Nothing Special   »   [go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/old/dpaper/413.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Subsidising Renewables but Taxing Storage? Second-Best Policies with Imperfect Pricing

Author

Listed:
  • Carsten Helm

    (University of Oldenburg, Department of Economics)

  • Mathias Mier

    (ifo Institute, Munich)

Abstract
We consider an economy in which competitive firms use three technologies for electricity production: pollutive fossils, intermittent renewables like wind or solar, and storage. We determine optimal subsidies for renewables and storage capacities when carbon pricing is imperfect. This policy is efficient for low market shares of intermittent renewables in the energy system, but it turns inefficient once there are sucient renewables to partly displace fossil electricity production at times of high availability. Moreover, the subsidy scheme is substantially more complex than a first-best Pigouvian tax. The optimal renewable subsidy is always positive but tends to decrease as electricity production becomes less reliant on fossils. The optimal storage subsidy even changes its sign. It is usually negative as long as fossils contribute to lling the storage, but turns positive if fossils are used only during times of low availability of renewables. This is because more storage capacity reduces the price during times of destorage, but raises it when electricity is taken from the market to fill the storage. This has countervailing effects on firms' incentives to invest in fossil capacities, and these effects are more pronounced the higher the round-trip effciency losses during a storage cycle.

Suggested Citation

  • Carsten Helm & Mathias Mier, 2018. "Subsidising Renewables but Taxing Storage? Second-Best Policies with Imperfect Pricing," Working Papers V-413-18, University of Oldenburg, Department of Economics, revised Oct 2018.
    • Handle: RePEc:old:dpaper:413
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.uni-oldenburg.de/fileadmin/user_upload/wire/fachgebiete/vwl/V-413-18.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2018
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Daron Acemoglu & Philippe Aghion & Leonardo Bursztyn & David Hemous, 2012. "The Environment and Directed Technical Change," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(1), pages 131-166, February.
    2. Green, Richard & Vasilakos, Nicholas, 2010. "Market behaviour with large amounts of intermittent generation," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(7), pages 3211-3220, July.
    3. Eichner, Thomas & Runkel, Marco, 2014. "Subsidizing renewable energy under capital mobility," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 50-59.
    4. Zerrahn, Alexander & Schill, Wolf-Peter & Kemfert, Claudia, 2018. "On the economics of electrical storage for variable renewable energy sources," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 259-279.
    5. Steffen, Bjarne & Weber, Christoph, 2016. "Optimal operation of pumped-hydro storage plants with continuous time-varying power prices," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 252(1), pages 308-321.
    6. Parry, Ian W H & Pizer, William A & Fischer, Carolyn, 2003. "How Large Are the Welfare Gains from Technological Innovation Induced by Environmental Policies?," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 23(3), pages 237-255, May.
    7. Abrell, Jan & Rausch, Sebastian & Streitberger, Clemens, 2019. "The economics of renewable energy support," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 94-117.
    8. Derek Lemoine & Ivan Rudik, 2017. "Steering the Climate System: Using Inertia to Lower the Cost of Policy," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(10), pages 2947-2957, October.
    9. Katrina Jessoe & David Rapson, 2014. "Knowledge Is (Less) Power: Experimental Evidence from Residential Energy Use," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(4), pages 1417-1438, April.
    10. Brouwer, Anne Sjoerd & van den Broek, Machteld & Zappa, William & Turkenburg, Wim C. & Faaij, André, 2016. "Least-cost options for integrating intermittent renewables in low-carbon power systems," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 48-74.
    11. Steffen, Bjarne & Weber, Christoph, 2013. "Efficient storage capacity in power systems with thermal and renewable generation," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 556-567.
    12. O. Schmidt & A. Hawkes & A. Gambhir & I. Staffell, 2017. "The future cost of electrical energy storage based on experience rates," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 2(8), pages 1-8, August.
    13. Horsley, Anthony & Wrobel, Andrew J., 2002. "Efficiency rents of pumped-storage plants and their uses for operation and investment decisions," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 109-142, November.
    14. Stefan Ambec & Claude Crampes, 2019. "Decarbonizing Electricity Generation with Intermittent Sources of Energy," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 6(6), pages 1105-1134.
    15. Gravelle, H S E, 1976. "The Peak Load Problem with Feasible Storage," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 86(342), pages 256-277, June.
    16. Durmaz, Tunc, 2014. "Energy Storage and Renewable Energy," Discussion Paper Series in Economics 18/2014, Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Economics.
    17. Gautam Gowrisankaran & Stanley S. Reynolds & Mario Samano, 2016. "Intermittency and the Value of Renewable Energy," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 124(4), pages 1187-1234.
    18. Mar Reguant, 2018. "The Efficiency and Sectoral Distributional Implications of Large-Scale Renewable Policies," NBER Working Papers 24398, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Crampes, Claude & Moreaux, Michel, 2010. "Pumped storage and cost saving," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 325-333, March.
