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Strategic Reserves versus Market-wide Capacity Mechanisms

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  • Pär Holmberg

    (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN), Stockholm)

  • Thomas Tangerås

    (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN), Stockholm)

Abstract

Many electricity markets use capacity mechanisms to support generation owners. Capacity payments can mitigate imperfections associated with “missing money” in the spot market and solve transitory capacity shortages caused by investment cycles, regulatory changes, or technology shifts. We discuss capacity mechanisms used in different electricity markets around the world. We argue that strategic reserves, if correctly designed, are likely to be more efficient than market-wide capacity mechanisms. This is especially so in electricity markets that rely on substantial amounts of intermittent generation, hydropower, and energy storage whose available capacity varies with circumstances and is difficult to estimate.
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Suggested Citation

  • Pär Holmberg & Thomas Tangerås, 2021. "Strategic Reserves versus Market-wide Capacity Mechanisms," Working Papers EPRG2109, Energy Policy Research Group, Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge.
    • Handle: RePEc:enp:wpaper:eprg2109
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Christos K. Simoglou & Pandelis N. Biskas, 2023. "Capacity Mechanisms in Europe and the US: A Comparative Analysis and a Real-Life Application for Greece," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(2), pages 1-32, January.
    2. Billimoria, Farhad & Fele, Filiberto & Savelli, Iacopo & Morstyn, Thomas & McCulloch, Malcolm, 2022. "An insurance mechanism for electricity reliability differentiation under deep decarbonization," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 321(C).
    3. Holmberg, Pär & Tangerås, Thomas, 2021. "Sweden's Energy Investment Challenge," Working Paper Series 1383, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Capacity mechanism; market design; reliability; resource efficiency;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D25 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Intertemporal Firm Choice: Investment, Capacity, and Financing
    • D47 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Market Design
    • 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

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