This paper discusses the principles of electricity network charging in the light of increasing amounts of distributed generation and the potential for significant increases in electric vehicles or distributed electrical energy storage. We outline cost reflective pricing, traditional public service pricing, platform market pricing and customer- focused business model pricing. We focus on the particular…
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Batteries, Interconnectors and Institutions: The Case of South Australia
In South Australia rapid expansion of grid-connected and distributed renewable generation has contributed to the closure of coal-fired electricity production and placed greater reliance on the remaining fossil-based generation and imports on meeting demand when South Australian renewable production is low. Concentrated wholesale markets and gas scarcity now explain higher wholesale electricity prices and lower…
Energy System Transition in the Nordic Market: Challenges for Transmission Regulation and Governance
The energy system in the Nordic countries faces changes driven by increasing integration with the rest of Europe and changes to the generation mix. These developments pose challenges with respect to future network development and operation. We focus on three major aspects: market integration; generation and network adequacy; the need for more flexibility and frequency…
Book Reviews
Electricity (and Natural Gas) Transmission under Transformation – An Introduction
There may exist various factors that could potentially hinder the efficient development of electricity markets, such as poorly defined property rights, incomplete markets, increasing trade of electricity among different control areas, inefficient operation, and maintenance, as well as bottlenecks in transmission capacity due to lack of investment for grid expansion. This introduction to the EEEP-symposium…
A Primer on Transmission Benefits and Cost Allocation
The cost of transmission facilities must be allocated to those within the transmission planning region that benefit from those facilities in a manner that is at least roughly commensurate with estimated benefits.” (FERC, 2010, p. 91) Benefits include reliability, economic and public policy related impacts. Turning the principle into a workable policy is important as…
Transmission Expansion Benefits: The Key to Redesigning the Regulation of Electricity Transmission in a Regional Context
Achieving a sufficient and efficient development of the transmission grid in the new low-carbon and region-wide coordinated electricity markets being created will be central to their success. This requires setting up the required institutional framework and cost allocation arrangements, which is specially challenging when the relevant market covers several independent countries or administrative areas (like…
Can Simple Regulatory Mechanisms Realistically be used for Electricity Transmission Investment? The Case of H-R-G-V
While simple regulatory mechanisms in the form of price caps have been implemented with success in the telecommunications sectors of many countries, they are much less used in the electricity sector and if so not as a tool to guide transmission investment. This paper takes one particular mechanism from a very abstract concept to an…
Comparing Interstate Regulation and Investment in US Gas and Electric Transmission
The interstate electric and natural gas sectors in the United States share some common regulatory elements, although the simpler economics of network expansion in gas pipelines allow the industry to operate on a contract-based framework that would be highly inefficient in electric transmission. The strong incentives for new pipeline development have allowed new gas pipeline…