The impact of renewable energy on household electricity prices in liberalized electricity markets: A cross-national panel data analysis

The main research questions addressed in this paper are: first, have electricity market reforms achieved lower household electricity prices and, second, has the introduction of renewable energy increased household electricity prices in deregulated markets Answers to the questions were derived using static and dynamic panel data analysis from 1991 to 2014 employing explanatory variables such as the extent of electricity market reform and the share of generation from renewable energy resources. The dynamic model suggests that a lower household electricity price is associated with the degree of electricity market reform, while the share of renewable energy in electricity generation is not statistically significant.     

National and Regional Economic Impacts of changes in Germany's electricity mix: A dynamic analysis through 2050

To meet the net zero emission target by 2045, Germany has planned to phase out coal from electricity production by 2038 and increase electricity production from alternative sources through technological advancements. We examine the impacts of related measures on CO₂ emissions, electricity security, and economic output at national and regional levels using a regionalized dynamic computable general equilibrium model. Our results reveal that phasing out coal from the electricity mix reduces electricity generation and increases imports but only slightly reduces electricity supply and economic output. The reduction in CO₂ emissions in Germany is significant but insufficient to reach the 2045 net zero emission target. Additional technology advancements in alternative electricity productions accompanying the phase-out may have limited effects on the supply of electricity, economic outputs, and CO₂ emissions.     

Effect of regulation on power-plant operation and investment in the South East Europe Market: An analysis of two cases

This paper analyses the differences between investment decisions for coal-fired power plants in Croatia and in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). The long-run marginal cost (LRMC) of each plant is calculated based on a technical analysis that accounts for the important influences on overall project costs by combining a mathematical model and a simulation model. The former was used to calculate annual costs and the latter to predict power plant performance on the electricity market. This research offers insights about potential risks associated with power-plant investment with a particular focus on the regulatory framework and the relevance of participation in the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) for costs, prices, and environmental impacts.     

Design of regional flexibility markets for electricity: A product classification framework for and application to German pilot projects

With the growing role of distributed energy resources, the electricity network is challenged by numerous technical problems, such as capacity congestion and over- or under-voltage. An often-discussed response, especially in the European zonal electricity system, is to implement regional flexibility markets. We contribute to this discussion by providing a comprehensive classification framework for the design of flexibility products by combining technical requirements with classical auction theory. The framework structures 23 product parameters in four stages of abstraction. By applying the framework to five market approaches used in current German research projects, we demonstrate its usefulness for consistent comparison of flexibility products at a high level of detail. This framework can empower national and international policymakers and practitioners in assessing flexibility markets holistically, thereby facilitating the implementation of sound solutions.     

Forward contracts in electricity markets and capacity investment: A simulation study

This simulation study analyzes the effect of the introduction of forward markets to mitigate cyclical price behavior in electricity markets from a dynamic extended Cobweb model. We pay particular attention to the effect of lags in investment decisions and the effect of not fully replacing retired capacity in electricity markets. In line with previous research, the introduction of forward markets decreases price variability in comparison to a spot market. However, we also observe that lags in investment decisions and the failure to fully replace retired capacity create capacity investments cycles even in the presence a forward market.     

Benefits of coordinating congestion management in electricity transmission networks: Theory and application to Germany

This article analyzes the coordination of congestion management in the electricity grid and identifies the benefits from closer cooperation among Transmission System Operators. Mimicking the German situation with four Transmission System Operators in charge of relieving grid congestion, in particular by redispatch of power plants, we set up a model with shared transmission network constraints. Through different valuations of these constraints we consider cases of coordination. Based on a Generalized Nash Equilibrium model, we suggest an intuitive approach to introducing coordination. An application to German data provides evidence that more coordination is beneficial, providing channels through which redispatch volumes and specific costs are influenced. We discuss implications of our results for security of supply and network expansion.     

The impact of coordination on wholesale market participation: The case of the U.S. electricity industry

Coordination costs in a wholesale electricity market are a relevant public policy consideration. The mitigation of coordination costs, all else equal, should increase participation in the marketplace. Since Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Order 888 was issued in 1996, the level of trading activity in bulk electricity markets has increased significantly. In 1999, FERC issued Order 2000 to advance the role of regional transmission organizations (RTOs) in the restructured marketplace for wholesale electricity. RTOs have the potential to reduce the coordination costs, while also having the countervailing effect of causing market participants to incur compliance costs. This paper utilizes the diversity of the United States electricity market and a panel data set representing electric utilities for the period 1990–2009 to study the effects that RTOs have had on wholesale electricity exchange. The paper finds that the presence of a transparent wholesale marketplace for electricity has the effect of increasing participation, but this participation is uneven across types of electric utilities. Greater participation is seen for investor-owned and larger utilities. The results have important implications for policy aimed at wholesale markets and the transmission organizations, as the opportunities afforded by transparency may not be uniformly distributed across all market participants.     

