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Using insurance to manage reliability in the distributed electricity sector: Insights from an agent-based model

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  • Fuentes, Rolando
  • Sengupta, Abhijit

Abstract

High penetration of distributed technologies would call for a different way to manage electricity reliability for semi-independent households. One option could be to allow customers to withdraw power from the grid when their home system fails. This behavior, however, could constitute an existential threat for utilities: if consumers use the network less, and continue to pay according to their usage, the utility might be unable to recover its costs. This paper investigates whether the creation of a reliability insurance market would help to deal with these concerns. We propose a business model where utilities offer insurance to semi-independent, yet risk averse households, against the prospect of a blackout, when a pay as you go system is no longer available. With the use of an Agent Based Model, we test if contracts from this market can converge into a theoretical optimal contract where bounded perception of risks and losses impact the price of insurance and potential revenues of utilities. We find that such a market could exist as consumers efficiently transfer all or a portion of their risk to the utility, based on their willingness to pay and risk profiles, which allows them to avoid blackouts at the margin.

Suggested Citation

  • Fuentes, Rolando & Sengupta, Abhijit, 2020. "Using insurance to manage reliability in the distributed electricity sector: Insights from an agent-based model," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:139:y:2020:i:c:s0301421520300136
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2020.111251
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    Cited by:

    1. Dongwei Zhao & Hao Wang & Jianwei Huang & Xiaojun Lin, 2022. "Insurance Contract for High Renewable Energy Integration," Papers 2209.10363, arXiv.org.
    2. Farhad Billimoria & Filiberto Fele & Iacopo Savelli & Thomas Morstyn & Malcolm McCulloch, 2021. "On the Design of an Insurance Mechanism for Reliability Differentiation in Electricity Markets," Papers 2106.14351, arXiv.org.
    3. Chi-Keung Woo & Jay Zarnikau & Asher Tishler & Kang Hua Cao, 2022. "Insuring a Small Retail Electric Provider’s Procurement Cost Risk in Texas," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(1), pages 1-12, December.
    4. Farhad Billimoria & Filiberto Fele & Iacopo Savelli & Thomas Morstyn & Malcolm McCulloch, 2023. "An Insurance Paradigm for Improving Power System Resilience via Distributed Investment," Papers 2302.01456, arXiv.org.

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