Analysis of a Duopoly Supply Chain and its Application in Electricity  Spot Markets

Abstract:  This paper studies a supply chain system consisting of two suppliers and one retailer in a spot market, where the retailer uses the newsvendor solution as its purchase policy, and suppliers compete for the retailer's purchase.  Since each supplier's bidding strategy affects the other's profit, a game theory approach is used to identify the optimal bidding strategies.  We prove the existence and uniqueness of the Nash solution.  It is also shown that the competition between the supplier leads to a lower market clearing price, and as a result, the retailer benefits from it.  Finally, we demonstrate the applicability of the obtained results by deriving optimal bidding strategies for power generator plants in the deregulated California energy market.