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In this dissertation, I present three research articles on the economics of wind energy in Germany. The first two chapters primarily assess onshore wind energy’s empirical value in the wholesale market. The third chapter discusses the efficiency of the German wind support scheme. In the first chapter, a database on German onshore wind turbines installed was created by using a general method to fill incomplete stock data. By using the database and highly granular wind speed data, hourly infeed and annual market values of around 25,700 wind turbines in Germany from 2005 to 2015 were calculated, and its drivers – infeed-price-correlation and standard deviation of infeed – analysed. Further, the spread in market values on turbine level was shown, regional differences quantified and the effect of turbine age on market values discussed. Turbines in central Germany had, on average, lower market values than turbines in the north, south or west of Germany. Modern turbines reached higher market values than older turbines. The second chapter on wind turbines’ market values covers the period until 2019. This analysis confirmed that market values were highly diverse on turbine level. Further, it explained why the market value of a single turbine matters in the market premium model. In this context, the magnitude of the outperformance of technologically advanced turbines was assessed. Last, the effect of inter-annual weather variability on wholesale electricity prices and market values was quantified, using 19 different years of winds speeds and infeed data. In the third chapter, it was analysed whether the German wind support scheme incentivised a cost-minimal capacity build-up. Two cost-minimal benchmark scenarios were developed and compared to the historical capacity build-up between 1995 and 2015. The costs of the benchmark scenarios were significantly lower than those of the historical build-up. The benchmark cost reduction largely stemmed from greater efficiency in terms of using better wind sites. It was further shown that a spatially concentrated capacity-build up, as induced in the benchmarks, is beneficial from a consumer’s point of view.
We describe the problem of re-balancing a number of units distributed over a geographic area. Each unit consists of a number of components. A value between 0 and 1 describes the current rating of each component. By a piecewise linear function this value is converted into a nominal status assessment. The lowest of the statuses determines the efficiency of a unit, and the highest status its cost. An unbalanced unit has a gap between these two. To re-balance the units, components can be transferred. The goal is to maximize the efficiency of all units. On a secondary level, the cost for the re-balancing should be minimal. We present a mixed-integer nonlinear programming formulation for this problem, which describes the potential movement of components as a multi-commodity flow. The piecewise linear functions needed to obtain the status values are reformulated using inequalities and binary variables. This results in a mixed-integer linear program, and numerical standard solvers are able to compute proven optimal solutions for instances with up to 100 units. We present numerical solutions for a set of test instances and a bi-criteria objective function, and discuss the trade-off between cost and efficiency.
Nachhaltig und Geschäftsprozesse sind häufig benutzte Schlagworte der heutigen Zeit, vor allem in Politik und Wissenschaft. Auch deren Verbindung nachhaltige Geschäftsprozesse hat Aufnahme in den allgemeinen Sprachgebrauch und Wortschatz gefunden. Das Ziel nachhaltiger Geschäftsprozesse ist es, die Effektivität und Effizienz des Unternehmens langfristig zu verbessern, ohne die Wettbewerbsfähigkeit des Unternehmens zu beinträchtigen. Nachhaltige Geschäftsprozesse fokussieren dabei insbesondere auf drei unterschiedliche Aspekte: Ökonomie, Ökologie und Soziales. Diese Aspekte sind unter dem allgemeinen Grundsatz der Nachhaltigkeit zu betrachten und in das bestehende Management zu integrieren. Auch dieses funktionale Managen von Geschäftsprozessen oder der Nachhaltigkeit ist zwischenzeitlich wissenschaftlich bearbeitet worden. Dessen Umsetzung in der Wirtschaft lässt jedoch zu wünschen übrig. Diese Arbeit hatte sich daher zur Aufgabe gemacht, das funktionale Managen, d. h. das Planen, das Steuern und Kontrollieren von nachhaltigen Geschäftsprozessen in einen Kontext zu bringen. Dabei wurde unter den Gesichtspunkten der Effektivität und der Effizienz geprüft, ob für dieses komplexe Management ein separates Konzept notwendig wird. Es wurde daher untersucht, ob sich mit dem Geschäftsprozessmanagement die Nachhaltigkeitsaspekte planen, steuern und kontrollieren lassen. Zur Prüfung dieser These wurden die deutschen Automobilhersteller als Validierungsobjekte herangezogen.