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Renewable Electricity and Backup Capacities: An (Un-) Resolvable Problem?

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  • Aaron Praktiknjo and Georg Erdmann

Abstract

Public support for renewables has led to an unexpected investment momentum in Germany. A consequence is a reduction in wholesale electricity prices, the so-called merit order effect of renewables. We estimate this reduction using an econometric approach and provide a quantitative overview of the financial situation of conventional generators. Our results indicate that investments in new conventional capacities are economically unviable. With the current market design, this situation is going to impact supply security, at least in the long run. A popular approach to address this issue is the introduction of additional public support for conventional power plants. However, we believe that subsidizing renewable and conventional capacities contradicts the idea of a liberal market. We present two alternatives: State control of investments in renewables through auctions (as proposed by the European Commission), and a premium paid to representatives of the demand side (such as retailers) in dependence of their shares of renewables.

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  • Aaron Praktiknjo and Georg Erdmann, 2016. "Renewable Electricity and Backup Capacities: An (Un-) Resolvable Problem?," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Bollino-M).
    • Handle: RePEc:aen:journl:ej37-si2-praktiknjo
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    1. Nielsen, Steffen & Sorknæs, Peter & Østergaard, Poul Alberg, 2011. "Electricity market auction settings in a future Danish electricity system with a high penetration of renewable energy sources – A comparison of marginal pricing and pay-as-bid," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(7), pages 4434-4444.
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    3. Sensfuß, Frank & Ragwitz, Mario & Genoese, Massimo, 2008. "The merit-order effect: A detailed analysis of the price effect of renewable electricity generation on spot market prices in Germany," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(8), pages 3076-3084, August.
    4. Luiz T. A. Maurer & Luiz A. Barroso, 2011. "Electricity Auctions : An Overview of Efficient Practices," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 2346, December.
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    Cited by:

    1. Gilmore, J. & Nolan, T. & Simshauser, P., 2022. "The Levelised Cost of Frequency Control Ancillary Services in Australia’s National Electricity Market," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 2203, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    2. Ruhnau, Oliver & Hirth, Lion & Praktiknjo, Aaron, 2020. "Heating with wind: Economics of heat pumps and variable renewables," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    3. Bucksteeg, Michael, 2019. "Modelling the impact of geographical diversification of wind turbines on the required firm capacity in Germany," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 235(C), pages 1476-1491.
    4. Carol Inoue Dick & Aaron Praktiknjo, 2019. "Blockchain Technology and Electricity Wholesale Markets: Expert Insights on Potentials and Challenges for OTC Trading in Europe," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-25, March.
    5. Frondel, Manuel & Kaeding, Matthias & Sommer, Stephan, 2022. "Market premia for renewables in Germany: The effect on electricity prices," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    6. Newbery, David & Pollitt, Michael G. & Ritz, Robert A. & Strielkowski, Wadim, 2018. "Market design for a high-renewables European electricity system," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 695-707.
    7. Liebensteiner, Mario & Wrienz, Matthias, 2020. "Do Intermittent Renewables Threaten the Electricity Supply Security?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    8. Keles, Dogan & Bublitz, Andreas & Zimmermann, Florian & Genoese, Massimo & Fichtner, Wolf, 2016. "Analysis of design options for the electricity market: The German case," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 183(C), pages 884-901.
    9. Diana Bottger & Philipp Hartel, 2021. "On Wholesale Electricity Prices and Market Values in a Carbon-Neutral Energy System," Papers 2105.01127, arXiv.org.
    10. Böttger, Diana & Härtel, Philipp, 2022. "On wholesale electricity prices and market values in a carbon-neutral energy system," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    11. Specht, Jan Martin & Madlener, Reinhard, 2019. "Energy Supplier 2.0: A conceptual business model for energy suppliers aggregating flexible distributed assets and policy issues raised," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    12. Nolting, Lars & Praktiknjo, Aaron, 2020. "Can we phase-out all of them? Probabilistic assessments of security of electricity supply for the German case," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 263(C).
    13. Ignacio Mauleón, 2020. "Economic Issues in Deep Low-Carbon Energy Systems," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-32, August.
    14. Simshauser, Paul, 2021. "Vertical integration, peaking plant commitments and the role of credit quality in energy-only markets," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    15. Sebastian Schäfer & Lisa Altvater, 2021. "A Capacity Market for the Transition towards Renewable-Based Electricity Generation with Enhanced Political Feasibility," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-24, September.
    16. Yue Pu & Yunting Li & Yingzi Wang, 2021. "Structure Characteristics and Influencing Factors of Cross-Border Electricity Trade: A Complex Network Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-25, May.
    17. Schöniger, Franziska & Morawetz, Ulrich B., 2022. "What comes down must go up: Why fluctuating renewable energy does not necessarily increase electricity spot price variance in Europe," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).

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