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How Can Renewable Portfolio Standards Lower Electricity Prices?

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  • Fischer, Carolyn

    (Resources for the Future)

Abstract

Some studies of renewable portfolio standards find that regulations increase generation costs; others find that reduced demand for nonrenewable energy sources lowers natural gas prices and that electricity prices follow. This paper presents reasoning for why these predictions can vary in the direction as well as in the magnitude of their effects. The driving factors are the relative elasticities of electricity supply from both fossil and renewable energy sources. The availability of other baseload generation is another factor, whereas demand elasticity influences only the magnitude of the price effects, not the direction of those effects.

Suggested Citation

  • Fischer, Carolyn, 2006. "How Can Renewable Portfolio Standards Lower Electricity Prices?," RFF Working Paper Series dp-06-20, Resources for the Future.
    • Handle: RePEc:rff:dpaper:dp-06-20
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    File URL: http://www.rff.org/RFF/documents/RFF-DP-06-20.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    4. Palmer, Karen & Burtraw, Dallas, 2005. "Cost-effectiveness of renewable electricity policies," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(6), pages 873-894, November.
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    Cited by:

    1. Benjamin K. Sovacool, 2008. "A Matter of Stability and Equity: The Case for Federal Action on Renewable Portfolio Standards in the U.S," Energy & Environment, , vol. 19(2), pages 241-261, March.
    2. Bhattacharya, Suparna & Giannakas, Konstantinos & Schoengold, Karina, 2013. "Market and Welfare Effects of Renewable Portfolio Standard in the Vertically Differentiated U.S. Energy Markets," 2013 Annual Meeting, August 4-6, 2013, Washington, D.C. 151216, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    3. Constant Tra, 2009. "Have Renewable Portfolio Standards Raised Electricity Rates? Evidence from U.S. Electric Utilities," Working Papers 0923, University of Nevada, Las Vegas , Department of Economics.
    4. Vajjhala, Shalini & Paul, Anthony & Sweeney, Richard & Palmer, Karen, 2008. "Green Corridors: Linking Interregional Transmission Expansion and Renewable Energy Policies," RFF Working Paper Series dp-08-06, Resources for the Future.
    5. Gelabert, Liliana & Labandeira, Xavier & Linares, Pedro, 2011. "An ex-post analysis of the effect of renewables and cogeneration on Spanish electricity prices," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(S1), pages 59-65.
    6. Clò, Stefano & D'Adamo, Gaetano, 2015. "The dark side of the sun: How solar power production affects the market value of solar and gas sources," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 523-530.
    7. Paschen, Marius, 2016. "Dynamic analysis of the German day-ahead electricity spot market," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 118-128.
    8. Bhattacharya, Suparna & Giannakas, Konstantinos & Schoengold, Karina, 2017. "Market and welfare effects of renewable portfolio standards in United States electricity markets," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 384-401.
    9. López Prol, Javier & Steininger, Karl W. & Zilberman, David, 2020. "The cannibalization effect of wind and solar in the California wholesale electricity market," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    10. Clò, Stefano & Cataldi, Alessandra & Zoppoli, Pietro, 2015. "The merit-order effect in the Italian power market: The impact of solar and wind generation on national wholesale electricity prices," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 79-88.
    11. Rüdiger Pethig & Christian Wittlich, 2009. "Interaction of Carbon Reduction and Green Energy Promotion in a Small Fossil-Fuel Importing Economy," CESifo Working Paper Series 2749, CESifo.
    12. Beltrami, Filippo & Fontini, Fulvio & Grossi, Luigi, 2021. "The value of carbon emission reduction induced by Renewable Energy Sources in the Italian power market," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
    13. Ulrich J. Frey & Martin Klein & Kristina Nienhaus & Christoph Schimeczek, 2020. "Self-Reinforcing Electricity Price Dynamics under the Variable Market Premium Scheme," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-19, October.
    14. World Bank, 2011. "Transition to a Low-Emissions Economy in Poland," World Bank Publications - Reports 27419, The World Bank Group.
    15. Fischer, Carolyn & Newell, Richard G., 2008. "Environmental and technology policies for climate mitigation," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 55(2), pages 142-162, March.
    16. Christoph Böhringer & Knut Rosendahl, 2010. "Green promotes the dirtiest: on the interaction between black and green quotas in energy markets," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 37(3), pages 316-325, June.
    17. Pedro Linares & Francisco Javier Santos & Mariano Ventosa, 2008. "Coordination of carbon reduction and renewable energy support policies," Climate Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(4), pages 377-394, July.
    18. Moreno, Fermín & Martínez-Val, José M., 2011. "Collateral effects of renewable energies deployment in Spain: Impact on thermal power plants performance and management," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(10), pages 6561-6574, October.
    19. Ronald Huisman & Victoria Stradnic & Sjur Westgaard, 2013. "Renewable energy and electricity prices: indirect empirical evidence from hydro power," Working Papers 2013/24, Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB).
    20. Ronald Huisman & Victoria Stradnic & Sjur Westgaard, 2013. "Renewable energy and electricity prices: indirect empirical evidence from hydro power," Working Papers 2013/24, Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB).
    21. Dillig, Marius & Jung, Manuel & Karl, Jürgen, 2016. "The impact of renewables on electricity prices in Germany – An estimation based on historic spot prices in the years 2011–2013," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 7-15.
    22. Liliana Gelabert & Xavier Labandeira & Pedro Linares, 2011. "Renewable Energy and Electricity Prices in Spain," Working Papers 01-2011, Economics for Energy.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    portfolio standards; natural gas; renewable energy; climate change;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q4 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy
    • Q5 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics
    • H2 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue

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