Realized volatility and price spikes in electricity markets: The importance of observation frequency

This paper uses high frequency spot price data from eight wholesale electricity markets in Australia, Canada, and the United States to estimate realized volatility and the frequency of price spikes. I find similar levels of realized volatility in Australia and North America, with estimates ranging from 1500% to 2700%, much greater than estimates reported previously in the literature. In hourly data, the frequency of price spikes ranges from approximately 35% to 40% in seven of eight markets. I present evidence that increasing the lag length in the calculation of bipower variation improves jump detection in electricity prices.