Informs 2015

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INFORMS Philadelphia – 2015
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2 - Case Study: Vastrapur Car Rental Services
Balaraman Rajan, Assistant Professor, California State University
East Bay, 25800 Carlos Bee Blvd, Hayward, CA, 94542,
United States of America,
Ravichandran Narasimhan
In this case we discuss the revenue model for a rental car business in India. The
case can be used for teaching topics in probability and decision modeling at both
undergraduate and graduate level. The first part of the case focuses on expected
value and the second part of the case involves decision making under uncertainty
and strategic choices. It can also be extended to train students in basic simulation
using Crystal Ball or other such tools.
3 - A Learner-Analytics Based Approach for Attenuating the
Course-Level Dropout Rate
Aysegul Demirtas, Graduate Student, Arizona State University,
699 S Mill Avenue, Tempe, AZ, 85281, United States of America,
Jennifer Bekki, Esma Gel, George Runger
Despite their potential to attract larger numbers of students, online courses
remain plagued by a student attrition problem. We apply data mining and learner
analytics techniques to better understand online learner behavior in an effort to
attenuate the online course drop-out rate. We present our modeling approach,
utilizing data from student interactions with the course LMS, and our findings on
course-level persistence based on the application of our approach to data from
multiple courses.
4 - The School Closing Problem
Jing Xu, University of Pennsylvania, 209S 33rd Street,
Department of Mathematics, Philadelphia, PA, 19104,
United States of America,
When school districts face declining enrollments, schools must be closed to reduce
costs. The choice of which schools to be shuttered is controversial. Surprisingly,
few papers have considered this problem. This paper considers the effect of using
existing school choice mechanisms to close schools. It turns out simple
modifications of existing algorithms produce perverse results. We also establish
non-existence of a Pareto-efficient and strategy-proof mechanism in a basic
school closing model.
TA61
61-Room 111B, CC
Sustainability in Energy Sector: Policy Analysis and
Technology Assessment
Sponsor: ENRE – Environment I – Environment and Sustainability
Sponsored Session
Chair: Yihsu Chen, Associate Professor, University of California,
Merced, 5200 N. Lake Rd, Merced, CA, 95343,
United States of America,
1 - Market Impacts of Energy Storage in a Transmission-Constrained
Power System
Afzal Siddiqui, University College London, Department of
Statistical Science, Gower Street, London, UK, WC1E 6BT, United
Kingdom, Vilma Virasjoki, Paula Rocha,
Ahti Salo
Intermittent renewable energy (RE) technologies require conventional power
plants to ramp up more often. In turn, energy storage may offset the
intermittency of RE technologies and facilitate their integration into the grid. In
order to assess the consequences of storage, we use a complementarity model
with market power, transmission constraints, and uncertainty in RE output. We
find that although storage reduces congestion and ramping costs, it may actually
increase greenhouse gas emissions.
2 - Do Emissions Caps Lead to Carbon Leakage in Regional
Markets? The Case of South-east Europe
Verena Viskovic, PhD Student, University College London,
50 Tiber Gardens, London, N/, N10XE, United Kingdom,
Yihsu Chen, Afzal Siddiqui
We examine the extent of carbon leakage in neighbouring jurisdictions with
different carbon emissions reduction policies. We use a complementarity model to
illustrate carbon leakage on a three-node power system. Subsequently, we model
a 19-node Southeastern European network in order to study carbon leakage on
the periphery of the EU.
3 - Equilibrium Investment Strategies in Renewable Portfolio
Standards under Uncertainty
Yuta Kamobayashi, Tokyo University of Science, 2641 Yamazaki,
Noda-shi, Chiba, Japan, , Ryuta Takashima,
Makoto Tanaka, Yihsu Chen
Recently renewable portfolio standard (RPS) has been introduced due to further
penetration of renewable energies. In this paper, we propose a two-period
competition model in an oligopolistic electricity industry with uncertain demand
in order to consider investment behaviors for firms in a framework of the PRS.
We analyze an effect of the RPS on investments in renewables and non-
renewables. Additionally, we show how a percentage of production from
renewables affects the market equilibrium.
4 - Analysis of Regional Market Impact of EPA’s Clean Power Plan:
Mass-based or Rate-based Standard?
Duan Zhang, University of California, Merced, 1392 Dynes St,
Merced, CA, 95348, United States of America,
Yihsu Chen, Makoto Tanaka
We studied the market and emission outcomes of the EPA proposed rate-based
emission policy or the Clean Power Plan. A theoretical model was built to
generate contestable hypothesis. A large-scale simulation of the Pennsylvania-
Jersey-Maryland electricity market in 2012 was used to validate the hypotheses
and quantify the magnitude of impacts, including distribution of economics rent
as well as the shift of pollution emissions. We report the preliminary results in
this talk.
TA62
62-Room 112A, CC
Reliability and Random Factors in Power Systems
Cluster: Energy Systems: Design, Operation, Reliability and
Maintenance
Invited Session
Chair: Bo Zeng, Assistant Professor, University of South Florida, Tampa,
4202 E. Fowler Avenue, Tampa, Fl, 33620, United States of America,
1 - Protect Power System from Electromagnetic Pulse
Feng Pan, Research Engineer, Pacific Northwest National
Laboratory, P.O. Box 999 MSIN K1-85, Richland, WA, 99352,
United States of America, Russell Bent,
Aric Hagberg
Power grids are vulnerable to Electromagnetic pulse (EMP) that can lead a power
grid to collapse in a short time. We introduce an optimization model to configure
a power grid prior to an EMP so that the damage caused by EMP is reduced. This
talk will focus on the modeling aspect.
2 - Modeling Cascading Failures and Restoration Times in Power
Networks to Address Resilience
Sinan Tas, Assistant Professor, Penn State University-Berks
College, Vicki Bier
Prevention is generally the default solution in security investments of critical
infrastructure. Electric power networks are capacity-constrained systems, which
makes them a perfect candidate for cascading failure. Moreover, different
components take substantially different times to recover. In this study, we will
analyze investments that will possibly improve overall resilience of the network
(rather than preventive ones that decreases the likelihood of such attacks).
3 - Joint Planning of Energy Storage and Transmission for Wind
Energy Generation
Wei Qi, PhD Candidate, University of California, Berkeley, 1117
Etcheverry Hall, Berkeley, CA, 94720, United States of America,
, Yong Liang, Zuo-jun Max Shen
Abstract: Regions with abundant wind energy usually have no ready access to
power infrastructure. We propose models of transmission network planning with
co-location of energy storage systems for wind energy delivery. Our models
determine the sizes and sites of storage stations as well as the corresponding
topology and capacity of the transmission network. Then we present various
insights regarding storage value, technology advancements and layout robustness.
TA61