Utilities Policy最新文献

Hydropower currently generates more than all other renewable energies combined. Considering the challenges of climate change and the transition to green energy, it is expected to remain the world’s largest source of renewable electricity generation. This paper proposes a tool for performance evaluation and benchmarking of hydropower generation to inform dispatching. Through them, strengths and weaknesses of asset operations can be set, identifying areas with the best performance, gathering insights from their strategies and best practices, and comprehending factors that lead to variations in performance levels. The results allow for optimising energy resource use by indicating the dispatching rules with maximum power production and minimum wear-and-tear impact. This framework allows the formulation of practical guidelines for dispatching policies. The proposed methodology is applied to analyse two real-world case studies: the Vogelgrün run of river hydropower plant (France) and the Frades 2 pump-storage powerplant (Portugal).

The clean energy transition is crucial for achieving China's double-carbon goal. With the promulgation of a series of policies, analyzing the energy policies in this policy framework is essential. This paper identifies 32 current effective and representative energy policies through collection and screening. After establishing a Policy Modeling Consistency (PMC) index, this paper designs the corresponding text-mining dictionary through the TF-IDF algorithm and uses regular expressions to retrieve, filter, and match policy texts. The results show that the average PMC score of all policies selected in this paper is 5.23, and the overall PMC surface is relatively smooth. The scores of primary variables are relatively balanced. For the future, it is essential to focus on optimizing utility level (P₃), policy type (P₅), policy receptors (P₈), and policy areas (P₉) in energy policy formulation. Most importantly, the social network density of energy policy issuers is low now; thus, diversity and close cooperation need to be strengthened.

This paper employs the Mutual Information (MI) and Back Propagation (BP) neural network model to screen the preliminarily constructed evaluation index system for carbon information disclosure (CID) quality of public companies in China's electric power sector (EPS), which is subsequently incorporated into the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation (FCE) method for evaluation application. The results show that (1) after screening, 19 out of the 31 preliminarily constructed indicators constitute an optimal index set, and (2) the evaluation application of the screened index system validates the feasibility and applicability of the index system. Simultaneously, the evaluation results reveal a generally low CID quality in the EPS.

Load flexibility can supplant some of the supply-side flexibility lost as intermittent renewables are installed and reduce the network investment needed to meet growing electricity demand. This diffusion of innovation study uses interviews to examine the factors that might lead to adopting or rejecting domestic demand response. The results show that policymakers can make the most of demand flexibility by aligning the technical and bidding requirements of different flexibility markets, regulating flexibility markets and aggregators to protect households participating in such markets, and making the energy price reflective of carbon content, location, and time of use.

Electricity access and affordability are critical for sustainable development. A significant global population without access to electricity is in the rural communities of developing countries. Rural grid investments are unattractive to investors due to low electricity demand and poverty of rural consumers. This paper assessed the financial capacity of rural dwellers to pay for electricity installation. The results reveal that rural consumers can barely pay for electricity. We propose a paradigm shift and alternative grid design models that recognize the various economic and social status of rural consumers. One suggested model proposes using agricultural production to drive social inclusion and economic sustainability of microgrid investments.

Adopting environmental, social and governance (ESG) policies can lead local transport firms to strengthen their reputation progressively, with benefits to their productivity. Ownership structures, especially public ownership prevalent in the transport sector, can also shape company productivity. This study delves into the effects of public ownership on the productivity of a sample of Italian transportation firms, with particular emphasis on their adherence (or lack thereof) to ESG principles. A weighted least squares (WLS) estimation was adopted to assess public ownership's impact on productivity, and a difference-in-differences (DID) approach to examine the combined effect of ESG commitment and ownership structures. Productivity is determined through the Total Factor Productivity (TFP) function. The results highlight a distinct differential in productivity boosts between ESG-compliant and non-ESG-compliant entities. Notably, non-ESG-compliant entities derive more pronounced benefits from public ownership than their compliant counterparts. These findings imply that public ownership is pivotal, especially for firms not adhering to ESG standards. The empirical evidence underscores the need for a more comprehensive understanding of the interplay between public ownership and ESG compliance in shaping firm productivity.

Municipal solid waste (MSW) disposal leads to environmental pollution, including greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Waste generated by consumption is an integral part of MSW management. Based on the meta-frontier super SBM-data envelopment analysis (DEA) (MF-SSBM-DEA) model, this study evaluates the eco-efficiency of MSW management in 30 provinces in China from 2006 to 2021, especially considering the undesirable output of GHG emissions. This study compares the heterogeneity of the performance of MSW management in different regions and explores the factors that influence the differences in its efficiency. In particular, this study uses the panel Tobit model to explore the impact of upgrading household consumption on the eco-efficiency of MSW management at two levels: consumption scale (CSC) and consumption structure (CST). In addition, we examined other socioeconomic influencing factors. The results indicate that the average eco-efficiency in 2021 was 21.5% higher than in 2006. The expansion of the CSC reduces eco-efficiency, whereas the upgrading of CST improves eco-efficiency greater than the expansion of the CSC. In addition, improvements in the industrial structure and economic development (ED) contribute to the eco-efficiency of MSW management.

This article investigates the influence of socioeconomic context and stakeholder pressure on water utilities' sustainability performance and disclosure. The Urban Water Cycle Services (UWCS) framework has been adapted to the Italian context and integrated with a social equity variable, which enhances the framework's ability to account for the distinctive characteristics and mission of water utilities in measuring sustainability performance. The sample comprises 17 Italian utilities providing water services that released a sustainability report in 2021. The results show that the socioeconomic context and stakeholder pressure influence how water utilities align with economic, environmental, and social sustainability goals. Listed multi-utility companies are strongly influenced by private shareholders, pushing them towards financial sustainability, while small public water utilities are more sensitive to the needs of their disadvantaged users, especially in low-income contexts. The findings of the study have interesting theoretical, managerial and policy implications.

The energy transition is driving a significant transformation in the electricity sector, with a focus on demand-side engagement. Using the VAR-VEC model methodology, we explore hourly consumer responsiveness to electricity prices for two distinct consumer groups differentiated by their pricing schemes within the Spanish retail market. The research reveals that consumers under real-time pricing adapt their consumption patterns in response to expected retail price fluctuations, particularly during peak hours. These findings offer valuable insights for policymakers evaluating time-differentiated pricing policies. Additionally, retailers can benefit by incorporating these results into wholesale market bidding strategies and retail market planning.

This research reevaluates the stationarity of sectoral electricity consumption in a panel of 18 Indian states. We use a novel panel unit root test with an allowance for structural breaks and cross-sectional dependence. The usual univariate unit root test, which accounts for structural breaks but not cross-dependence, rejects the null hypothesis of a unit root in all states under investigation. When we incorporate structural breaks and cross-sectional dependence, the null hypothesis's rejections significantly decrease. Electricity consumption appears nonstationary in many states across all sectors, suggesting that policy changes can have long-term effects.