An overview of the Portuguese electricity market

The electricity market in Portugal was recently opened to all consumers. However, it remains highly concentrated in terms of control of production and supply and the long-term power purchase arrangements still coexist with free market. This paper discusses the electricity market restructuring process in Portugal, presenting its main marks over the past years and the present situation. The evolution of the electricity prices in Portugal is analysed, and a comparison with EU-15 is presented. Special attention is given to Spain due to the possibility of cross-border competition in the future arising from the formation of the Iberian electricity market

Optimizing wellfield operation in a variable power price regime

Wellfield management is a multi-objective optimization problem. One important management objective has been energy efficiency in terms of minimizing the energy footprint (EFP) of delivered water (MWh/m3). However, power systems in most countries are moving in the direction of deregulated power markets and power price variability is increasing in many markets because of increased penetration of intermittent renewable power sources. In this context the relevant management objective becomes minimizing the cost of energy used for pumping and distribution of groundwater rather than minimizing energy use itself."br/""br/"We estimated energy footprint as a function of wellfield pumping rate (EFP-Q relationship) for a wellfield in Denmark using a coupled well and pipe network model. This EFP-Q relationship was subsequently used in a stochastic dynamic programming framework to minimize total cost of operating the combined wellfield-storage-demand system over the course of a 2-year planning period based on a time series of observed price on the Danish power market and a deterministic, time-varying hourly water demand. In the SDP setup, hourly pumping rates are the decision variables. Constraints include storage capacity and hourly water demand fulfilment. The SDP was solved for a baseline situation and for four scenario runs representing different EFP-Q relationships and different maximum wellfield pumping rates."br/""br/"Savings were quantified as differences in total cost between the scenario and a constant-rate pumping policy. Minor savings up to 10% were found in the baseline scenario, while the scenario with constant EFP and unlimited pumping rate resulted in savings up to 40%. Key factors determining potential cost savings obtained by flexible wellfield operation under a variable power price regime are the shape of the EFP-Q relationship, the maximum feasible pumping rate and the capacity of available storage facilities."b

Economic and environmental evaluation of customers' flexibility participating in operation markets: Application to the meat industry

This paper presents a methodology, which is applied to the meat industry, for the evaluation and assessment of the economical impact of customers participating in operation markets by using the flexibility they may have, as well as the amount of CO2 avoided to be emitted into the atmosphere. The particular market conditions in the Spanish context have been considered. Thus, real prices of operation markets in Spain have been used to evaluate the potential profitability, even if customers are not actually allowed to participate in such markets at the moment. The economic evaluation requires a cost-benefit analysis, as presented in the methodology. The procedure followed evaluates the maximum daily benefit obtained by the customer when offering all its flexibility in operation markets, so that it can make a decision based on the expected benefits. In order to determine the value of this benefit, different aspects are evaluated, including the amount of money saved during the flexibility actions due to the energy not consumed or shifted to cheaper periods, as well as the costs that the customer incurs when a flexibility action is performed. Finally, the obtained results for a typical customer are extrapolated to the whole segment in the country.The authors gratefully acknowledge the contributions of Campofrio Food Group, S.A. This work was supported by the Spanish Government (Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion) and FEDER EU funds under Research Project ENE2010-20495-C02-01.Alcázar Ortega, M.; Álvarez Bel, CM.; Domijan, A.; Escrivá Escrivá, G. (2012). Economic and environmental evaluation of customers' flexibility participating in operation markets: Application to the meat industry. Energy. 41(1):368-379. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2012.03.003S36837941

Electricity service utilities in the GCC : steps towards a common regulatory reform

The member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), namely; the Kingdom of Bahrain, the State of Kuwait, the Sultanate of Oman, the State of Qatar, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have been moving towards more economic integration while taking practical steps in the direction of market opening and liberalisation. Over the past ten years, the GCC has evolved into a more integrated economic zone with agreed common policies that are coordinated through its Secretariat. With respect to service utilities, the GCC Interconnection Grid – nearing completion in 2011 – is considered a milestone in the direction of integrating GCC electricity markets. The objective of this research is to suggest a GCC-wide policy to support reform of GCC electricity markets. The suggested policy would include new market structure(s) as well as institutional changes supported - when required - by sector specific laws and regulations. Further to the study’s academic contributions, the research is primarily intended to advance the further development of the economies of GCC member states. The study presents a model that we believe could contribute to expediting the process of developing the GCC zone as a common market by advising policy makers on the applicable elements of GCC electricity market structure, governance and performance. This study provides a comprehensive review of the theoretical aspects of electricity sector restructuring and examines different options for reform and restructuring based on worldwide experiences. The study adopts a case study research method to analyse the GCC situation in order to arrive at the recommended policy or ‘model’. The research specifically emphasises reforms that have already taken place in the Sultanate of Oman – for which an empirical social cost benefit analysis is carried out - and the Emirate of Abu Dhabi (UAE). Oman and Abu Dhabi are believed to be at more advanced stages of electricity market reform compared to other countries within the region. The study concludes that while some GCC member states have already taken the initial steps to restructure their respective electricity markets, other members are expected to follow. The study recommends a set of common steps or ‘rules’ that are presented in the form of a ‘model’ for restructuring GCC electricity markets. The proposed model for reform takes into consideration the nature of member states’ economies as well as the restrictions imposed by market size limitations and some other considerations that are a feature of prevailing policies in the region - such as commitments to subsidise consumer electricity tariffs. Since not all GCC member states are on an equal footing in terms of economy-size and preparation for structural reform, the suggested model allows for a transition mechanism. The study recommends that the electricity markets are unbundled before embarking on any further privatisation programmes. Further measures of wholesale competition may be then introduced allowing for a mix of both private and state-ownership through the use of a single-buyer model. Subsequently, activities that have natural monopoly characteristics such as transmission and distribution are to be separated and subject to incentive based regulation. The study recommends that the role of the GCC Interconnection Authority be restricted to transmission and system operations only and that each member state should have its own independent regulator. The study suggests that the GCC Secretariat play a co-ordination role between the different regulators while a separate power-exchange instrument be introduced to facilitate cross-border electricity trading between GCC member states