Study Of Typical National Electricity Markets And Its Application In Lao P.D.R

Electricity is a fundamental resource in modern societies.All divisions of industry need electricity strongly.As a social development,electricity is the fundamental element for all parts of technology.As a technological developer,from agriculture to transportation,education to medicine,electricity is widely used.Electric power industry has been playing one of the most important roles in the development of national economy.Besides,electrical power is the backbone of economy,as it is key for the activity in both manufacturing and service industries.We might accept that electricity is necessary for the world.For many developing countries,electricity industry has always been a main support on economy development,so there's a high correlation between economy and electricity consumption."Electricity" is a special commodity which cannot be stored like others.So,the electric sectors should have an optimal plan or load forecast between supply and demand.For last three decades,the electricity industry around the world has move forward to a great transformation.This transformation is from a traditional structure of an electric power industry that owned by national government or public investors toward a structure that exposed to a competitive market environment.This new competitive market is intended to improve the operational efficiency of power systems and also ensure a quality of the electricity supply and achieving minimum cost for electricity end customers.The key outcome of this entire industry transformation,which is generally known as "Electric Industry Restructuring".Restructuring is about changing existing companies,separating some functions and combining others,and sometimes creating some new companies,the target of the electricity market restructuring is to establish competitive wholesale and retail markets.Generally,an electricity market is a way or mechanism to exchange electricity among different participants,entities,or different countries.Economists believe that markets are one of the best ways to trade any commodity including electricity.It is well known that electricity is different from other commodities for trading.The distinguishable model of electric power makes the trading of electricity become more complex and require to consider technical,economical and regulatory features while designing the market.The market design for power trading in the region should be carefully studied,following existing regional trading models such as the Nordic system,the continental regional systems in Europe,and the PJM(Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland)system in the US.According to a rapidly increasing energy demand in Southeast Asia and uneven qualification of natural resources make it a perfect case for considering integrated electricity market.Lao PDR is a small country in Southeast Asian at the central of Indochina peninsular,Lao PDR is a land-locked country surrounded by five Neighbor countries:Peoples Republic of China,Myanmar,Thailand,Vietnam and Cambodia.Regional interconnection could help Lao PDR to export Electricity and support national economy.This project will focus on a principle of an electricity market,a market design and methodology that use in electricity market;researching on the process of electrical industry restructure in many developing countries.Moreover,the main purpose of this project is researching on electricity markets in world-wide for establishing an electricity market in Lao PDR.