Binding constraints

Binding and near-binding constraints are extracted from final pricing SPD case files. The records with a non-zero shadow price, i.e. the column called MarginalDollarsPerMegawatt, are the binding constraints. Records with a zero-shadow price are the near-binding constraints, specifically those constraints where the left-hand side evaluates to be within 5% or 5MW of the right-hand side.

The left-hand side of a constraint can be comprised of multiple components, each shown in a separate row of the file. Each component of a constraint is given a name - see the column called ComponentName - and the set of components belonging to a single constraint can be observed by identifying all rows with a unique ConstraintName-ConstraintType-TradingDate-TradingPeriod-ComponentType tuple. The left-hand side of a constraint can be evaluated by summing the product of ComponentCoefficient and ComponentMegawatts for each component and will yield the value given by LeftHandSideMegawatts.

The _F suffix in the file name denotes that the SPD case file is associated with final prices.

Files stopped being added to this location on 1 November 2022 with the advent of real-time pricing.