Introducing Competition in the French Electricity Supply Industry: The Destabilisation of a Public Hierarchy in an Open Institutional Environment

The French electricity supply industry is characterized by a vertically integrated monopoly and public ownership and when the government introduced market rules, it was with the aim of preserving the integration of the public incumbent as a national champion. This had two paradoxical effects in favour of competition development and the building of safeguards for entrants: 1/ the creation of a credible regulatory governance structure with effective power of control on network access which promoted market-rules, and the creation of a power exchange for balancing the incumbent’s dominant position; 2/ the credibility of the regulatory framework by the self-control of the incumbent in the use of its dominant position and on the capture of the regulator. These two effects result from the influence of the European institutional environment, in particular the intensive scrutiny of the European Commission, which is superposed on the national one.regulation, electricity

Option values of low carbon technology policies: how to combine irreversibility effects and learning-by-doing in decisions

In this paper, the political dilemma of the deployment of a large-size low carbon technology (LCT) is analyzed. A simple dynamic model is developed to analyze the interrelation between irreversible investments and learning-by-doing within a context of exogenous uncertainty on carbon price. Contrasting results are obtained. In some cases, the usual irreversibility effects hold, fewer plants of the LCT should be developed when information is anticipated. In other cases, this result is reversed and information arrival can justify an early deployment of the LCT. More precisely, it is shown that marginal reasoning is limited when learning by-doing, and more generally endogenous technical change, is considered. When information arrival is anticipated the optimal policy can move from a corner optimum with no LCT deployment to an interior optimum with a strictly positive development

European experiences with white certificate obligations: A critical review of existing evaluations

White certificate obligations impose energy savings targets on energy companies and allow them to trade energy savings certificates. They can be seen as a means of internalizing energy-use externalities and addressing energy efficiency market failures. This paper reviews existing evaluations of experiences with white certificate obligations in Great Britain, Italy and France. Ex ante microeconomic analysis find that the obligation is best modelled as a hybrid subsidy-tax instrument, whereby energy companies subsidize energy efficiency and pass-through the subsidy cost onto energy prices. Ex post static efficiency assessments find largely positive benefit-cost balances, with national differences reflecting heterogeneity in technical potentials. Compliance involved little trading between obligated parties. Whether the cost borne by obligated parties was recovered through increased energy revenue could not be ascertained. Ex post dynamic efficiency assessments find that in addition to addressing liquidity constraints through subsidies, white certificate obligations seem to have addressed informational and organisational market failures. Confidence in these conclusions is limited by the fact that no econometric analysis was performed. Yet the lack of publicly available data, a counterpart to the rationale of the instrument of harnessing private financing, makes any empirical evaluation of white certificate obligations challenging

Preliminary Overview of Institutional Structures and Models: Information Systems for Energy/Environmental Planning and Management in GDR, Rhone-Alpes, and Wisconsin

This paper is one of a series describing a multidisciplinary IIASA research program on Integrated Energy System Modelling and Policy Analysis. The initial phase of this research program is focused on the energy systems of three regions: the State of Wisconsin in the U.S.A.; the German Democratic Republic; and the Rhone-Alpes Region in France. The primary purposes of the study are at least three-fold: (1) To identify existing patterns of regional energy use and supply at appropriate levels of disaggregation. (2) To compare alternative methodologies for regional energy forecasting, planning, and policy development. (3) To use the ,above methodologies to examine alternate energy policy strategies for each of the regions, to explore their implications from various perspectives using sets of indicators related to environmental impacts, energy use efficiency, etc., and to evaluate the adequacy of the alternative methodologies as policy tools. Out of these above three items should evolve improved methodologies for energy systems research and policy analysis. The comparative method, intersecting the different disciplines and nations which would be involved in this project, should serve as a powerful tool to the mutual benefit of the participating nations as well as to other countries facing similar energy problems. It could also serve as a prototype for similar studies on other resources such as materials, water, air, i.e. as a vehicle for development of an approach for improved resource management

Energy/Environment Models: Relationship to Planning in Wisconsin, GDR, Rhone Alps

This report is a description and cross-regional comparison of the institutional structures and modeling methodologies of the three regions participating in the IIASA Research Program on Management of Regional Energy/Environment Systems. Descriptions are presented for the state of Wisconsin (USA), the German Democratic Republic, and the Rhone-Alpes Region (France), by specialists and policy makers from the respective regions. These descriptions demonstrate quite vividly the relationships between the institutional structure of a region and its use of models and planning tools

Marketing Renewable Energy in the United Kingdom

This chapter focuses on the renewable energy market in the UK. First we discuss the impact of privatization, then show what preconditions might be important. The main conclusion drawn from the analysis is that in the UK, as well as in other countries, new policy frameworks need to guide the transition from an energy system designed to achieve short-term efficiencies through market operation to a long-term approach that would embrace new uncertainties. Both market interests and environmental protection need to be secured in order to guarantee the levels of investment needed in the UK’s renewable energy market

Transition énergétique et nouveaux modèles organisationnels

International audienceno abstrac

Energie: les limites de diffusion des normes de l'UE dans la Région et dans le monde

National audienc