Summer School
‘Economics of Electricity Markets’
September 1-4, 2015
In September 2015, the Centre for Environmental Economics and Environmental Management (CEEM/ Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, http://www.ceem.ugent.be/en/index.htm) of Ghent University will organize its third international summer school on the economics of electricity markets. During this summer school (September 1-4, 2015), national and international experts will elaborate the institutional frameworks, business landscape, market and investment models and long-term economic dynamics of electricity markets.
The unique feature of this summer school is the combination of academic analysis and presentations by insiders from various electricity sectors (generation, transmission, electricity trading, regulatory affairs,…).
The focus of the summer school is on European electricity markets. An overview of the relevant European legislation is presented, followed by an assessment of the long-term consequences of the European projects related to energy systems and electricity markets in particular (i.e. market liberalization, 20/20/20, ETS, long-term decarbonization targets...).
Electricity markets are not typical commodity markets but have very specific technical and regulatory characteristics. As supply should always equal demand, the electricity supply side needs to be managed and approached from a collective action perspective. To explore this technological imperative, a basic overview on the technologies to generate, distribute and transport electricity is presented, followed by a discussion on electricity system requirements such as adequate balancing and the availability of back-up assets. In this overview, much attention will be given to the impact of higher shares of (intermittent) renewable electricity generation technologies.
The technological overview is complemented by an economic analysis of generation and investment costs for all the considered technologies. The basic tools of economic methodology are presented and used in the context of changing electricity markets (LCOE, option valuation, cost/benefit and investment analysis).
The most recent issues will be analyzed and economic models to understand the functioning of transmission, distribution and electricity trading are presented by specialists from industry.
Finally, the current evolutions on European electricity markets should in principle prepare and support the transition of our energy system into an efficient and sustainable low-carbon economy by 2050. To illustrate the nature of this challenge, the main energy transition scenarios – such as Energy Transition Perspectives 2014 of the International Energy Agency (IEA) – are discussed during the summer school. In this (part of the) course, the focus is on the role of the electricity sector in the energy transition.
The goal of the summer school is to provide the building blocks needed to assess the dynamics of European electricity markets. Students will be confronted with multiple perspectives. The public policy perspective will be complemented by the perspective of electricity companies, electricity traders, households and electricity-intensive industries.
