Designing a gas market is defining how the commodity, the transmission and ancillary services are traded. The European Union has built the commoditization of natural gas through the socialization of several costs of trade. This choice aims at obtaining more liquid markets through the creation of virtual hubs of trade. These virtual hubs ignore most…
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German Nuclear Policy Reconsidered: Implications for the Electricity Market
In the aftermath of the nuclear catastrophe in Fukushima-Daiichi, German nuclear policy has been reconsidered. This paper demonstrates the economic effects of an accelerated nuclear phase-out in Germany on the European electricity market. An optimization model is used to analyze two scenarios with different lifetimes for nuclear plants in Germany (phase-out vs. prolongation). Based on…
Editorial
Cost-effectiveness and Economic Incidence of a Clean Energy Standard
A Clean Energy Standard (CES) is a flexible, market-based policy instrument that could be adopted to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the U.S. electricity system over time. This paper uses several well-known energy system and electricity models to analyze a CES that reflects broad principles outlined in President Obama’s January 2011 State of the Union…
Impacts of Intermittent Renewables on Electricity Generation System Operation
All power generation technologies leave their particular imprint on the power system that they belong to. Wind and solar power have only recently reached significant levels of penetration in some countries, but they are expected to grow much during the next few decades, and contribute substantially to meeting future electricity demand, see e.g. European Commission…
Impacts of Biofuels Policies in the EU
Biofuels have the potential of playing an important role in the renewable energy sources panorama, ensuring the achievement of multiple goals such as security of supply, reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, creation of green jobs, and development of business opportunities in the agricultural and rural sectors. Subsidies to the sector were justified on this…
Front Matter
Contracting for Wind Generation
The UK Government proposes offering long-term Feed-in-Tariffs (FiTs) to low-carbon generation to reduce risk and encourage new entrants. Their preference is for a Contract-for-Difference (CfD) for all generation regardless of type. I argue that a standard CfD is unsuitable for on-shore wind, where a fixed FiT appears less risky. The estimated extra trading and balancing…
Development and Application of Greenhouse Gas Performance Benchmarks in the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme
In the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme’s third trading period (2013-2020), the free allocation of emission allowances will be based on greenhouse gas performance benchmarks. This policy note describes how the revised rules were developed, how they will be applied in practice, and what they imply for operators of installations subject to the system. It…