HOME /

Publications

    Weiss, Jurgen. “ "The Electrified Future Is Shared: Mobility Services and Electrification's Pace, Shape."” Public Utilities Fortnightly, 2018. Publisher's VersionAbstract
    The article examines the potential impacts of new mobility services such as ride sharing and ride hailing on the speed and depth of electrification of personal transportation. The article explores how a shift of transportation towards shared mobility services might accelerate electrification of transportation if mobility service providers switch to EVs more rapidly than individual car owners.
    Farkash-Hacohen, Orit. “The Power Game - Facing a Gas Monopoly: ,” 2018.Abstract
    102_final.pdf

    In 2015, the Israeli government approved a controversial deal with a US-Israeli partnership that controlled virtually all the natural gas supply in Israel--at great cost to the Israeli public. Central to the controversy was the political decision not to interfere with a provision--in the most significant gas agreement to the Israeli public to date--that sets artificially high gas prices and represents excess costs of billions of shekels over the 17-year lifetime of the deal.

    View the press release here.

    Ghesla, Claus, Manuel Grieder, and Renate Schubert. “Nudging the Poor and the Rich – A Field Study on the Distributional Effects of Green Electricity Defaults .” In, 2018.Abstract
    nudging_poor_rich.pdf
    Choice defaults are an increasingly popular public policy tool. Yet there is little knowledge of the distributional consequences of such nudges for different groups in society. We report results from a field study in the residential electricity market in which we contrast consumers’ contract choices under an existing default regime with active choices without any default. We find that the default is successful at curbing greenhouse gas emissions, but it leads poorer households to pay more for their electricity consumption than they would want to, while leaving a significant willingness to pay for green electricity by richer households untapped.
    McKibbin, Warwick, Adele Morris, and Peter Wilcoxen. “THE ROLE OF BORDER CARBON ADJUSTMENTS IN A U.S. CARBON T AX.” In, 2017.Abstract
    wilcoxen_2017.pdf

    This paper examines carbon tax design options in the United States using an intertemporal computable general equilibrium model of the world economy called G- Cubed. Four policy scenarios explore two overarching issues: (1) the effects of a carbon tax under alternative assumptions about the use of the resulting revenue, and (2) the effects of a system of import charges on carbon-intensive goods (“border carbon adjustments”).

    Weiss, Jurgen. “The Electrification Accelerator: Understanding the Implications of Autonomous Vehicles for Electric Utilities.” The Electricity Journal 30, no. 10 (2017): 50-57. Publisher's VersionAbstract
    The intersection of autonomous vehicles, ride sharing and transportation electrification could have significant implications for electric utilities. This paper analyses how the development of shared autonomous electric vehicles may make electrified transportation more likely and why this may lead to a more rapid than expected shift in the current transportation paradigm. We also discuss how these trends may affect utilities and suggest what they can do to prepare for the transition
    Hogan, William W., and Susan L. Pope. “Priorities for the Evolution of an Energy-Only Electricity Market Design in ERCOT.” In, 2017.Abstract
    hogan_pope_ercot_050917.pdf

    Executive Summary:

    Electricity markets employ open access and non‐discrimination to foster competition, market entry, and innovation.    The physical characteristics of the electricity system require explicit consideration of key elements in electricity market design.  Pricing and settlement rules for the real‐time market must provide efficient incentives, both for short‐term operations and long‐run investment. The ERCOT energy‐only market design emphasizes the need to get the real‐time prices right.The recent innovation of the ERCOT Operating Reserve Demand Curve (ORDC) addressed the fundamental problem of inadequate region‐wide scarcity pricing that has plagued other organized markets, which have exhibited inadequate incentives both for reliable operations and efficient investment.  

    ERCOT employs an open wholesale electricity market as the basis for short‐term reliable electricity supply as well as for long‐term investments to maintain reliability in the future.  A review of energy price formation in ERCOT leads to two important conclusions: (i) while the ORDC is performing consistently within its design, scarcity price formation is being adversely influenced by factors not contemplated by the ORDC; (ii) other aspects of the ERCOT market design must be improved to better maintain private market response to energy prices as the driver of resource investment, maintenance expenditure and retirement decisions.   

    The paper identifies three general issues that have affected ERCOT energy prices in recent years, and recommends policy and price formation improvements consistent with efficient market design. These recommendations cannot reverse the impact of broader economic trends, such as low natural gas prices, or national policies, such as subsidies for investments in renewable resources.  However, the stress of these forces has exposed areas where there is a need for adjustments to pricing rules and policies within ERCOT.  

Pages