Modelling start-up costs of multiple technologies in electricity markets

This paper deals with the dispatch problem in providing electric power with minimal costs using different technologies. Initially, we describe this problem in terms of a linear program. This enables us to take generally neglected start-up costs into account. The main result is the explicit solution of a simplified linear program which provides us with a better understanding of the ‘start-up cost’ effects. Furthermore, we show that dominated technologies should be used in the case of limited availability of efficient technologies.