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Strategic Behaviour in a Capacity Market? The New Irish Electricity Market Design

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  • Juha Teirilä
  • Robert A. Ritz

Abstract

The transition to a low-carbon power system requires growing the share of generation from (intermittent) renewables while ensuring security of supply. Policymakers and economists increasingly see a capacity mechanism as a way to deal with this challenge. Yet this raises new concerns about the exercise of market power by large players via the capacity auction. We present a new modelling approach that captures such strategic behaviour together with a set of ex ante empirical estimates for the new Irish electricity market design (I-SEM)—in which a single firm controls 44% of generation capacity (excluding wind). We find significant costs of strategic behaviour, even with new entry: In our baseline scenarios, procurement costs in the capacity auction are around 150-400 million EUR (or 40-100%) above the competitive least-cost solution. From a policy perspective, we also examine how market power can be measured and mitigated through auction design.

Suggested Citation

  • Juha Teirilä & Robert A. Ritz, 2019. "Strategic Behaviour in a Capacity Market? The New Irish Electricity Market Design," The Energy Journal, , vol. 40(1_suppl), pages 105-126, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:enejou:v:40:y:2019:i:1_suppl:p:105-126
    DOI: 10.5547/01956574.40.SI1.jtei
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Cullen, Joseph A. & Reynolds, Stanley S., 2023. "Market dynamics and investment in the electricity sector," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    2. Cédric Clastres & Haikel Khalfallah, 2021. "Dynamic pricing efficiency with strategic retailers and consumers: An analytical analysis of short-term market interactions," Post-Print hal-03193212, HAL.
    3. Holmberg, Pär & Ritz, Robert A., 2019. "Capacity Mechanisms and the Technology Mix in Competitive Electricity Markets," Working Paper Series 1292, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    4. Pär Holmberg & Robert A. Ritz, 2021. "Optimal Capacity Mechanisms for Competitive Electricity Markets," The Energy Journal, , vol. 42(1_suppl), pages 1-34, June.
    5. Holmberg, P. & Tangerås, T., 2021. "Strategic Reserves versus Market-wide Capacity Mechanisms," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 2132, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    6. Simona Bigerna & Carlo Andrea Bollino & Maria Chiara D’Errico & Paolo Polinori, 2023. "A new design for market power monitoring in the electricity market. A simulation for Italy," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 40(1), pages 285-317, April.
    7. Lynch, Muireann Á. & Longoria, Genora & Curtis, John, 2021. "Future market design options for electricity markets with high RES-E: lessons from the Irish Single Electricity Market," Papers WP702, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
    8. Carlson, Ewa Lazarczyk & Pickford, Kit & Nyga-Łukaszewska, Honorata, 2023. "Green hydrogen and an evolving concept of energy security: Challenges and comparisons," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 219(P1).
    9. Clastres, Cédric & Khalfallah, Haikel, 2021. "Dynamic pricing efficiency with strategic retailers and consumers: An analytical analysis of short-term market interactions," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    10. Ewa Lazarczyk & L. (Lisa B.) Ryan, 2019. "Transition to a Capacity Auction: a Case Study of Ireland," Open Access publications 10197/10915, School of Economics, University College Dublin.
    11. Lynch, Muireann & Longoria, Genaro & Curtis, John, 2021. "Market design options for electricity markets with high variable renewable generation," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    12. Cédric Clastres & Haikel Khalfallah, 2020. "Retailers' strategies facing demand response and markets interactions," Working Papers hal-03167543, HAL.
    13. Durmaz, Tunç & Acar, Sevil & Kızılkaya, Simay, 2024. "Generation failures, strategic withholding, and capacity payments in the Turkish electricity market," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Capacity market; Strategic behaviour; Competitive benchmark analysis; Restructured electricity market; Auction design;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D44 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Auctions
    • H57 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Procurement
    • L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets
    • L94 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Electric Utilities

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