Cooperation in resource management: Analysis of hydroelectric resource use in West Africa
Abstract
The management of an all-hydroelectric plant facility operated in hydrological drought sub-region become difficult and complicated if the plant is the only energy generating resource in the country. The decision to choose the most appropriate or satisfactory option to supply electricity to consumers amid low reservoir storage, low inflow and limited assistance from electric utilities in neighboring countries may be a difficult task. The solution methodology we propose revolves around two main ideas. An integrated optimization and resource management strategic game technique is developed to examine how the conflicting interests of electric utilities in Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire and Togo influence the management of energy generating resources in the different countries. First, separate optimization model is developed for the electric utilities. The solutions of the models determine the optimal use of energy generating resources, and they show how efficient or inefficient the resources are managed in the different countries. Second, the concept of strategic games and competition in oligopolistic industry is used to determine in a game-theoretic framework, the optimal energy policies in the different countries. The electric utilities are considered as role-players in a resource management strategic game where they operate their energy generating resources in a cooperative or noncooperative environment characterized by drought (low inflow). Each electric utility chooses policy related decision strategies for negotiating the management of its generating resources through electricity trading. The impacts of cooperative and noncooperative use of energy generating resources on the performance of storage reservoirs in the region are examined. In the cooperative case, the generating resources in the different countries are jointly used to maximize the joint net benefits of the electric utilities. In the noncooperative case, each electric utility chooses its best strategy that maximizes its net benefits to the detriment of the other. By comparison of the cooperative and noncooperative solutions, the resource management strategic games demonstrate that under different scenario outcomes in the region, the electric utilities will be better off if they adopt their noncooperative optimal policies.
Subject Area
Hydrology|Electrical engineering|Economic theory|Energy
Recommended Citation
Ansah, Thomas Wobil, "Cooperation in resource management: Analysis of hydroelectric resource use in West Africa" (1993). Dissertations available from ProQuest. AAI9331750.
https://repository.upenn.edu/dissertations/AAI9331750