Universität zu Köln

Jägemann, Cosima Claudia (2014). Essays on the Economics of Decarbonization and Renewable Energy Support. PhD thesis, Universität zu Köln.

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Abstract

The thesis consists of five essays investigating various aspects associated with the decarbonization of Europe's power sector and the politically incentivized expansion of renewable energy generation. The first essay analyzes the economic implications of alternative decarbonization pathways and policy instruments for Europe's power sector up to 2050 and illustrates the importance of ensuring competition between all low-carbon technologies in order to limit the costs of decarbonization. The second essay analyzes the economic inefficiency associated with the concept of grid parity for the case of photovoltaic (PV). In order to both enhance overall welfare and avoid redistributional effects, the indirect financial incentive for in-house PV electricity consumption should be abolished. The third essay discusses the system price effect of wind and solar power generation and illustrates that the decrease in the marginal value of wind and solar power (as a consequence of increased penetration) is already highly relevant for both wind and solar power generation in Germany. The fourth essay adds to the ongoing debate surrounding the cost-efficient achievement of politically implemented renewable energy targets. Renewable energy support schemes that fail to incentivize investors to account for differences in the marginal value of wind and solar power generation are associated with excess costs as they prevent the equalization of net marginal costs across technologies and regions. The fifth essay analyzes the economic value of storage as a function of the overall generation mix and illustrates the economic inefficiency arising from feed-in tariff systems for the special case of thermal energy storage units in concentrating solar power plants.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD thesis)
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID ORCID Put Code Jägemann, Cosima Claudia Cosima.Jaegemann@gmail.com UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED
URN:	urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-56665
Date:	2014
Language:	English
Faculty:	Faculty of Management, Economy and Social Sciences
Divisions:	Externe Einrichtungen > An-Institute > Associated Institutes of the Faculty of Management, Economics and Social Sciences > Institute for Energy Economics
Subjects:	Economics
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Keywords Language Power Markets; Decarbonization; Renewable Energy Support; Optimization Model English
Date of oral exam:	5 June 2014
Referee:	Name Academic Title Bettzüge, Marc Oliver Prof. Dr. Lindenberger, Dietmar PD Dr.
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/5666