The Program on Energy and Sustainable Development is part of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies.
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Transmission Planning and Operation in the Wholesale Market Regime
November 2019
The different incentives generation unit owners face for locating and operating their units in the wholesale market regime versus the vertically-integrated monopoly regime has wide-ranging...
In California, a third-world solution to a first-world problem
October 2019
California’s decision to allow Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) to shut off electricity to hundreds of thousands of Californians because high winds and dry conditions may cause a downed...
For wind and solar, big is (usually) better
September 2019
Thurber: "Big is beautiful" for wind and solarDistributed renewables have an important niche, especially for off-grid lighting in developing countries, but almost every challenge associated with...
Can Forward Commodity Markets Improve Short-Term Market Performance? Evidence from Wholesale Electricity
September 2019
Economists traditionally argue that forward commodity markets allow more efficient risk-sharing and information aggregation.
Transformation and Modernization of the Wholesale Electricity Market in Colombia
August 2019
This report provides recommendations on the six topic areas in the transformation and modernization theme “Competition, participation and structure of the electricity market.” These are: (1)...
Reference Dependence in the Demand for Gasoline
July 2019
Recent behavioral models of reference-dependent or context-dependent preferences have posited that consumers form reference points or consideration sets based on expectations.
Measuring the Impact of Own and Others' Experience on Project Costs in the U.S. Wind Generation Industry
July 2019
We investigate the relationship between accumulated experience completing wind power projects and the cost of installing wind projects in the U.S. from 2001-2015.
The benefits of purely financial participants for wholesale and retail market performance: lessons for long- term resource adequacy mechanism design
April 2019
In April 2015, Singapore introduced an anonymous futures market for wholesale electricity.
Market power and incentive-based capacity payment mechanisms
March 2019
Capacity markets provide guaranteed payments to electricity generation unit own- ers for having the “firm capacity” to produce electricity.
Coal
March 2019
By making available the almost unlimited energy stored in prehistoric plant matter, coal enabled the industrial age – and it still does.
The Role of Efficient Pricing in Enabling a Low- Carbon Electricity Sector
March 2019
Producers and consumers will make the investments and innovations necessary to transition to a low carbon electricity supply industry only if they are compensated for their efforts.
Tax brown energy or subsidize green? The choice is easy
February 2019
Progressive Democrats assert that the Green New Deal is the best way to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions.But this claim ignores the fact that subsidizing “green” energy technologies, such as...
Can Incentives to Increase Electricity Use Reduce the Cost of Integrating Renewable Resources?
February 2019
We report results from a large field experiment that with a few hours prior notice provided Danish residential consumers with dynamic price and environmental signals aimed at causing them to shift...
Benchmark Regulation of Multiproduct Firms: An Application to the Rail Industry
February 2019
A number of formerly regulated multiproduct industries have a transitional or permanent residual regulatory mandate to protect consumers from "excessive" prices.
A carbon tax to fund increased border security?
January 2019
As the old saying goes, politics makes strange bedfellows. A national carbon tax to fund increased border security fits that description.
Comparing auction designs where suppliers have uncertain costs and uncertain pivotal status
September 2018
We analyze how market design influences bidding in multiunit procurement auctions where suppliers have asymmetric information about production costs.
Assessing Opportunities for Solar Lanterns to Improve Educational Outcomes in Rural Off-Grid Regions: Challenges and Lessons from a Randomized Controlled Trial
September 2018
Solar lanterns are promoted across rural Sub-Saharan Africa to improve both lighting in homes and educational outcomes.
Gas-to-Power Value Chain
September 2018
Many countries with electricity shortages - such as Nigeria, Ghana, Mozambique, and Tanzania - have large gas reserves but face challenges developing gas for power.The gas-to-power value chain can...
The Evidence from California on the Economic Impact of Inefficient Distribution Network Pricing
September 2018
Charging full requirements customers for distribution network services using the traditional cents per kilowatt-hour (KWh) price creates economic incentives for consumers to invest in distributed...
Reports of the Demise of Carbon Pricing are Greatly Exaggerated
August 2018
AbstractPoliticians in a number of jurisdictions with cap-and-trade markets for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions or carbon taxes have argued that the evidence is in and the conclusion is clear:...
The Competitive Effects of Linking Electricity Markets Across Space and Time
July 2018
We show that a common regulatory mandate in electricity markets that employ locational marginal pricing (LMP) requiring all electricity retailers to purchase their wholesale electricity at the same...
Gas-fired generation in a high-renewables world
June 2018
Are gas and renewables good for each other, or are they on a collision course? We explored this question using a multi-player, web-based game.
The strategic effects of lack of transparency and forward contracting by generators with market power
April 2018
The ability of an electricity-generating firm with market power to influence the market price depends strongly on the volume the firm has pre-sold in the forward, or hedge, markets.
Optimal offer-bid strategy of an energy storage portfolio: A linear quasi-relaxation approach
March 2018
This paper proposes a model of the behavior of an expected profit-maximizing merchant storage owner with the ability to exercise unilateral market power.
