CSEI Policy Briefs
CSEI Policy Brief #007
Energy Systems Integration: Implications for Public Policy
Energy Systems Integration (ESI) is an emerging paradigm and at the centre of the EU energy debate. ESI poses significant public policy implications, because, by identifying and exploiting the synergies within and between the sectors, ESI aims to increase flexibility in the energy system, maximise integration of renewable energy and distributed generation, and reduce environmental impact.
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CSEI Policy Brief #006
On Distributional Effects in Local Electricity Market Designs—Evidence from a German Case Study
Local electricity markets with peer-to-peer trading have recently been put in the spotlight as one option of empowering the end-user and fostering the use of distributed energy resources. A number of pilot projects have already proven the feasibility of concepts for energy communities that the European Commission has called for in the Clean Energy for All Europeans package. However, policymakers need to look out to reassess these structures to ensure a fair distribution of incentives, profits and burdens when adjusting the current market designs to allow for local electricity markets. We show how certain concepts in their basic structure can lead to distributional effects and create a redistribution of costs at the expenses of the average, less affluent energy consumer.
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CSEI Policy Brief #005
Network Utilities Performance and Institutional Quality: Evidence from the Italian Electricity Sector
It is generally accepted that institutions are important for economic development. In this work, we analyse how the quality of regional institutions impacts performance of Italian electricity distribution utilities and show that utilities in regions with better government effectiveness, responsiveness towards citizens, control of corruption, and rule of law, also tend to be more cost efficient. The results suggest that national regulators should take regional institutional diversity into account in incentive regulation and efficiency benchmarking of utilities.
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CSEI Policy Brief #004
Electricity Market Integration, Decarbonisation and Security of Supply: Dynamic Volatility Connectedness in the Irish and Great Britain Market
This study investigates the volatility connectedness between the Irish and Great Britain electricity markets and how it is driven by changes in energy policy, institutional structures and political ideologies. We assess various aspects of volatility connectedness between 2009 and 2018. Among other implications, our results suggest that supporting renewable generation by setting an appropriate carbon price in interconnected wholesale electricity markets will improve market integration.
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CSEI Policy Brief #003
Incentive Regulation of UK Electricity and Gas Networks: From RIIO-1 to RIIO-2
The regulatory and operating context of energy networks is dynamic and constantly evolving. Achieving a multitude of economic, environmental, social and policy objectives is a challenging task for the sector regulators. The UK energy regulator Ofgem has proposed a revision of its approach to energy network price control and incentive regulation.
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CSEI Policy Brief #002
The Rebound Effect in Energy Consumption
Generally speaking, the rebound effect describes a situation in which an energy efficiency improvement leads to a less than proportional reduction in energy consumption. Energy efficiency enhancements implicitly imply reductions in the marginal cost of energy, which can be translated into increases in the demand for certain energy services and consequently to increases in energy demand. This policy brief discusses some recent empirical evidence on the rebound effect and its policy significance. A rebound effect different from zero means that the expected emissions savings might not be achieved. Therefore, policy goals to reach specific levels of emissions through energy efficiency could need to be adjusted accordingly.
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CSEI Policy Brief #001
Public Acceptance in Sustainable Grid Development – A New Approach
In the course of the transition from carbon extensive power generation to low carbon technologies, the electricity grid will face technical as well as non-technical challenges. Transmission systems are required to tackle the change from highly flexible, centralized generation technologies to fluctuating, unpredictable and decentralized power generation. The grid often needs to be extended to ensure security of supply. While the benefits of the projects affect the whole system, their social costs are local. This mismatch of costs and benefits is a source of conflict and requires new approaches to grid development.
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