Utilities Policy最新文献

Increasing the renewable energy share of electricity generation is central to decarbonization policies, and the European Union has set up binding 2030 targets. This study evaluates the potential enhancement of these countries’ paths toward these targets and provides insights into their performance in meeting their National Energy and Climate Plan targets. It predicts the distance to these targets through a three-step approach and estimates potential improvements. European performance could improve by 1.65% by 2030 if it emulates top-performing countries, independent of further policy interventions. These insights can aid policymakers in designing effective policies and utilities in developing industrial strategies.

Access to electricity plays a crucial role in reducing energy poverty. This analysis examines energy affordability based on electricity expenditures. Hence, panel data from the consumer pyramids household survey has been consolidated. Fixed-effect models have been applied at the household level to control unobservable heterogeneity. The results show that better income leads to more electricity expenses non-linearly. Lower-income group households have a higher income elasticity of electricity expenditure than higher-income group households. Whereas moderately educated households have higher expenditure on electricity. The quality of electricity access matters to households for higher electricity usage.

Circular economy has emerged as a response to the unsustainable linear model of “take, make, consume, and waste”. Yet so far, the water sector has not been systematically included in high-level circular economy strategy discussions and has not fully reaped the potential benefits. Circular economy principles offer an opportunity to recognize and capture the full value of water - as a service, an input to processes, a source of energy, a carrier of materials - and to make the sector more sustainable financially and environmentally, while enhancing resilience to climate change and mitigating emissions. This paper presents the Water in Circular Economy and Resilience (WICER) Framework to establish a common understanding of circular economy and resilience principles in the water sector. The Framework grew out of a literature review and was informed by lessons learned from global case studies and from the knowledge of the World Bank. The paper aims to clarify how circular economy principles can be applied in the water sector, and to guide practitioners, especially from governments in low- and middle-income countries, with a clear long-term plan to become circular and resilient. The framework describes the nine key actions needed to achieve three main outcomes: (1) deliver resilient and inclusive water services; (2) design out waste and pollution; and (3) preserve and regenerate natural systems. The novelty of the proposed framework is that it goes beyond reusing and recovering resources from wastewater, and it presents a more holistic approach for water and sanitation services, considering a water basin approach and including resiliency principles, climate mitigation strategies and inclusiveness – all of which are particularly relevant in the context of developing countries.

As a critical historic juncture of energy transition, energy resilience under the COVID-19 crisis and the Russian-Ukraine war will profoundly influence the energy sector and global climate. The research compared China and Germany as representatives of two modes of energy governance-state-centric and market-centric, respectively-to investigate their ability to maintain resilience amid the recent global turbulences. Policy reviews and discourse analysis of online interviews were conducted to understand the role of governance in three dimensions of resilience. The study found that energy resilience differed between state-centric and market-centric energy governance. The distributed power structure in market-centric governance promotes adaption and transformation, whereas a state-centric structure is more effective in responding to immediate disruptions and implementing larger-scale centralized renewable deployment. As energy policy is an element within and characterized by governance, understanding how governance would affect resilience can help policymakers of the two systems improve resilience and formulate policies that align stakeholders' expectations in the quest for the low-carbon transition.

The study investigates the renewable energy measures undertaken in Germany and Italy in the aftermath of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. They decided to adopt new regulations on renewable energy to accelerate its development. However, their energy policy strategies reveal differences connected with political and geographical factors, the role of national energy companies, and climate conditions. The analysis considers their impact on the progress of Germany and Italy in developing renewable energy. It also highlights the main constraints and drivers for the energy transition.

The present study assessed the prosumer benefits of a residential photovoltaic system based on a net-benefit analysis. Net present value ranged from 187 to 2811 $/kW in the low-market scenario and 1226–5642 $/kW in the high-market scenario. Net benefits were verified in net metering contexts, while contexts without net metering had break-even points of 31% and 48% self-consumption for the two scenarios, respectively. Policy recommendations are proposed to encourage investment in renewable energy plants in the Palestinian territory to increase energy security while contributing to the attainment of Sustainable Development Goal 7.

This study aims to assess the effect of concessions in basic sanitation services on the provision of sanitation services in the municipalities of São Gabriel and Uruguaiana, located in Brazil's southern region. The application was conducted using the Generalized Synthetic Control method developed by Xu (2017). Based on the estimates, improvements were observed in the municipalities that received the concessions, specifically in indicators measuring the number of people supplied with water, sewage treatment, the investment amount for water supply, and the total number of hired employees.

This work presents 21 critical drivers influencing the transition of the Brazilian electricity sector through 2050. The information is processed using a two-round Delphi method involving experts from government, regulated companies, service providers, and academia. Statistical analysis revealed expert consensus, and stability was achieved between inquiry rounds. The European Union and China emerged as the primary external sources of influence, with policies and regulations identified as the main risks. Additionally, the importance of Brazil's accession to the OECD is on par with other critical drivers. The gathered evidence can provide valuable data and insights for policymaking, regulation, and future studies.

From January 2021 to March 2022, wholesale Spanish spot electricity prices reached a record high of €700/MWh. Surprisingly, hydropower set the marginal market price for 52% of the hours in 2021 and 43% in the first quarter of 2022. Combined-cycle gas-fired units, which typically determine the marginal price, were marginal in only 16% and 21% of the hours in 2021 and 2022, respectively. Hydropower set prices between 3% and 12% higher than an estimate of their opportunity cost, and they were responsible for charging 69% of the prices above €500/MWh. The empirical evidence suggests that 2021 was an unusual year compared to 2018 and 2019 because the role played by hydropower as a marginal price setter was relatively more prominent.

In this study, we consider a mixed downstream market wherein a vertically integrated public utility firm competes with a private firm that purchases inputs from an upstream firm under output subsidies. We construct an endogenous competition mode game and find that not only do pure Cournot and Bertrand competitions appear as equilibria, but a hybrid Bertrand-Cournot competition can also materialize depending on the subsidy rate. However, Cournot competition appears as a unique equilibrium in the private market irrespective of subsidy rate. We demonstrate that privatization, accompanied by subsidization that shifts firms’ coordination from a hybrid Bertrand-Cournot competition to a Cournot competition, could improve welfare.