ${\sim}$25$\%$. The value of ${\sim}$25\% and ${\sim}$11\% may vary between market structures and countries. For instance, different load profiles may favour a particular type of generator or a different distribution of generation capacity. Once the capacity controlled by a generator company, which bids strategically, is higher than ${\sim}$35\%, prices increase exponentially. We observe that the use of a market cap of approximately double the average market price has the effect of significantly decreasing this effect and maintaining a competitive market. A fair and competitive electricity market provides value to consumers and enables a more competitive economy through the utilisation of electricity by both industry and consumers.

中文翻译：

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使用深度强化学习探索智能竞价策略的市场力量

分散的电力市场通常由控制大部分容量的一小部分发电公司主导。在本文中，我们探讨了单个或一组发电公司的总受控电力容量对平均电价的影响。我们通过使用 ElecSim 来证明这一点，ElecSim 是对全国能源市场的模拟。我们开发了一个代表发电公司的战略代理，它使用深度确定性策略梯度强化学习算法在统一定价的电力市场中竞标。统一定价市场是所有参与者都获得最高可接受价格的市场。2018 年的 ElecSim 参数化为英国。这项工作可以帮助制定有关如何最好地监管市场以确保电价保持竞争力的政策。我们发现容量对一年内的平均电价有影响。如果任何一家发电机公司或一组发电机公司合作控制超过 ${\sim}$11$\%$ 的发电容量并进行战略性投标，价格就会开始上涨 ${\sim}$25$\%$。${\sim}$25\% 和 ${\sim}$11\% 的价值可能因市场结构和国家而异。例如，不同的负载曲线可能有利于特定类型的发电机或不同的发电容量分布。一旦由战略性投标的发电机公司控制的容量高于 ${\sim}$35\%，价格就会呈指数增长。我们观察到，使用大约两倍于平均市场价格的市值可以显着降低这种影响并保持市场竞争。公平和竞争的电力市场为消费者提供价值，并通过工业和消费者对电力的利用来实现更具竞争力的经济。