    20. Reichenbach, Johanna & Requate, Till, 2012. "Subsidies for renewable energies in the presence of learning effects and market power," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 236-254.
    21. Matti Liski & Iivo Vehviläinen, 2016. "Gone with the Wind? An Empirical Analysis of the Renewable Energy Rent Transfer," CESifo Working Paper Series 6250, CESifo.
    22. Sinn, Hans-Werner, 2017. "Buffering volatility: A study on the limits of Germany's energy revolution," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 130-150.
    23. Ambec, Stefan & Crampes, Claude, 2012. "Electricity provision with intermittent sources of energy," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 319-336.
    24. Fabio Antoniou & Roland Strausz, 2017. "Feed-in Subsidies, Taxation, and Inefficient Entry," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 67(4), pages 925-940, August.
    25. Lawrence H. Goulder & Ian W. H. Parry, 2008. "Instrument Choice in Environmental Policy," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 2(2), pages 152-174, Summer.
    26. Mikhail Golosov & John Hassler & Per Krusell & Aleh Tsyvinski, 2014. "Optimal Taxes on Fossil Fuel in General Equilibrium," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 82(1), pages 41-88, January.
    27. A. Mitchell Polinsky, 1979. "Notes on the Symmetry of Taxes and Subsidies in Pollution Control," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 12(1), pages 75-83, February.
    28. Requate, Till & Unold, Wolfram, 2003. "Environmental policy incentives to adopt advanced abatement technology:: Will the true ranking please stand up?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(1), pages 125-146, February.
    29. Fell, Harrison & Linn, Joshua, 2013. "Renewable electricity policies, heterogeneity, and cost effectiveness," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 66(3), pages 688-707.
    30. Andor, Mark & Voss, Achim, 2016. "Optimal renewable-energy promotion: Capacity subsidies vs. generation subsidies," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 144-158.
    31. Paul L. Joskow, 2011. "Comparing the Costs of Intermittent and Dispatchable Electricity Generating Technologies," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(3), pages 238-241, May.
    32. Crampes, C. & Moreaux, M., 2001. "Water resource and power generation," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 19(6), pages 975-997, May.
    33. Milliman, Scott R. & Prince, Raymond, 1989. "Firm incentives to promote technological change in pollution control," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 17(3), pages 247-265, November.
    34. Newbery, D M G & Stiglitz, J E, 1979. "The Theory of Commodity Price Stabilisation Rules: Welfare Impacts and Supply Responses," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 89(356), pages 799-817, December.
    35. Ligita Gasparėnienė & Rita Remeikienė & Colin C. Williams, 2022. "Introduction," SpringerBriefs in Economics, in: Unemployment and the Informal Economy, chapter 0, pages 1-6, Springer.
    36. Stephen P. Holland & Erin T. Mansur & Nicholas Z. Muller & Andrew J. Yates, 2016. "Are There Environmental Benefits from Driving Electric Vehicles? The Importance of Local Factors," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(12), pages 3700-3729, December.
    37. Carolyn Fischer & Louis Preonas & Richard G. Newell, 2017. "Environmental and Technology Policy Options in the Electricity Sector: Are We Deploying Too Many?," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 4(4), pages 959-984.
    38. Green, Richard & Léautier, Thomas-Olivier, 2015. "Do costs fall faster than revenues? Dynamics of renewables entry into electricity markets," TSE Working Papers 15-591, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).
    39. Paul L. Joskow & Catherine D. Wolfram, 2012. "Dynamic Pricing of Electricity," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(3), pages 381-385, May.
    40. Noah Kittner & Felix Lill & Daniel M. Kammen, 2017. "Energy storage deployment and innovation for the clean energy transition," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 2(9), pages 1-6, September.
    41. Fredriksson, Per G., 1997. "The Political Economy of Pollution Taxes in a Small Open Economy," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 44-58, May.
    42. Frederick Ploeg & Cees Withagen, 2014. "Growth, Renewables, And The Optimal Carbon Tax," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 55, pages 283-311, February.
    43. Iversen, Emil B. & Morales, Juan M. & Møller, Jan K. & Madsen, Henrik, 2016. "Short-term probabilistic forecasting of wind speed using stochastic differential equations," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 981-990.
    44. Ahmad Faruqui & Sanem Sergici, 2010. "Household response to dynamic pricing of electricity: a survey of 15 experiments," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 38(2), pages 193-225, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Sai Bravo & Carole Haritchabalet, 2023. "Prosumers: Grid Storage vs Small Fuel-Cell," Working Papers hal-04119625, HAL.
    2. Pommeret, Aude & Schubert, Katheline, 2022. "Optimal energy transition with variable and intermittent renewable electricity generation," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    3. Nandeeta Neerunjun, 2022. "Emissions pricing instruments with intermittent renewables: second-best policy," Working Papers hal-03740013, HAL.
