We evaluate the effects of homogeneous subsidies granted for emission-free electricity generation on market outcomes and social welfare. We use an analytical model to assess the conditions under which such subsidies increase efficiency of wholesale energy and capacity markets. While the...

In 2008, the European Commission investigated E.ON, a large and vertically integrated electricity company, for the alleged abuse of a joint dominant position by strategically withholding generation capacity. The case was settled after E.ON agreed to divest 5,000 MW generation capacity as well as...

This paper analyzes theoretically and empirically how upstream markets are affected by deregulation downstream. Deregulation tends to increase the level of uncertainty in the upstream market. Our theoretical analysis predicts that deregulated firms respond to this increase in uncertainty by...

We examine heterogeneity in Norwegian households' price responses to critical peak pricing (CPP) on electricity consumption, using a large-scale randomized controlled trial (RCT), high-frequency electricity data, and default enrollment. Increasing the grid transmission charge by 4,067%...

Tradable black (CO2) and green (renewables) quotas gain in popularity and stringency within climate policies of many OECD countries. The overlapping regulation through both instruments, however, may have important adverse economic implications. Based on stylized theoretical analysis and...

France lived through a long period of nationalization until the early 1980s, when nearly all the largest industrials firms as well as all the banks and public services were state-owned. Since then, a series of privatization moves have caused the state sector to shrink. Public services present a...

Based on German hourly feed-in and consumption data for electric power, this paper studies the storage and buffering needs resulting from the volatility of wind and solar energy. It shows that joint buffers for wind and solar energy require less storage capacity than would be necessary to buffer...

The appraisal of public investments is subject to formal guidelines which often require input prices, such as forecasted energy prices. Using Danish guidelines as a case study, we explore the discounting assumptions in these input prices and find rates ranging from 2.97% to 17.5%, markedly...