Three- or Two-Stage Stochastic Market-Clearing Algorithm?

As the power industry considers moving from a deterministic paradigm to a stochastic one to clear the day-ahead market in systems with significant stochastic production, the following question arises: how should a stochastic clearing algorithm be formulated? Our analyses indicate that a three-stage stochastic approach is clearly superior to a two-stage one. To show this, we propose a model that includes three stages: the first one represents the day-ahead market, the second stage, the intraday market, and the third one, the real-time operation. The objective is to clear the day-ahead market, but with a prognosis of the future: the intraday market and the real-time operation. To assess the impact of the intraday market on the day-ahead outcomes, we compare the results obtained from the proposed model with those of a simpler but more common two-stage model, which represents the day-ahead market and the real-time operation.