    4. Mier, Mathias & Weissbart, Christoph, 2020. "Power markets in transition: Decarbonization, energy efficiency, and short-term demand response," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    5. Jan Abrell & Sebastian Rausch & Clemens Streitberger, 2022. "The Economic and Climate Value of Flexibility in Green Energy Markets," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 83(2), pages 289-312, October.
    6. Nandeeta Neerunjun, 2022. "Emissions pricing instruments with intermittent renewables: second-best policy," AMSE Working Papers 2215, Aix-Marseille School of Economics, France.
    7. Meya, Jasper N. & Neetzow, Paul, 2021. "Renewable energy policies in federal government systems," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    8. Jasper Meya & Paul Neetzow, 2019. "Renewable energy policies in federal government systems," Working Papers V-423-19, University of Oldenburg, Department of Economics, revised Jul 2019.
    9. Abrell, Jan & Rausch, Sebastian & Streitberger, Clemens, 2019. "Buffering volatility: Storage investments and technology-specific renewable energy support," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(S1).
    10. Helm, Carsten & Mier, Mathias, 2019. "On the efficient market diffusion of intermittent renewable energies," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 812-830.
    11. Aude Pommeret & Katheline Schubert, 2019. "Energy Transition with Variable and Intermittent Renewable Electricity Generation," CESifo Working Paper Series 7442, CESifo.
    12. Sai Bravo & Carole Haritchabalet, 2023. "Prosumers: Grid Storage vs Small Fuel-Cell," Working papers of Transitions Energétiques et Environnementales (TREE) hal-04119625, HAL.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Helm, Carsten & Mier, Mathias, 2019. "Subsidising Renewables but Taxing Storage? Second-Best Policies with Imperfect Carbon Pricing," VfS Annual Conference 2019 (Leipzig): 30 Years after the Fall of the Berlin Wall - Democracy and Market Economy 203539, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    2. Helm, Carsten & Mier, Mathias, 2021. "Steering the energy transition in a world of intermittent electricity supply: Optimal subsidies and taxes for renewables and storage," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    3. Carsten Helm & Mathias Mier, 2020. "Steering the Energy Transition in a World of Intermittent Electricity Supply: Optimal Subsidies and Taxes for Renewables Storage," ifo Working Paper Series 330, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
    4. Helm, Carsten & Mier, Mathias, 2019. "On the efficient market diffusion of intermittent renewable energies," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 812-830.
    5. Durmaz, Tunç, 2016. "Precautionary Storage in Electricity Markets," Discussion Papers 2016/5, Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Business and Management Science.
    6. Helm, Carsten & Mier, Mathias, 2016. "Efficient diffusion of renewable energies: A roller-coaster ride," VfS Annual Conference 2016 (Augsburg): Demographic Change 145893, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    7. Alexander Haupt, 2023. "Environmental Policy and Renewable Energy in an Imperfectly Competitive Market," CESifo Working Paper Series 10524, CESifo.
    8. Pahle, Michael & Schill, Wolf-Peter & Gambardella, Christian & Tietjen, Oliver, 2016. "Renewable Energy Support, Negative Prices, and Real-time Pricing," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 37, pages 147-169.
    9. Abrell, Jan & Rausch, Sebastian & Streitberger, Clemens, 2019. "Buffering volatility: Storage investments and technology-specific renewable energy support," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(S1).
    10. Fabra, Natalia, 2021. "The energy transition: An industrial economics perspective," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    11. Nandeeta Neerunjun & Hubert Stahn, 2023. "Renewable energy support: pre-announced policies and (in)-efficiency," AMSE Working Papers 2335, Aix-Marseille School of Economics, France.
    12. Stefan Ambec & Claude Crampes, 2019. "Decarbonizing Electricity Generation with Intermittent Sources of Energy," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 6(6), pages 1105-1134.
    13. Cameron Hepburn & Jacquelyn Pless & David Popp, 2018. "Policy Brief—Encouraging Innovation that Protects Environmental Systems: Five Policy Proposals," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 12(1), pages 154-169.
    14. Matti Liski & Iivo Vehviläinen, 2016. "Gone with the Wind? An Empirical Analysis of the Renewable Energy Rent Transfer," CESifo Working Paper Series 6250, CESifo.
    15. Klaus Eisenack & Mathias Mier, 2019. "Peak-load pricing with different types of dispatchability," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 56(2), pages 105-124, December.
    16. Pommeret, Aude & Schubert, Katheline, 2022. "Optimal energy transition with variable and intermittent renewable electricity generation," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    17. Abrell, Jan & Rausch, Sebastian & Streitberger, Clemens, 2019. "The economics of renewable energy support," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 94-117.
    18. Bialek, Sylwia & Ünel, Burçin, 2022. "Efficiency in wholesale electricity markets: On the role of externalities and subsidies," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    19. Heimvik, Arild & Amundsen, Eirik S., 2021. "Prices vs. percentages: Use of tradable green certificates as an instrument of greenhouse gas mitigation," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    20. Javier L'opez Prol & Wolf-Peter Schill, 2020. "The Economics of Variable Renewables and Electricity Storage," Papers 2012.15371, arXiv.org.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:old:dpaper:413. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catharina Schramm (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/fwoldde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.