9724819 Clements This U.S.-Brazil award provides support for Dr. Kevin A. Clements of Worcester Polytechnic Institute to work with Professor Antonio Simoes Costa at the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina in Florianopolis, Brazil on the study of optimal power flow methods in competitive electricity markets. Optimal power flow is a tool which can be used to look at the problem of figuring the marginal costs of electricity. In computing these costs, several constraints must be taken into account such as physical lower and upper limits for individual generators, security-related transmission loading limits of transmission lines, and the required amount of reactive support. By developing this tool, they can model consumer demand elasticity as well as consumer energy use. They will develop models in parallel in Brazil and the United States. Both sides have been working on this problem and by joining research teams and facilities, they can advance their research more quickly and efficiently. ***
