Understanding best practice regarding interruptible connections for wind generation: lessons from national and international experience

The aim of this study is to explore different practices for accelerating the integration of generating facilities to the electricity network using smart solutions. Case studies from Great Britain, Ireland and Northern Ireland and the Unites States were selected. The paper assesses and compares the different Principles of Access (POA) that have been implemented in these countries, such as Last-in First-out (LIFO), Pro Rata and Market-based. The social optimality of these approaches is also discussed. The paper also evaluates how the risk (regarding curtailment and investment) is allocated between parties (distributor network operators, generators and customers). Even though the cases are diverse, important findings and lessons have been identified which may assist UK distribution network operators to address the issue of increasing the connection of distributed generation while managing efficiently and economically energy exports from generators

Economic Doctrines and Approaches to Climate Change Policy

In climate change, as in all policy issues, economic philosophy has a significant influence on how people view both the problems and the solutions. For the first time, ITIF surveys four dominant schools of economic thought and analyzes how adherents approach policy options for climate change and energy policy. With climate change and major energy legislation stalled, maybe it is time to put aside fixed philosophical notions and take a practical look on ways to address climate change in an economically feasible way. The report reviews the principles and goals of each economic doctrine, and offers a critique of the advantages and limitations of each doctrine's contribution to addressing the challenge of climate change.Innovation; Economics; Climate Change; Public Policy

Exploring the role of servitization to overcome barriers for innovative energy efficiency technologies – the case of public LED street lighting in German municipalities

In this paper we analyse the case for public application of LED street lighting. Drawing from the energy services literature and transaction cost economics, we compare modes of lighting governance for modernisation. We argue that servitization can accelerate the commercialisation and diffusion of end-use energy demand reduction (EUED) technologies in the public sector if third party energy service companies (ESCo) overcome technological, institutional and economic barriers that accompany the introduction of such technologies resulting in transaction costs. This can only succeed with a supportive policy framework and an environment conducive towards the dissemination of specific technological and commercial knowledge required for the diffusion process

Analyzing the Impacts of Policy Supports and Incentive Programs on Resource Management

Feedstock-based renewable fuels, and ecosystem restoration practices such as afforestation are long-term solutions to mitigating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This dissertation aligns with assessing the effects of policy supports and voluntary incentive programs on renewable fuel production and forest-based carbon sequestration.Higher investment risks and novelty of the feedstock-based conversion technologies hinder large-scale deployment of renewable fuels at present. In the first essay, a two-stage stochastic model is employed to evaluate the impact of federal subsidies in designing a switchgrass-based bioethanol supply chain in west Tennessee wherein decisions driven by minimized expected and Conditional Value-at-Risk of system cost reflected the risk-neutral and risk-averse perspective of the biofuel sector, respectively. Major contribution of this study is the impact assessment of Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP) on investment decisions (including land allocation) of a risk-sensitive biofuel industry under feedstock supply uncertainty.In the second essay, impacts of renewable jet fuel (RJF) production from switchgrass on farmland allocation, processing facility configuration, and GHG emissions are estimated in response to fulfilling the RJF demand at the Memphis International Airport in Tennessee. Importantly, a potential carbon market is used to explore the impact of hypothetical carbon credits on the GHG emissions reduction and net supply-chain welfare while addressing the economic motives of the supply-chain participants. Considering the attention paid by the Unites States aviation sector with respect to GHG emissions, this study highlights the importance of Renewable Identification Number (RIN) credits and tradable carbon credits in achieving the desired economic viability and emission abatement goals through a Stackelberg interaction between the feedstock suppliers and the feedstock processor.In the third essay, discriminatory-price auction and agent-based model are used to examine the cost-efficiency of cost-ranked and cost-benefit-ranked auction-based payment designs for forest-based carbon sequestration with varying degree of correlation between opportunity costs of afforestation and carbon sequestration capacities, when bidders learn in multi-round procurement auctions. Simulation outcomes are expected to guide decision makers in choosing an optimal payment design that ensures efficiency gains for auction-based payments compared to fixed-rate payments, and more importantly ensures minimal loss in cost-efficiency in a dynamic setting