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How do Price Caps in Chinas Electricity Sector Impact the Economics of Coal, Power and Wind? Potential Gains from Reforms

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  • Bertrand Rioux, Philipp Galkin, Frederic Murphy, and Axel Pierru

Abstract

China imposes maximum prices by plant type and region on the electricity that generators sell to utilities. We show that these price caps create a need for subsidies and cross-subsidies, and affect the economics of wind power. We model the price caps using a mixed complementarity formulation, calibrated to 2012 data. We find that the caps impose an annual cost of 45 billion RMB, alter the generation and fuel mixes, require subsidies for the market to clear, and do not incentivize adding capacity for a reserve margin. They incentivize market concentration so that generators can cross-subsidize power plants. Depending on the regulatory response, increasing wind capacity can alleviate the distortions due to the price caps. The added wind capacity, however, does not have a significant impact on the amount of coal consumed. We also find that the feed-in tariff was priced slightly higher than necessary.

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  • Bertrand Rioux, Philipp Galkin, Frederic Murphy, and Axel Pierru, 2017. "How do Price Caps in Chinas Electricity Sector Impact the Economics of Coal, Power and Wind? Potential Gains from Reforms," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(KAPSARC S).
    • Handle: RePEc:aen:journl:ej38-si1-pierru
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    Cited by:

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    2. Jia, Zhijie & Lin, Boqiang, 2021. "The impact of removing cross subsidies in electric power industry in China: Welfare, economy, and CO2 emission," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 148(PB).
    3. Rioux, Bertrand & Galkin, Philipp & Murphy, Frederic & Feijoo, Felipe & Pierru, Axel & Malov, Artem & Li, Yan & Wu, Kang, 2019. "The economic impact of price controls on China's natural gas supply chain," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 394-410.
    4. Murphy, Frederic & Pierru, Axel & Smeers, Yves, 2019. "Measuring the effects of price controls using mixed complementarity models," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 275(2), pages 666-676.
    5. Muñoz, Juan C. & Sauma, Enzo & Muñoz, Francisco D. & Moreno, Rodrigo, 2023. "Analysis of generation investments under price controls in cross-border trade of electricity," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).
    6. Gong, Chengzhu & Wu, Desheng & Gong, Nianjiao & Qi, Rui, 2020. "Multi-agent mixed complementary simulation of natural gas upstream market liberalization in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).

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