Energy Prices

A lot of attention is being paid to wind energy due to the focus on renewable energy. Malaysia is situated in the equatorial region and its climate is governed by the monsoons. Wind resource in Malaysia varies from one location to another. Wind speed is better offshore compared to onshore, so more contribution by offshore wind powers in terms of electricity generation. Wind energy potentiality and techno- economic feasibility of offshore wind farms in Malaysia is investigated in this paper. Research was conducted using HOMER software to assess the potential of wind energy along the South China Sea coastline. This study indicates the best sites to set up offshore wind farms in Malaysia while costs associated for wind energy generation are calculated. Two model of the wind turbines Vestas V-47 and V-80 are taken for economic feasibility analyses. Investment, operation and maintenance costs have been evaluated for offshore wind energy. Feed-in tariff policy effects energy price and wind farms profitability were analyzed.

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpls/abs_all.jsp?arnumber=6129028

Η ενεργειακή φτώχεια αποτέλεσε έναν από τους παράγοντες επιδείνωσης της θέσης των μικρών και πολύ μικρών επιχειρήσεων στην Ελλάδα, σύμφωνα με τα ευρήματα ποιοτικής και ποσοτικής έρευνας που διενεργήθηκε μεταξύ Μαΐου και Αυγούστου 2019. Αιτία της εμφάνισης και της επιδείνωσης της ενεργειακής φτώχειας είναι η άνοδος των τιμών του ηλεκτρικού ρεύματος (κατά 28% για τις μεσαίου μεγέθους βιομηχανίες και 177% για τα νοικοκυριά από το 2006 ως το 2017) και η πτώση των εσόδων των μικρομεσαίων επιχειρήσεων (ΜμΕ). Ως αποτέλεσμα, το 15% των ΜμΕ έχουν καθυστερημένες οφειλές σε λογαριασμούς ενέργειας (ΔΕΗ, φυσικό αέριο, κ.α.) Παρότι είναι αδύνατο να εξαχθούν αξιόπιστοι μέσοι όροι, εξ αιτίας των μεγάλων αποκλίσεων που προέρχονται από τα διαφορετικά μεγέθη και τις διαφορετικές δραστηριότητες, πολλές ΜμΕ καταβάλλουν ακόμη και το 66% του κέρδους τους για ενεργειακό κόστος (όσες δραστηριοποιούνται πχ στον κλάδο της εστίασης).
Με βάση τις απαντήσεις που έδωσαν 19 επαγγελματίες προερχόμενοι όλοι σχεδόν από διαφορετικούς κλάδους, ακόμη και σήμερα σχεδόν 1 στους 3 επιβαρύνεται με την αποπληρωμή διακανονισμών σε ληξιπρόθεσμα χρέη του παρελθόντος προς ενεργειακές εταιρείες.
Παρά το τέλος της οικονομικής κρίσης και ύφεσης, το σύνολο των ερωτηθέντων (100%) απάντησε ότι συνεχίζει να λειτουργεί υπό το ίδιο καθεστώς περιορισμών στην κάλυψη των ενεργειακών του αναγκών, όπως συνέβαινε και στο αποκορύφωμα της κρίσης, σε βάρος της ποιότητας των παρεχόμενων υπηρεσιών, των όρων ζωής και εργασίας του. Οι περιορισμοί αυτοί αφορούσαν και συνεχίζουν να αφορούν περιορισμένη ή ακόμη και καθόλου χρήση συσκευών κλιματισμού το καλοκαίρι, και θέρμανσης το χειμώνα, θερμοσίφωνα, λαμπτήρων φωτισμού, ενώ εντατικοποιείται η λειτουργία του υπάρχοντος παραγωγικού εξοπλισμού.
Σχεδόν 2 στους 3 συμμετέχοντες προτιμούν ένα σύστημα σταθερών κι εκ των προτέρων γνωστών τιμών για το ηλεκτρικό ρεύμα, απορρίπτοντας το σημερινό απρόβλεπτο καθεστώς συνεχών αυξήσεων. Από τις απαντήσεις των ερωτώμενων αναδεικνύονται τα κόστη που προκαλεί η πολύ κακή κατάσταση του κτιριακού αποθέματος (π.χ. το 69% των κτιρίων δε διαθέτει μόνωση), που επιβαρύνει τους λογαριασμούς της ενέργειας, ενώ το γεγονός ότι η έδρα των 2 σχεδόν από τους 3 επαγγελματίες δεν είναι ιδιόκτητη λειτουργεί αποθαρρυντικά για την ανάληψη του κόστους της ενεργειακής αναβάθμισης.
Συμπερασματικά προκύπτει ότι το ενεργειακό κόστος έχει εξελιχθεί σε μια σοβαρότατη παράμετρο του κόστους λειτουργίας, που ενίοτε υπερβαίνει ακόμη και το εργατικό και σε κάθε περίπτωση έχει οδηγήσει στην άνοδο της ενεργειακής φτώχειας.

