About Power Auctions LLC

Power Auctions LLC is a provider of software, technology, consulting services and associated intellectual property for advanced auction applications. Over the last nine years, the Power Auctions team has built up an unparalleled track record in the design and implementation of high-stakes clock auctions for many different organizations throughout the world.

The Power Auctions™ software platform, now in its third version, fully supports a variety of auction formats, including ascending clock auctions, descending clock auctions, SMRA, sealed-bid multi-unit auctions and package clock auctions.

Power Auctions LLC is known for a number of innovations. For example, in September 2001 the Power Auctions platform was selected for the first Electricité de France (EDF) virtual power plant (VPP) auction, the first VPP auction in the world. Our software has subsequently been used for VPP auctions in other countries and continues to be used in the quarterly EDF VPP auctions (accounting for 8-10% of France’s electricity supply).The September 2001 EDF auction was also the first commercial implementation of any simultaneous ascending-clock auction in the world; the Power Auctions software platform has subsequently been used to conduct the majority of high-stakes clock auctions worldwide. BHP Biliton’s innovative diamond auctions use the Power Auctions platform, as do many natural gas release programme auctions. In the UK in 2002, the Power Auctions software was used to conduct the world’s first greenhouse gas auction, buying emission reductions totaling £215 million. The Power Auctions team is well known for their innovative auction designs for the telecommunications industry, financial sector and government and non-governmental organizations such as ICANN and the FAA.

Our auctions vary in their size and complexity, from one to dozens of products. Each auction design and implementation is customised to the particular setting to achieve its intended objective. The common theme to our auctions is that they all involve high stakes and use powerful but simple techniques to improve auction efficiency.

ISO New England's 3rd Forward Capacity Auction

Holyoke, MA—October 7, 2009—ISO New England Inc., operator of the region’s bulk power system and wholesale electricity markets, today announced the successful conclusion of the region’s third Forward Capacity Market (FCM) auction. Power Auctions advised the ISO on the auction design, developed the software, assisted with training bidders, and conducted the auction. Full Article.

Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) News and Links

Our efforts for the US Treasury's Troubled Asset Relief program were covered in Newsweek, the Wall Street Journal, Condé Nast Portfolio.com, and on NPR. We also developed software for experiments conducted at the University of Maryland to evaluate the effectiveness of our proposed auction design.

EDF VPP Auctions

To facilitate the opening of the French electricity market, Electricité de France (EDF) has made available access to 5,400 MW of generation capacity in France through financial contracts intended to replicate the ownership of power plants.  The EDF Auctions, the world's first virtual power plant (VPP) auction, was designed in 2001 by Market Design Inc. We implement the auctions quarterly, together with IBM Global Business Services, on the PowerAuctions™ software system.