Restructuring retail property markets in Central Europe: impacts on urban space

This paper discusses the changing retail property structures in Central Europe in the aftermath of the integration of these countries in the global economy. In general, within the property market, retail real estate is the market sector that is most affected by internationalization. Therefore, this sector is relatively transparent compared to the office and residential markets. The macro-economic transitions in Central Europe and the integration of these countries in the world economy opened these markets to international retailers. As a result, the retail scene in these countries, combined with the structure of the retail property stock, has changed dramatically. In the late 1990s, Central Europe experienced a retail development boom driven by international hypermarket operators and speculative developers. Shopping centers and hypermarkets became important elements in the urban landscape. However, lack of planning and vision led to chaotic development, and oversupply was the outcome. In the future, public and private actors will need a vision of how the city should develop before embarking on flagship urban projects.

Measuring the degree of economic opening in the German electricity market

Barriers to entry can cause differences between “legal” and “economic” degrees of market openness. The German electricity market is legally 100% open. The industrial segment is also close to being economically 100% open. The general pattern indicates a mature market. However, the domestic segment is economically only 61% open. Possible explanations of this difference from its legal openness are mismatch of regulation and market strategies of incumbents. For the total market, the economic degree of market openness is 89% based on volumes. It is 61% based on customer numbers, reflecting the fact that the vast majority of customers are domestic.     

Analysis of hourly price granularity implementation in the Brazilian deregulated electricity contracting environment

Brazil’s electricity market is the largest in Latin America and the ninth largest in the world. It has been implemented as a mixed market in which regulated and deregulated contracting environments coexist. The volume of transactions in the deregulated market has experienced steep growth over the last few years and is expected to surpass the regulated market. Different programs to diversify the country’s energy matrix have been devised, especially by integrating intermittent renewable sources to address the deregulated market expansion. Consequently, such an energy policy path has prompted the need to increase the granularity of the Brazilian deregulated market’s spot price, namely the Difference Settlement Price (DSP). The DSP had been weekly defined accounting for three loading levels and four submarkets, and, as of 2021, it has been hourly defined accounting for four submarkets; the weekly DSP is inefficient in actually signaling prices based on ex-ante marginal cost of operation of the interconnected Brazilian power system. Besides such granularity alteration, Brazil has also undergone a severe hydrological crisis in 2021 that led to significantly lower water inflows into major hydrographic watersheds and, as a result, most hydroelectric power plant reservoirs hit a 91-year low. The described scenario is relevant in utility policies and energy economics since it depicts a significant paradigm shift experience in such a large electricity market. This study presents the first hourly DSP behavior analysis since its implementation in the Brazilian electricity market and explores its statistical characteristics and relationships with exogenous variables throughout 2021. Additionally, we discuss the hourly DSP’s volatility observed in the year 2021 and how it has resulted in price spikes. At last, we compare the behavior of the Brazilian hourly DSP with the energy prices of five other countries’ electricity markets. Despite being a significant market improvement, the DSP granularity increase per se could not accurately represent the actual marginal cost of operation over the year 2021 since, besides instabilities observed in the hourly DSP, market intervention mechanisms had to be applied by Brazilian regulatory agencies to minimize the hydrological crisis’ impacts.     

Expert survey on capacity markets in the US: Lessons for the EU

We present a survey of US capacity market experts with the purpose of drawing lessons for the EU. Of the respondents, 41% advised EU member states against implementing capacity markets, while the remaining were neutral or provided suggestions for improving capacity markets. Cross-border effects are currently not a concern but may become so in the future. Imports may dampen prices in a capacity market, but neighbouring markets may also experience pressure to implement a capacity market. The capacity markets in the USA were believed to have achieved their goals with respect to reliability, but in an economically inefficient manner.     

Econometric models of power prices: An approach to market monitoring in the Western US

Given the limitations of data and resources available for market monitoring in electricity markets where regional transmission organizations (RTO) do not exist, we argue that econometric models of power prices could provide a useful screening tool for market monitoring. To explore its feasibility, we developed several econometric models of power prices at two major trading hubs in the West: Palo Verde and Mid-Columbia. We show that our models explain a large portion of the variation in power prices in Palo Verde and can establish a benchmark that can be used to identify outlier prices that are potentially the result of anti-competitive behavior.     

Regional science: Directions for the future

Academic disciplines evolve and regional science is no exception. Physics, French or economics changes over time but at the end of the day (or decade), they remain physics, French or economics. But regional science is different; it can take on the perspectives of geography, economics, planning, or other social sciences. At its best, perhaps regional science is a composite of these; many therefore think that the inevitable tension between these content areas and scientific and non-scientific orientations is not only healthy but is also essential. Balancing perspectives and managing tensions in a discipline where both basic and applied research is appropriate is challenging. Combine this with the fact of rapid change and increased competition for limited resources in academic institutions with regional science programmes. From this starting point it seems worthwhile to revisit how we manage regional science and position it within our universities and within our graduates job markets. We propose a model sensitive to both the supply side and the demand side, which indicates that we proactively cultivate markets within and outside educational institutions. We discuss the need for introductory regional science courses at the undergraduate level and for programmes at the masters and Ph.D. levels that transfer existing knowledge and prepare the next generation for intellectual and technical leadership in the field of regional science.JEL Classification: A12, A20, B30, R10We would like to thank the colleagues who offered comments on various drafts of this article. We are especially grateful to Professor William M. Bowen, Dr. Lorraine Craig, Gérard Widmer, and the anonymous reviewers and guest-editors for detailed and thoughtful suggestions.     

