Bookshelves Photo by Arlington Research on Unsplash

My field value: St Anne's College, Oxford

02 July, 2018

Conference 2018

The Future of Electricity: Markets, regulation and development

The electricity sector is undergoing transformational change. Climate goals, new technologies, changing consumer demand, electrification of other vectors, and increased access mean that electricity systems of the future are likely to look quite different to today. They will probably be bigger, have higher capital costs, and incorporate more intermittent resources providing zero marginal cost generation. Today’s financing and market structures are no longer fit for purpose, and we need to work out more suitable mechanisms for stimulating investment and for sharing costs between users at different times.

This raises numerous questions which must be answered for an effective decarbonisation transition.

  • How will new technologies interact with existing market structures?
  • What will the future market and regulatory arrangements look like?
  • How will industrial users adapt to decarbonisation?
  • How will anticipated changes affect the developing world?
  • Will consumers respond to changing technologies and regulations in a sustainable manner?

“The future of electricity” conference will address these critical issues by bringing together key policy stakeholders and leading energy economics from around the world. Speakers include Frank Wolak (Stanford), Richard Green (Imperial), Andreas Loeschel (Uni. Muenster) and Catherine Wolfram (UC Berkeley), among others. Talks will be structured to offer in-depth insight into each topic, whilst also facilitating debate.

Welcome

  • Niall Farrell & Cameron Hepburn

Session 1: The future of electricity demand

  • Electricity in the developing world: challenges and opportunities
    Catherine Wolfram | University of California, Berkeley
  • The impact of noisy nudges on energy demand
    Andeas Loeschel | University of Muenster

Session 2: The future of electricity supply

  • Direct and indirect electrification of industry and beyond
    Cedric Philibert | International Energy Agency
  • Electricity market design in renewable-dominated markets
    Peter Cramton | University of Maryland and of Cologne

Session 3: Decarbonisation

  • An energy plan the Earth can live with
    Dan Kammen | University of California, Berkeley
  • Solar deployment and baseload operation
    James Bushnell | University of California, Davis

Session 4: Empirical insights into market operation and regulatory performance

  • What determines the emissions savings from wind power in Great Britain
    Richard Green | Imperial Collage London
  • A forward contract for energy approach to long-term resource adequacy: evidence from Singapore
    Frank Wolak | Stanford University
  • Successes, challenges and trends with large-scale renewable adoption
    Mar Reguant | Northwestern University