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Tales of two islands – Lessons for EU energy policy from electricity market reforms in Britain and Ireland

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  • Newbery, David

Abstract

Britain considers the energy-only EU Target Electricity Model (TEM) wanting in delivering the trilemma of reliability, sustainability and affordability and argues that a capacity auction with long-term contracts for new entrants is the least-cost solution compared to relying on expectations of future prices to deliver adequate generation and demand side response. The Energy Union argues against feed-in tariffs (FiTs) for renewables, pressing for premium FiTs (pFiTs), just as GB has abandoned PFiTs in favour of FiTs. This paper draws on the GB experience of Electricity Market Reform before and after the 2015 change of government, to highlight promising resolutions of the energy trilemma, and the problems that have arisen between the diagnosis of the problem and the delivery of solutions. It sets out the theory and practice of delivering capacity, energy and quality of supply, gives a brief history of GB electricity from the CEGB to its current unbundled, liberalized and privatized structure. That sheds light on the trilemma problem and discusses possible solutions. The island of Ireland Single Electricity Market reforms illustrate the problem and possible answer of how best to deliver quality of service with high intermittency.

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  • Newbery, David, 2017. "Tales of two islands – Lessons for EU energy policy from electricity market reforms in Britain and Ireland," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 597-607.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:105:y:2017:i:c:p:597-607
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2016.10.015
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    8. Simshauser, P., 2021. "Rooftop Solar PV and the Peak Load Problem in the NEM’s Queensland Region," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 2180, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    9. Holmberg, Pär & Tangerås, Thomas & Ahlqvist, Victor, 2018. "Central- versus Self-Dispatch in Electricity Markets," Working Paper Series 1257, Research Institute of Industrial Economics, revised 27 Mar 2019.
    10. 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.
    11. Castaneda, Monica & Zapata, Sebastian & Cherni, Judith & Aristizabal, Andres J. & Dyner, Isaac, 2020. "The long-term effects of cautious feed-in tariff reductions on photovoltaic generation in the UK residential sector," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 155(C), pages 1432-1443.
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    14. Filippos Ioannidis & Kyriaki Kosmidou & Kostas Andriosopoulos & Antigoni Everkiadi, 2021. "Assessment of the Target Model Implementation in the Wholesale Electricity Market of Greece," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-22, October.
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    17. 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).
    18. Daglish, Toby & de Bragança, Gabriel Godofredo Fiuza & Owen, Sally & Romano, Teresa, 2021. "Pricing effects of the electricity market reform in Brazil," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    19. Alexander Brem & Dominic T. J. O’Sullivan & Ken Bruton, 2021. "Advancing the Industrial Sectors Participation in Demand Response within National Electricity Grids," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-26, December.
    20. Chen, Peipei & Wu, Yi & Zou, Lele, 2019. "Distributive PV trading market in China: A design of multi-agent-based model and its forecast analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 185(C), pages 423-436.
    21. Simshauser, Paul & Gilmore, Joel, 2022. "Climate change policy discontinuity & Australia's 2016-2021 renewable investment supercycle," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    22. Komorowska, Aleksandra & Kaszyński, Przemysław & Kamiński, Jacek, 2023. "Where does the capacity market money go? Lessons learned from Poland," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    23. Jemma J. Makrygiorgou & Christos-Spyridon Karavas & Christos Dikaiakos & Ioannis P. Moraitis, 2023. "The Electricity Market in Greece: Current Status, Identified Challenges, and Arranged Reforms," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-40, February.
    24. Coker, Phil J. & Bloomfield, Hannah C. & Drew, Daniel R. & Brayshaw, David J., 2020. "Interannual weather variability and the challenges for Great Britain’s electricity market design," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 509-522.
    25. 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.

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