Dissertation Defenses

Doctoral Dissertation Announcement

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Candidate: Mátyás Tamás Mészáros

Degree of: Doctor of Philosophy

Department: Economics

Title: On the Battleground of Environmental and Competition Policy: The Renewable Electricity Market

Committee:
Dr. Huizhong Zhou, Chair
Dr. Debasri Mukherjee
Dr. Bade Shrestha

Date: *correction* Thursday, June 18, 2009 1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
5302 Friedmann Hall

Abstract:
Renewable energy sources have become increasingly important in efforts to provide energy security and to fight global warming. In the last decade environmental policy has increased support for renewable electricity. At the same time the electricity sector is often the subject of antitrust investigations because of the relevant market concentration and market power. This dissertation looks at the renewable electricity market to analyze the effect of environmental policy on competition.
The first chapter provides a short introduction into the regulatory schemes of electricity markets. The second chapter analyzes the demand side of the electricity market. The estimations show that there is no significant change in income and price elasticity in electricity consumption of US households between 1993 an 2001, although there are several policy initiatives to increase energy efficiency and decrease consumption.
The third chapter derives from a theoretical model where the feed-in tariff and the tradable green certificate system can be analyzed under oligopolistic market structure. The results of the model suggest that the environmentally friendly regulatory schemes can increase the competition and decrease the electricity prices. The drop in prices is larger when the renewable requirement is smaller.
In the fourth chapter a simulation model of the UK electricity market is used to test the effect of mergers and acquisitions under the environmental support scheme. The results emphasize the importance of the capacity limit because it can constrain the market power of the electricity producers. The simulation also suggests that the increasing concentration can have positive effect on the tradable green certificate system by increasing production and lowering prices.