Accelerating the transition toward low or net-zero carbon emissions is necessary to keep global warming at theoretically safe levels. That will likely bring price shocks associated with rising metal prices, energy costs, and carbon taxes-what has been called "greenflation". Greening the economy will also require public spending and redistributive policies.

Economists, central bankers and politicians are debating over the severity and persistence of the strong inflationary pressure witnesses allover the world. Some like Nuriel Rubini argue that stagflation is around the corner. Others like Joseph Stiglitz suggest that this is simply a phase of the recovery from the pandemic. The article outlines these views to point that current inflation is the result of stronger growth accompanied by low profitability. If this leads (as anticipated) to higher interest rates then stagflation is a real threat. (PARON 2/2/2022)

This article is about the impact of neoliberal policies on electricity prices in Greece. Greek prices have diverged from the European average in the second half of 2021. This was the result of a production restructuring toward natural gas, the liberalization of the market, and the introduction of the "Commodity Market for Electrical Energy". In the latter, the highest price (the price of the least productive company) is the "regulating price". Moreover, a shallow derivatives market was introduced in late 2020.  This made room for speculative games on top of the energy crisis of our times.
(PARON 17/4/2022)

This article is about the alleged collapse of the Russian economy because of the war and the sanctions propagandized by western governments and media. It argues that this statement is equally wrong with the alleged decapitation of the dollar as the world's main reserve currency because Russian gas will be sold in rubles. Nevertheless, the dependency of Europe on Russian natural gas has made Putins' intervention effective in stabilizing the ruble for the first time after the invasion of Ukraine.  (PARON 10/4/2022)

Greek inflation rates followed those of most countries and reached 6.2% in January. States, Central Banks and mainstream economists allover the world  seem stunned. Their policy reaction reminds the moto of the traders in financial markets "if you do not know what to do do nothing". But people especially in countries like Greece are suffering from increasing prices in a low wage environment. Therefore, immediate relief measures are required (PARON 20/02/2022)

The article comments on the economic news in Greece during the past week. Specifically, the official inflation rate in April was 10,2%, electricity prices are almost two times the Eurozone average, and the government agency that regulates energy prices declared that "extraordinary profits" for electricity suppliers were 591 million euros from Oct.2021 to March 2022. (PARON 15/5/2022)

Como inversionista es importante saber que Mexico se encuentra en un momento coyuntural en su industria energética. Los bajos precios de los hidrocarburos han demostrado no ser un desincentivo para detener la expansión de las energías renovables y su integración en los diferentes procesos productivos del país. El mercado mexicano es amplio y atractivo, no sólo por los vastos recursos que posee en viento, sol, geotermia, hídricos y biomasa, sino también por la oportunidad de manufacturar equipo para el sector gracias al impulso al contenido nacional que se dispone ahora en la implementación de la Reforma Energética.

Bulgaria is the country with the highest level of energy poverty in the European Union, according to data and reports of Eurostat, with about 67% of the population not able to afford its basic needs of heating. Despite this fact, the term ënergy poverty"just became popular in the country in the last few years, after social protest against high electricity bills in the beginning of 2013. The negative impact of this type of poverty on the overall poverty level has been underestimated, due to the lack of in-depth and systematic research.  As such, social policies and anti-poverty programs turn to be inadequate and not able to solve the problems.  The article presents briefly main facts of the three dimensions of energy poverty in Bulgaria - low income, high expenditure for energy, and energy efficiency of buildings. The article was published by the International Association for Energy Economics.

Die Fehler in der Raumplanung der vergangenen Jahre und Jahrzehnte manifestieren sich in der immer stärkeren Abhängigkeit von motorisierten Verkehrsmitteln. Die Auto-Orientierung unserer Gesellschaft, mitbegründet bzw. begünstigt durch die gebauten und rechtlichen Strukturen, schlägt sich in steigenden Distanzen und wachsenden Kosten des Verkehrssystems nieder.
Im Rahmen der Arbeit werden die Auswirkungen steigender Treibstoffpreise bzw. steigender Verkehrsausgaben der Haushalte auf deren Mobilitätsverhalten untersucht. Nach ausführlichen Haushalts- und Pendlerstatistiken werden sämtliche Kostenkomponenten im Verkehrswesen in ihrer zeitlichen Entwicklung dargestellt. Aufbauend darauf werden Prognosen der wichtigsten Kenngrößen erstellt bzw. zitiert, deren Auswirkungen auf das Konsumverhalten und die Verteilung der Anteile der Haushaltsausgaben abgeschätzt sowie die Einkommens- und Preiselastizitäten berechnet.
Die errechneten Preiselastizitäten bewegen sich zwischen -0,37 und -0,60, Werte die mit jenen aus der Literatur durchaus übereinstimmen.
Als am stärksten von Treibstoffpreissteigerungen betroffene Bevölkerungsgruppe werden Männer-Singlehaushalte identifiziert, dicht gefolgt von Haushalten mit 3 oder mehr Pkw und Haushalten in dünn besiedeltem Gebiet.
Die steigenden Wohnungsausgaben durch wachsende Ölpreise treffen einkommensschwache Haushalte am stärksten, die ohnehin schon einen Großteil ihres Haushaltsbudgets für Wohnen und Beheizung ausgeben, wie Pkw-lose Haushalte, Frauen-Singlehaushalte und Haushalte des untersten Ausgabenquartils.

