IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cpr/ceprdp/13088.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

A Primer on Capacity Mechanisms

Author

Listed:
  • Fabra, Natalia

Abstract

I build a simple model to capture the key drivers of investment and pricing incentives in electricity markets. The focus is put on the interaction between market power and investment incentives, and the trade-off it introduces when designing the optimal regulatory instruments. In contrast to the energy-only market paradigm that assumes perfect competition, my model demonstrates that in the presence of market power scarcity prices do not promote efficient investments, even among risk-neutral investors. Combining price caps and capacity payments allows to disentangle the two-fold objective of inducing the right investment incentives while mitigating market power. Bundling capacity payments with financial obligations further mitigate market power as long as strike prices are set sufficiently close to marginal costs.

Suggested Citation

  • Fabra, Natalia, 2018. "A Primer on Capacity Mechanisms," CEPR Discussion Papers 13088, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
  • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:13088
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://cepr.org/publications/DP13088
    Download Restriction: CEPR Discussion Papers are free to download for our researchers, subscribers and members. If you fall into one of these categories but have trouble downloading our papers, please contact us at subscribers@cepr.org
    ---><---

    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:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Paul Joskow & Jean Tirole, 2007. "Reliability and competitive electricity markets," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 38(1), pages 60-84, March.
    2. Neuhoff, Karsten & Diekmann, Jochen & Kunz, Friedrich & Rüster, Sophia & Schill, Wolf-Peter & Schwenen, Sebastian, 2016. "A coordinated strategic reserve to safeguard the European energy transition," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 252-263.
    3. Natalia Fabra & Nils‐Henrik Fehr & David Harbord, 2006. "Designing electricity auctions," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 37(1), pages 23-46, March.
    4. Newbery, David, 2016. "Missing money and missing markets: Reliability, capacity auctions and interconnectors," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 401-410.
    5. Peter Cramton & Steven Stoft, 2006. "The Convergence of Market Designs for Adequate Generating Capacity," Papers of Peter Cramton 06mdfra, University of Maryland, Department of Economics - Peter Cramton, revised 2006.
    6. Joseph Bowring, 2013. "Capacity Markets in PJM," Economics of Energy & Environmental Policy, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 2).
    7. Natalia Fabra & Nils‐Henrik M von der Fehr & María‐Ángeles de Frutos, 2011. "Market Design and Investment Incentives," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 121(557), pages 1340-1360, December.
    8. Borenstein, Severin, 2000. "Understanding Competitive Pricing and Market Power in Wholesale Electricity Markets," The Electricity Journal, Elsevier, vol. 13(6), pages 49-57, July.
    9. Zöttl, Gregor, 2011. "On optimal scarcity prices," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 29(5), pages 589-605, September.
    10. Sebastian Schwenen, 2015. "Strategic bidding in multi-unit auctions with capacity constrained bidders: the New York capacity market," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 46(4), pages 730-750, October.
    11. Bajo-Buenestado, Raúl, 2017. "Welfare implications of capacity payments in a price-capped electricity sector: A case study of the Texas market (ERCOT)," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 272-285.
    12. Natalia Fabra & Nils-Henrik M. von der Fehr & David Harbord, 2006. "Designing Electricity Auctions," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 37(1), pages 23-46, Spring.
    13. Gerard Llobet and Jorge Padilla, 2018. "Conventional Power Plants in Liberalized Electricity Markets with Renewable Entry," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 3).
    14. Crampes, Claude & Salant, David, 2018. "A multi-regional model of electric resource adequacy," TSE Working Papers 18-877, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).
    15. Teirila, J., 2017. "Market Power in the Capacity Market? The Case of Ireland," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 1727, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    16. Creti, Anna & Fabra, Natalia, 2007. "Supply security and short-run capacity markets for electricity," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 259-276, March.
    17. Peter Cramton & Axel Ockenfels & Steven Stoft, 2013. "Capacity Market Fundamentals," Economics of Energy & Environmental Policy, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 2).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Brown, David P., 2018. "Capacity payment mechanisms and investment incentives in restructured electricity markets," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 131-142.
    2. Bublitz, Andreas & Keles, Dogan & Zimmermann, Florian & Fraunholz, Christoph & Fichtner, Wolf, 2018. "A survey on electricity market design: Insights from theory and real-world implementations of capacity remuneration mechanisms," Working Paper Series in Production and Energy 27, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Institute for Industrial Production (IIP).
    3. Bublitz, Andreas & Keles, Dogan & Zimmermann, Florian & Fraunholz, Christoph & Fichtner, Wolf, 2019. "A survey on electricity market design: Insights from theory and real-world implementations of capacity remuneration mechanisms," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 1059-1078.
    4. Holmberg, Pär & Tangerås, Thomas, 2021. "Strategic Reserves versus Market-wide Capacity Mechanisms," Working Paper Series 1387, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    5. Chloé Coq & Henrik Orzen & Sebastian Schwenen, 2017. "Pricing and capacity provision in electricity markets: an experimental study," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 51(2), pages 123-158, April.
    6. Tangerås, Thomas P., 2018. "Equilibrium supply security in a multinational electricity market with renewable production," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 416-435.
    7. Mier, Mathias, 2021. "Efficient pricing of electricity revisited," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    8. Bajo-Buenestado, Raúl, 2017. "Welfare implications of capacity payments in a price-capped electricity sector: A case study of the Texas market (ERCOT)," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 272-285.
    9. Schwenen, Sebastian, 2014. "Market design and supply security in imperfect power markets," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 256-263.
    10. Sirin, Selahattin Murat & Erten, Ibrahim, 2022. "Price spikes, temporary price caps, and welfare effects of regulatory interventions on wholesale electricity markets," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    11. Csereklyei, Zsuzsanna & Kallies, Anne, 2022. "A legal-economic framework of electricity markets: Assessing Australia’s transition," MPRA Paper 114191, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Sirin, Selahattin Murat & Camadan, Ercument & Erten, Ibrahim Etem & Zhang, Alex Hongliang, 2023. "Market failure or politics? Understanding the motives behind regulatory actions to address surging electricity prices," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    13. Khezr, Peyman & Nepal, Rabindra, 2021. "On the viability of energy-capacity markets under decreasing marginal costs," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    14. Keppler, Jan Horst & Quemin, Simon & Saguan, Marcelo, 2022. "Why the sustainable provision of low-carbon electricity needs hybrid markets," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    15. Simshauser, P., 2020. "Merchant utilities and boundaries of the firm: vertical integration in energy-only markets," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 2039, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    16. Simshauser, P. & Gilmore, J., 2020. "Is the NEM broken? Policy discontinuity and the 2017-2020 investment megacycle," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 2048, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    17. Elberg, Christina & Kranz, Sebastian, 2013. "Capacity Mechanisms and Effects on Market Structure," VfS Annual Conference 2013 (Duesseldorf): Competition Policy and Regulation in a Global Economic Order 79811, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    18. Simshauser, Paul, 2020. "Merchant renewables and the valuation of peaking plant in energy-only markets," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    19. Klaus Eisenack & Mathias Mier, 2019. "Peak-load pricing with different types of dispatchability," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 56(2), pages 105-124, December.
    20. Cinzia Bonaldo & Fulvio Fontini & Michele Moretto, 2022. "The Energy Transition and the Value of Capacity Remuneration Mechanisms," Working Papers 2022.16, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Scarcity pricing; market power; Capacity markets; Reliability options;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets
    • L51 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy - - - Economics of Regulation
    • L94 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Electric Utilities

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:cpr:ceprdp:13088. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cepr.org .

    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.