Refine
Year of publication
Document Type
Way of publication
- Open Access (17)
Keywords
- Energy markets and pricing (6)
- Renewable energy (4)
- Energiewende (3)
- Erneuerbare Energien (3)
- Germany (3)
- Uncertainty (3)
- Auction (2)
- Costs (2)
- Europe (2)
- European gas market (2)
Institute
Voraussetzungen einer optimalen Integration erneuerbarer Energien in das Stromversorgungssystem
(2010)
In many countries, investments in renewable technologies have been accelerated by fixed feed-in tariffs for electricity from renewable energy sources (RES). While fixed tariffs accomplish this purpose, they lack incentives to align the RES production with price signals. Today, the intermittency of most RES increases the volatility of electricity prices and makes balancing supply and demand more complicated. Therefore, support schemes for RES have to be modified. Recently, Germany launched a scheme which gives wind power operators the monthly choice to either receive a fixed tariff or to risk a – subsidized – access to the wholesale electricity market. This paper quantifies revenues of wind turbines under this new subsidy and analyzes whether, when and where producers may profit. We find that the position of the wind turbine within the country significantly influences revenues in terms of EUR/MWh. The results are important for wind farm operators deciding whether electricity should be sold in the fixed feed-in tariff or in the wholesale market. However, no location is persistently, i.e., in every calendar month of the year, above the average. This limits the effect of the new subsidy scheme on investment locations and long term improvements in the aggregated wind feed-in profile.
This paper analyzes timing issues on the German balancing power market. We focus the analysis on the length of the bidding period, i.e. the length of the time period a supplier has to provide balancing power capacities, and the question of how far before the beginning of a bidding period the auction should be carried out. We show that different load levels require different plants for the optimal provision of balancing power. In a longer bidding period, the power plants that have the lowest average cost in the bidding period are unlikely to be efficient in all hours of the bidding period. Hence, shortening bidding periods can increase efficiency. Furthermore, we show that an early commitment on a power plant’s mode of operation (when uncertainty about resulting spot prices is still relatively high) also reduces efficiency. This suggests that the auction should be held relatively close to the beginning of the bidding period. Furthermore, we discuss some advantages of a liquid real time market.
This paper quantifies the degree of market power in the German wholesale electricity market. A dispatch model simulates competitive marginal costs. In addition to common input factors like plant capacities, fuel prices and load structures, the model also incorporates international power exchange and dynamic effects like start-up costs and hydro storage plant dispatch. The simulated prices are subsequently used as a benchmark for observed electricity prices. The analysis reveals significant market power in the German electricity market, mainly exhibited during peak periods. Producer surplus is also increased significantly due to strategic behavior.
The debate about the development of German electricity prices after the liberalization of energy markets in 1998 raises the question of failures in market restructuring. However, a general statement would be misleading for two main reasons. Firstly, the price development, analyzed for the exemplary case of household prices, shows significant differences among the stages of the value chain. Secondly, the underlying cost structure might have changed from 1998 to 2004. While such effects can be expected to level out over time, they can distort the comparison of a small period of observation. For these reasons, we analyzed the different price components at a detailed level, finding a considerable price reduction of about 32% in generation and a much lower reduction of 13% in transmission and distribution tariffs. These decreases have been mostly compensated by a significant increase in taxes and subsidies (+56%).