Ten years after the liberalization of the electricity and gas market in Italy it is possible to draw an evaluation of the achievements. The three key objectives of the single market mentioned in the original proposal of the European Commission have been achieved differently in the power market...

Electricity customers who install solar panels often are paid the prevailing retail price for the electricity they generate. We show that this "net metering" policy typically is not optimal. A payment for distributed generation (w) that is below the retail price of electricity (r) will induce...

We characterize the optimal regulatory policy to promote demand response in the electricity sector. Demand response arises when consumers reduce their purchases of electricity in times of peak demand, when the utility's marginal cost of supplying electricity is relatively high. The optimal...

This paper presents a social cost benefit analysis of ownership unbundling (as compared to legal und functional unbundling) of the electricity transmission system operators in Germany. The study relies on the Residual Supply Index for its competitive concept. The analysis models some 15 effects,...

In this paper, we discuss the choice and use of benchmarks in each of five areas relevant to an assessment of the progress of EU electricity sector liberalisation. These areas are market design, market power, EU enlargement, regulation, and sustainability. Our aim is to discuss the most...

This paper analyzes the potential contribution of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies to greenhouse gas emissions reductions in the U.S. electricity sector. Focusing on capture systems for coal-fired power plants until 2030, a sensitivity analysis of key CCS parameters is performed to...

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is a promising technology that might allow for significant reductions in CO2 emissions. But at present CCS is very expensive and its performance is highly uncertain at the scale of commercial power plants. Such challenges to deployment, though, are not new to...

This paper analyzes how economic deregulation impacts resource reconfiguration in the electric utility industry. We argue that to understand strategic change in this industry, we need to understand how development and deployment of a firm's resources reflects path dependencies that nonmarket...

In the last decade a new regulatory framework for electric utilities, aiming at a gradual liberalization of the sector, has been set in Europe. The promotion of competition among generators implies the need to separate power generation from downstream transmission and distribution activities....

In this paper we will examine the issue of ownership unbundling and forced divestiture remedies imposed in a series of recent competition law cases of the energy market - examined in other papers - in relation to the possible existence of a series of legal obstacles. These energy market...