IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/lus/zwipol/v62y2013i3p257-269.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Braucht Deutschland einen Kapazitätsmarkt für eine sichere Stromversorgung?

Author

Listed:
  • Haucap Justus

    (Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE), Universitätsstraße 1, 40225 Düsseldorf)

Abstract

This paper argues against the rapid implementation of capacity mechanisms in Germany. There is no systematic, non-temporary market failure in the German wholesale electricity market which could justify such a Government intervention. Neither the low elasticity of demand nor debatable public good characteristics nor the potentially missing acceptance of price spikes can support the idea of that the energy only market may fail to guarantee reliability of supply. In addition, there are currently no resilient signs of any shortage of supply. In contrast, the German wholesale electricity market is still characterized by over-capacities. The worldwide experience with capacity mechanisms also demonstrates most of all that no capacity market design is ever stable, but subject to change in often quite short intervals. Potential low-cost options to safeguard security of supply include a strategic reserve against generation failures. In addition, the Federal Cartel Office should correct its position that dominant firms must not offer electricity at a price above the short-run marginal cost. Such a prescription forecloses the market and chokes off investment and would in most other cases be regarded as an anticompetitive foreclosure strategy of a dominant firm.

Suggested Citation

  • Haucap Justus, 2013. "Braucht Deutschland einen Kapazitätsmarkt für eine sichere Stromversorgung?," Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftspolitik, De Gruyter, vol. 62(3), pages 257-269, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:lus:zwipol:v:62:y:2013:i:3:p:257-269
    DOI: 10.1515/zfwp-2013-0305
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1515/zfwp-2013-0305
    Download Restriction: For access to full text, subscription to the journal or payment for the individual article is required.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1515/zfwp-2013-0305?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Saskia Ellenbeck & Andreas Beneking & Andrzej Ceglarz & Peter Schmidt & Antonella Battaglini, 2015. "Security of Supply in European Electricity Markets—Determinants of Investment Decisions and the European Energy Union," Energies, MDPI, vol. 8(6), pages 1-19, June.
    2. Justus Haucap & Jonathan Meinhof, 2022. "Die Strompreise der Zukunft [Electricity Prices of the Future]," Wirtschaftsdienst, Springer;ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 102(1), pages 53-60, May.
    3. Schmitt, Stephan & Wissner, Matthias, 2016. "Kapazitätsmechanismen – Internationale Erfahrungen," WIK Discussion Papers 406, WIK Wissenschaftliches Institut für Infrastruktur und Kommunikationsdienste GmbH.
    4. Haucap, Justus & Heimeshoff, Ulrich & Klein, Gordon J. & Rickert, Dennis & Wey, Christian, 2013. "Wettbewerbsprobleme im Lebensmitteleinzelhandel," DICE Ordnungspolitische Perspektiven 48, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE).
    5. Feld, Lars P. & Fuest, Clemens & Haucap, Justus & Schweitzer, Heike & Wieland, Volker & Wigger, Berthold U., 2014. "Neustart in der Energiepolitik jetzt!," Kronberger Kreis-Studien 58, Stiftung Marktwirtschaft / The Market Economy Foundation, Berlin.
    6. Annika Gillich & Kai Hufendiek, 2022. "Asset Profitability in the Electricity Sector: An Iterative Approach in a Linear Optimization Model," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-31, June.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D47 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Market Design
    • L51 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy - - - Economics of Regulation
    • L94 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Electric Utilities
    • Q40 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - General
    • Q48 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Government Policy

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:lus:zwipol:v:62:y:2013:i:3:p:257-269. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.degruyter.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.