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Demand response in adjustment markets for electricity / Claude Crampes &#38; Thomas-Olivier Léautier, Journal of Regulatory Economics, vol. 48, n° 2, pp. 169-193 http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11149-015-9284-0Abstract : This article examines the participation of consumers in adjustment markets for electricity, which enable participants to respond to random supply shocks occurring after quantities have been contracted. If markets were perfect, opening the adjustment market to consumers would always increase ex post efficiency, hence welfare, as expected. In reality, some consumers hold private information on their value for electricity. We prove that under such information asymmetry, allowing consumers to participate in the adjustment market may reduce welfare. This arises because electricity suppliers in the model propose inefficient ex ante retail contracts to make them incentive compatible and to limit the information rents they must leave on the table for consumers to prevent them from misreporting their private information. If the value of ex post efficiency gains due to consumers’ participation in adjustment markets is low, whereas the information distortion is high, the overall net effect is a welfare decrease.Strategic behavior in the German balancing energy mechanism: incentives, evidence, costs and solutions / Sebastian Just &#38; Christoph Weber, Journal of Regulatory Economics, vol. 48, n° 2, pp. 218-243 link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11149-015-9270-6Abstract : This paper investigates the incentives market participants have in the German electricity balancing mechanism. Strategic over and undersupply positions are the result of existing stochastic arbitrage opportunities between the spot market and the balancing mechanism. Clear indications for strategic behavior can be observed in aggregate market data. These structural imbalances increase the need for reserve capacity, raise system security concerns, and therefore place significant costs on consumers. The underlying problem is the disconnect between spot market, reserve capacity market and balancing mechanism. Alternative market design options discussed in this paper suggest better alignment between these markets/mechanisms.Avenir énergétique et changement climatique : réalité, enjeux et perspectives / Patrick Romeo, Géoéconomie, n° 75, mai-juin-juillet 2015, pp. 9-24 https://www.cairn.info/article.php?ID_ARTICLE=GEOEC_075_0009Résumé : La transition énergétique est un changement lent mais constant visant à passer d’un système principalement basé sur les hydrocarbures vers des émissions nettes zéro-carbone. Dans le même temps, plus de 1,2 milliard de personnes dans le monde n’ont toujours pas accès à l’énergie moderne. Cela pose un défi pour les décideurs politiques et autres, y compris le secteur du pétrole et du gaz : comment donner aux gens une énergie abordable tout en réduisant les émissions de carbone ? Il n’existe pas de réponse simple ou une approche unique à cette transition énergétique. Il sera vraisemblablement nécessaire de compter sur toute une variété de sources d’énergie, renouvelables mais aussi fossiles couplées à des technologies qui réduisent les émissions telles que le captage et le stockage de carbone (CCS), pour satisfaire la demande d’une population mondiale qui devrait atteindre neuf milliards en 2050. L’efficacité énergétique et l’innovation joueront également un rôle clé. Enfin, au regard de la priorité qu’est la réduction des émissions de CO2, les décideurs publics pourraient adopter des mesures fortes pour : accroître le rôle du gaz naturel comme ressource fossile la plus propre pour la génération d’électricité ; soutenir le développement de technologies telles que le CCS ; et enfin mettre en place un système plus efficace de prix du CO2.The Role of Gas in UK Energy Policy / Chris Le Fevre, Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, July 2015, 108 p. (OIES Paper NG 100) http://www.oxfordenergy.org/2015/07/the-role-of-gas-in-uk-energy-policy-2/Abstract : UK energy policy has often mystified outsiders. Politicians and policy makers talk grandly of solving the energy “trilemma” of affordability, environmental sustainability and security of supply. Many energy experts seem ensnared in endless debates regarding the minutiae of the electricity supply sector whilst in the real world coal displaces gas in power generation, prices rise and, if the media headlines are to be believed, gas and electricity supplies are in danger – the familiar ‘lights going out’ story...Energy Security in the Wake of the Ukraine Crisis / Morena Skalamera, Global Policy, July 23, 2015, 7 p. http://www.globalpolicyjournal.com/articles/climate-change-energy-and-sustainability/energy-security-wake-ukraine-crisis-getting-real-tAbstract : Ever since the 1973 oil embargo, and especially since the Russian-Ukrainian gas crisis of 2006, Western policy makers have paid a great deal of attention to energy security. Yet there is no consensus as to what energy security is, what methodologies are most useful for conceptualizing and operationalizing the term, or even whether it is possible to generalize about anything as complex and contextually dependent as energy security. This enormous diversity of theoretical, methodological, and epistemological perspectives on the study of energy security complicates any assessment of the state of the field. It is, however, precisely because ‘energy security’ is such an elusive concept that academics, statesmen, and analysts of energy politics should not strive to coalesce around one precise definition. The article begins with a concise overview on our understanding of energy security, continues with a critique of the persistent efforts to come up with a comprehensive definition of the concept, and ends by arguing that if energy security is, indeed, in the eyes of the beholder, then currently much-needed energy dialogue between Moscow and Brussels has to take into account both parties’ subjectivities.Contested Technologies and Design for Values: The Case of Shale Gas / Marloes Dignum, Aad Correljé, Eefje Cuppen et al., Science and Engineering Ethics, July 2015. link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11948-015-9685-6Abstract : The introduction of new energy technologies may lead to public resistance and contestation. It is often argued that this phenomenon is caused by an inadequate inclusion of relevant public values in the design of technology. In this paper we examine the applicability of the value sensitive design (VSD) approach. While VSD was primarily introduced for incorporating values in technological design, our focus in this paper is expanded towards the design of the institutions surrounding these technologies, as well as the design of stakeholder participation. One important methodological challenge of VSD is to identify the relevant values related to new technological developments. In this paper, we argue that the public debate can form a rich source from which to retrieve the values at stake. To demonstrate this, we have examined the arguments used in the public debate regarding the exploration and exploitation of shale gas in the Netherlands. We identified two important sets of the underlying values, namely substantive and procedural values. This paper concludes with two key findings. Firstly, contrary to what is often suggested in the literature, both proponents and opponents seem to endorse the same values. Secondly, contestation seems to arise in the precise operationalization of these values among the different stakeholders. In other words, contestation in the Dutch shale gas debate does not arise from inter-value conflict but rather from intra-value conflicts. This multi-interpretability should be incorporated in VSD processes.