Investment in Electricity Markets with Asymmetric Technologies

Abstract

We study competition between hydro and thermal electricity generators under de- mand uncertainty. Producers compete in quantities and each is constrained: the ther- mal generator by capacity and the hydro generator by water availability. We analyze a two-period game emphasizing the incentives for capacity investments by the ther- mal generator. We characterize both Markov perfect and open-loop equilibria. In the Markov perfect equilibrium, investment is discontinuous in initial capacity and higher than it is in the open-loop equilibrium. However, since there are two distortions in the model, equilibrium investment can be either higher or lower than the ecient investment.Electricity markets; Dynamic game; Duopoly; Capacity investment.