Energy reform in Mexico: Imperfect unbundling in the electricity sector

Mexico is in the midst of enacting new energy market reform. After one year of presidential proposals, 21 laws were enacted in August, 2014. The analysis shows inconsistencies and lacunae in defining an open electricity market. According to the proposed reform, incumbent Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE) will keep transmission and distribution vertically integrated with newly created subsidiaries subject to third-party subcontracting, while private generation participants will compete in a wholesale market operated by Centro Nacional de Control de Energía (CENACE). Following an institutional economics approach and a framework to account for transition and coordination issues, the problem of misaligned incentives is analyzed along two governance dimensions: regulatory failure and market foreclosure. The research predicts negative effects of energy reform on grid investments and government coordination in Mexico.     

Energy recovery in wastewater decontamination: Simultaneous photocatalytic oxidation of an organic substrate and electricity generation

The contemporary removal of organic pollutants from aqueous solution and electricity generation is studied in the present work by means of an experimental device resulting from the combination of a photocatalytic reactor and an electrochemical cell. The proposed system relies on the capability of Cu²⁺ ions to reduce in the presence of TiO₂, (solar) UV radiations and a sacrificial organic agent. In the anodic solution of the combined photoreactor-cell, Cu⁰ is oxidized to Cu²⁺ and the latter is reduced again to the lowest oxidation state. The use of different sacrificial agents ranging from formic acid (FA) to glycerol (GLY) to glucose (GLU) is investigated along with the adoption of two different cathodes for the cell, the first based again on the couple Cu²⁺/Cu⁰ and the second on the couple O₂/H₂O.     

透视发达国家及地区社区管理中的市场机制

市场机制作为市场经济的内在调节机制,在发达国家和地区的社区管理中已经得到了充分的运用,并形成了发展社区非营利组织、开发社区商业、发展社区企业和社区卫生服务市场化四大模式,极大地提高了社区管理的经济效益和整体效能,为强化我国社区管理能力,突破社区"自治困境"起到了很好的借鉴作用。     

Regional cities: international references in Brazilian regional planning in the 1950s and 1960s

ABSTRACT

A new stage of urban planning emerged in Brazil in the 1950s, with the region as the object of planning. Planners began to recognize the international contribution to the institutionalization of planning and to the development of proposals for Brazilian cities, as well as the connection between planning and urban decentralization ideas. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to delineate the city model that was being proposed within regional scale plans as the result of international urban practices and ideas. Two examples of such plans are presented in this paper: the Regional Plan of Santos (1950) and the Basic Regional Plan for the Coastline of Parana State (1966). As a result of the international references incorporated into these plans, a mixture of urban principles can be identified in these territorial proposals. The regional city model is the predominant principle arising from these plans, derived from the association of two planning scales: urban and regional.     

谈建筑施工的临时用电安全管理

从建筑施工工地的外部环境影响、项目内部人员因素、施工现场管理等方面,阐述了现今建筑施工工地存在的诸多电气危险隐患,指出切实加强对临时施工用电的安全管理,提高防治临时施工用电中存在的隐患,是避免和减少事故发生的有效措施.     

Enabling independent flexibility service providers to participate in electricity markets: A legal analysis of the Belgium case

Ambitious renewables targets of the EU call for creating a flexible electricity system accommodating and facilitating the integration of large-scale intermittent renewable electricity. To further exploit the considerable potential of demand flexibility, final customers need to be fully mobilised to offer their flexibility to electricity markets. The independent flexibility service provider (IFSP) operates independently from the electricity supplier and has a separate balance responsible party (BRP), which plays a key role to that end. However, in activating demand flexibility, suppliers and BRPs are affected and thus likely to impose barriers or restrictions on market entry of IFSPs. This analysis utilizes legal-empirical research to closely examine how to promote broader market participation of IFSPs by regulating their relationships with affected suppliers and BRPs. In doing so, the Belgian regulatory framework is used as a case study. This article further analyses the remaining regulatory gaps and challenges of the Belgian framework.     

从人类学视角探析区域旅游规划的社区参与

旅游人类学的以人为本的规划思想与旅游可持续发展目标是一脉相承的。文章从人类学视角初步分析了旅游规划中的社区参与问题，以期阐明社区参与区域旅游规划的现实意义，并提供有针对性的操作规程和保障措施。