Product market reforms, labour market institutions and unemployment

We analyze the impact of product market competition on unemployment and wages, and how this depends on labour market institutions. We use differential changes in regulations across OECD countries over the 1980s and 1990s to identify the effects of competition. We find that increased product market competition reduces unemployment, and that it does so more in countries with labour market institutions that increase worker bargaining power. The theoretical intuition is that both firms with market power and unions with bargaining power are constrained in their behaviour by the elasticity of demand in the product market. We also find that the effect of increased competition on real wages is beneficial to workers, but less so when they have high bargaining power. Intuitively, real wages increase through a drop in the general price level, but workers with bargaining power lose out somewhat from a reduction in the rents that they had previously captured.Product market regulation; competition; wage bargaining; unemployment.

Exploring the Trade-offs Between Incentives for Distributed Generation Developers and DNOs

Regulators are aiming to incentivize developers and Distribution Network Operators to connect distributed generation (DG) to improve network environmental performance and efficiency. A key question is whether these incentives will encourage both parties to connect DG. Here, multiobjective optimal power flow is used to simulate how the parties' incentives affect their choice of DG capacity within the limits of the existing network. Using current U.K. incentives as a basis, this paper explores the costs, benefits and tradeoffs associated with DG in terms of connection, losses and, in a simple fashion, network deferral. © 2007 IEEE

Evaluating Distributed Time-Varying Generation Through a Multiobjective Index

In the last decade, distributed generation, with its various technologies, has increased its presence in the energy mix presenting distribution networks with challenges in terms of evaluating the technical impacts that require a wide range of network operational effects to be qualified and quantified. The inherent time-varying behavior of demand and distributed generation (particularly when renewable sources are used), need to be taken into account since considering critical scenarios of loading and generation may mask the impacts. One means of dealing with such complexity is through the use of indices that indicate the benefit or otherwise of connections at a given location and for a given horizon. This paper presents a multiobjective performance index for distribution networks with time-varying distributed generation which consider a number of technical issues. The approach has been applied to a medium voltage distribution network considering hourly demand and wind speeds. Results show that this proposal has a better response to the natural behavior of loads and generation than solely considering a single operation scenario

Evaluating distributed generation impacts with a multiobjective index

Evaluating the technical impacts associated with connecting distributed generation to distribution networks is a complex activity requiring a wide range of network operational and security effects to be qualified and quantified. One means of dealing with such complexity is through the use of indices that indicate the benefit or otherwise of connections at a given location and which could be used to shape the nature of the contract between the utility and distributed generator. This paper presents a multiobjective performance index for distribution networks with distributed generation which considers a wide range of technical issues. Distributed generation is extensively located and sized within the IEEE-34 test feeder, wherein the multiobjective performance index is computed for each configuration. The results are presented and discussed

Assessment of the impact of climate change on hydroelectric power

Global climate change is one of the greatest challenges of the twenty-first century. Rising temperatures and alteration of weather patterns are anticipated to result from increased atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases, caused, in part, by the use of fossil fuels for electricity generation. Climate change is predicted to have major impacts on many aspects of human society from agriculture to water supply. The process of limiting the extent of climatic change began with the Kyoto Protocol, committing industrialised nations to modest cuts in their emissions. To achieve these and in the longer term, much greater cuts, electricity production must reduce its reliance on fossil fuels, by the increased use of renewable resources. Hydropower is currently the only major renewable source contributing to energy supply, and its future contribution is anticipated to increase significantly. However, the successful expansion of hydropower is dependent on the availability of the resource and the perceptions of those financing it. Increased evaporation, as a result of higher temperatures, together with changes in precipitation patterns may alter the timing and magnitude of river flows. This will affect the ability of hydropower stations to harness the resource, and may result in reduced energy production, implying lower revenues and poorer financial returns. The continuing liberalisation of the electricity industry implies that, increasingly, profitability and the level of risk will drive investment decision-making. As such, investors will be concerned with processes, such as climatic change, that have the potential to alter the balance of risk and reward. This thesis describes a methodology to assess the potential impact of climatic change on hydropower investment, and details the implementation of a technique for quantifying changes in profitability and risk. A case study is presented as an illustration, the results of which are analysed with respect to the implications for future provision of hydropower, as well as our ability to limit the extent of climatic change

Value of local offshore renewable resource diversity for network hosting capacity

It is imperative to increase the connectable capacity (i.e., hosting capacity) of distributed generation in order to decarbonise electricity distribution networks. Hybrid generation that exploits complementarity in resource characteristics among different renewable types potentially provides value for minimising technical constraints and increasing the effective use of the network. Tidal, wave and wind energy are prominent offshore renewable energy sources. It is of importance to explore their potential complementarity for increasing network integration. In this work, the novel introduction of these distinct offshore renewable resources into hosting capacity evaluation enables the quantification of the benefits of various resource combinations. A scenario reduction technique is adapted to effectively consider variation of these renewables in an AC optimal power flow-based nonlinear optimisation model. Moreover, the beneficial impact of active network management (ANM) on enhancing the renewable complementarity is also investigated. The combination of complementary hybrid generation and ANM, specifically where the maxima of the generation profiles rarely co-occur with each other and with the demand minimum, is found to make the best use of the network components

Active Load Management of Hydrogen Refuelling Stations for Increasing the Grid Integration of Renewable Generation

Hydrogen Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (FCEV) can help reduce carbon emissions, air pollution and dependency on fossil fuels in the transport sector. Clean hydrogen fuel can be generated by a power-to-gas process at refuelling stations equipped with water electrolysers, especially in renewable rich areas. Coupled with onsite hydrogen tanks, the fast response capability of electrolysis, could potentially turn the station demand into a flexible electricity load since the hydrogen can be stored and used when needed. This paper presents a novel real-time load management scheme that actively operates a hydrogen refuelling station to relieve thermal network constraints, handles the fluctuations from renewables, and releases network headroom for connecting renewable generation. The key components involved in the refuelling station and their operational characteristics are explicitly modelled in the analysis. The economic impact of the different operational strategies is also examined. In the case study, the effectiveness of the proposed control strategy to avoid overloading and save curtailment in the local distribution network is verified by running the real-time network simulation at 1 minute steps over a 1 hour window and 5 day window respectively. Moreover, a whole year simulation of the station operation shows that the proposed active control strategy enables wind farms in the local network to avoid 9.5 times more curtailment than under passive control strategy. The station’s net cost of electricity consumption thus can be reduced by 7.5%., by making use of excess electricity that would otherwise be curtailed. A further 5% reduction on the cost would be possible if the incentive rewards for offering network constraint management services are in place