The Role Of Power Exchanges

The electricity sector worldwide is undergoing a fundamental transformation of its institutional structure as a consequence of the complex interactions of political, economic and technological forces. The way the industry is organized is changing from vertically integrated monopolies to unbundled structures that favor market mechanisms. This process in Europe, known as the liberalization process, has had a wide impact on the European electricity industry. The focus of this dissertation is an analysis of the role of electricity power exchanges in the recently liberalized electricity markets of Europe. In the context of creating "a" competitive electricity market at a European level, the key questions considered are the functioning of these power exchanges with respect to electricity characteristics, market design and regulatory framework.

The electricity sector worldwide is undergoing a fundamental transformation of its institutional structure as a consequence of the complex interactions of political, economic and technological forces. The way the industry is organized is changing from vertically integrated monopolies to unbundled structures that favor market mechanisms. This process in Europe, known as the liberalization process, has had a wide impact on the European electricity industry. The focus of this book is an analysis of the role of electricity power exchanges in the recently liberalized electricity markets of Europe. In the context of creating "a" competitive electricity market at a European level, the key questions considered are the functioning of these power exchanges with respect to electricity characteristics, market design and regulatory framework.

The liberalisation of the electricity sector has changed the way in which electricity is traded. De facto or legal vertical monopolies are gradually abandoned and new participants have entered the market. At the wholesale level, one of the important developments is the establishment of organised electricity markets, i.e. electricity power exchanges. This book analyses the role and evaluates the impact of these new organised markets, which until now received little attention. The introduction provides an overview of the developments on EC level as this creates the legal environment within which power exchanges operate. The implementation of the EC Electricity Directive has inter alia resulted in a commodization of electricity trading. Thereupon the development of power pools and electricity exchanges is discussed as well as the products which can be traded. Subsequently, the development of the most important national and/or regional exchanges in Europe will be examined. National experts will analyse the role of power exchanges in the Nordic countries, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Austria, Spain and Italy. The authors analyse the most important developments in their jurisdictions according to a fixed outline (e.g. implementation of the EC Electricity Directive, market structure, emergence and functioning of the organised market, products traded and the impact of cross-border trade) which allows for a comparative analysis and facilitates understanding. Finally, some conclusions with regard to the establishment of a single electricity market will be presented as well as some future developments.

The current distribution of power markets around intermediate structures that fall between the two extremes of full integration and unbundling suggests that there has not been a linear path to power market structure reform. Rather, many developing countries may retain intermediate structures into the foreseeable future. This possibility exposes a gap in the understanding of power market structures, since most theoretical work has focused on the two extreme possibilities and there is limited evidence of the impact of unbundling for developing countries. Power Market Structure takes a novel analytical approach to modeling market structure, together with ownership and regulation, in determining performance across several indicators, including access, operational and financial performance, and environmental sustainability. Its conclusions--which will be of particular interest to policy makers, academics, and development practitioners--reflect evidence drawn from statistical analysis and a representative sample of 20 case studies, selected based on initial conditions such as income and power system size. The key result of the analysis is that unbundling delivers results when used as an entry point to implementing broader reforms, particularly introducing a sound regulatory framework, and reducing the degree of concentration of the generation and distribution segments of the market by attracting additional public and private players and greater private sector participation. In addition, there seems to be a credible empirical basis for selecting a threshold power system size and per capita income level below which unbundling of the power supply chain is not expected to be worthwhile. Partial forms of vertical unbundling do not appear to drive improvements. The most likely reason is that the owner was able to continue exercising control over the affairs of the sector and hinder the development of competitive pressure within the power market.

Bridging theory and practice, this book offers insights into how Europe has experienced the evolution of modern electricity markets from the end of the 1990s to the present day. It explores defining moments in the process, including the four waves of European legislative packages, landmark court cases, and the impact of climate strikes and marches.

Focusing on market microstructure, Harris (chief economist, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission) introduces the practices and regulations governing stock trading markets. Writing to be understandable to the lay reader, he examines the structure of trading, puts forward an economic theory of trading, discusses speculative trading strategies, explores liquidity and volatility, and considers the evaluation of trader performance. Annotation (c)2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com).

Electricity is an essential commodity traded at power exchanges. Its price is very volatile within a day and over the year. This raises questions about the efficiency of the trading rules. The author develops a non-cooperative auction model analyzing the bidding behavior of producers at power exchanges. Producers are limited by the production capacity of their power plants. Production costs are affiliated. This allows for independence or positive correlation. The author analyzes and compares a uniform-price, a discriminatory, and a generalized second-price auction. Optimal bids, cost efficiency, profits, and consumer prices are examined. A simple probability density function of affiliated production costs is given and used for examples. Numerical results are presented. The results of the analysis can help improving the bidding strategies of producers, selecting the best auction type at power exchanges or detecting price manipulations.

Mark has found the perfect woman: a born submissive. Nothing is more exciting than the subjugation of an independent woman, but Mark soon discovers that while he can control desires of the flesh he cannot control desires of the heart. Annie's lover reveals to her a most intriguing side to his personality, a lifestyle she is drawn to that is both fascinating and intimidating. She is about to learn more about her lover and his wishes, and about herself and her latent desires.

Making Energy Markets charts the emergence and early evolution of electricity markets in western Europe, covering the decade from the late 1980s to the late 1990s. Liberalising electricity marked a radical deviation from the established paradigm of state-controlled electricity systems which had become established across Europe after the Second World War. By studying early liberalisation processes in Britain and the Nordic region, and analysing the role of the EEC, the book shows that the creation of electricity markets involved political decisions about the feasibility and desirability of introducing competition into electricity supply industries. Competition introduced risks, so in designing the process politicians needed to evaluate who the likely winners and losers might be and the degree to which competition would impact key national industries reliant on cross-subsidies from the electricity sector, in particular coal mining, nuclear power and energy intensive production. The book discusses how an understanding of the origins of electricity markets and their political character can inform contemporary debates about renewables and low carbon energy transitions.

Bridging the technical and the economical worlds of the energy sector and establishing a solid understanding of today's energy supply as a complex system– with these missions in mind, the book at hand compactly describes the fundamentals of electrical power supply in a dialogue between technology and non-technology, between academia and practitioners, and between nations and continents. Today, energy supply is a complex global system – it is time for a dialogue of the disciplines. In this book, experts explain in an understandable manner the technical foundations and selected specific aspects of today's electrical power supply. Each chapter supplies a fundamental introduction in layman's terms to the topic and serves technical specialists both as a reference and as an opportunity to expand their knowledge. Practical examples and case studies complete the compendium. Technology and economics in the energy sector work on the same questions out of different perspectives. The increasing complexity and interconnections and the epochal upheavals in the energy sector make a comprehensive understanding of the energy sector as a system an essential requirement. This necessitates an ongoing and successful dialogue between the disciplines and between academia and practitioners. To that aim, this book serves both as a compact reference for everyone interested in the energy sector and as a true translation aid between the professional disciplines.