In Hungary, regulated energy prices fell by a quarter in 2013–2014 due to a state intervention. The objective of this article is to measure the effects of this change on the Hungarian residential energy consumption and assess the rationale, the policy context and other consequences of such an intervention. We decompose residential energy-use change in 2010–2018. We calculate 13.2 PJ of excess consumption relating to the programme, and find that the higher income deciles benefited the most from the lower prices compared to low-income households using market-priced lower-quality fuels and living in inefficient homes. The intervention lacked a strong policy background. The energy policy documents were later adjusted to the situation and finally the programme was linked to energy poverty. We point to price-setting failures and discrepancies between energy-efficiency goals and measures as well as negative effects of these and the programme itself. In the future, the policy emphasis should be on energy efficiency and supporting those really in need.

This study investigates the dynamic relationships between technological innovation, consumption of energy, energy price and economic growth in Denmark during the period from 1970 until 2012, using multivariate setting to examine time-series data. The analysis employs the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach to co-integration in order to examine both the short and long run dynamics among the variables. Furthermore, the study uses the Granger procedure within the VAR framework to identify causality among the variables. The model used in this study is found to be sound, a diagnosis of the reliability of the model reached by testing normality, functional form, serial correlation, and heteroscedasticity, with stability of the model tested using a cumulative sum and cumulative sum square test, based on recursive regression residuals. The ARDL approach to co-integration reveals that real GDP growth positively influences energy consumption as well as significantly in both the short run and long run, while energy prices and technological innovation influence energy consumption negatively and significantly. The results ascertain that energy consumption and economic growth are independent of each other, and thus they support a neutral hypothesis for Denmark. Besides, both the technological innovation and energy prices are found to be Granger cause energy consumption. Therefore, the study suggests that Denmark should adopt conservative energy policy using technological innovation and energy prices as instruments to achieve energy security and protect the environment from pollution.

The minutes of the Eurogroup of Monday Nov. 11th show strong differences among the Eurozone finance ministers in facing price increases. Especially energy price increases. The baseline scenario of the ECB of a short live increase in prices has been abandoned and the EU appears to have no plan on inflation besides fiscal discipline. Given the new wave of the pandemic this is a problem for weak economies like Greece that went to the Eurogroup to ask for new fiscal reliefs. The answer was blunt "countries with a problem should apply for the ESM credit line (PARON 14/11/2021)

La consolidación del modelo de agronegocios en el MERCOSUR, reflejado por
el crecimiento de la producción, productividad y exportaciones de oleaginosos y
sus derivados en los países integrantes del grupo en los últimos años, estuvo
ligado principalmente al importante aumento de los precios internacionales de los
commodities, de la oferta e incorporación acelerada de innovaciones (maquinarias,
biotecnología y gestión), a las estrategias de las empresas transnacionales
que históricamente participan en el comercio internacional de granos y a las
políticas públicas domesticas que por acción u omisión estimularon el proceso de
especialización agrícola, que transformó al MERCOSUR en el principal
productor del mundo de oleaginosas, particularmente soja, aceite de soja y
subproductos.

ÖZET: Günümüzde enerji en önemli üretim faktörlerinden biri olarak dikkat çekmektedir. Üretim ve hizmetlerde hem sabit hem de değişken maliyetlere olan etkisiyle enerjinin maliyeti ürünün maliyetini doğrudan etkilemektedir. Doğrudan Yabancı Yatırım (DYY) yapmak maksadıyla optimal ortam arayan sermayenin yerel enerji fiyatlarına duyarsız olması beklenemez. Bu çalışmada AB-27 üyesi ülkeler örnekleminde yerel enerji fiyatlarının ülkenin DYY çekebilme gücü üzerine etkisi araştırılmış, anlamlı ve negatif yönde bir ilişki tespit edilmiş ve bulgular yorumlanmıştır.
ABSTRACT: Today energy is considered one of the most important production factors. Energy prices influence the price of products or services in terms of overhead and variable costs. Capital who is seeking optimal environments for its foreign direct investments (FDI) is expected to be sensitive to local energy prices. This study investigates the impact of local energy prices on country’s FDI attracting power using the data of EU-27 countries. A significant and negative association has been found between them. Interpretations are provided based on the findings.

Мы исследуем влияние колебаний цен на электроэнергию на флуктуации бизнес-цикла на примере Бангладеш. В этом исследовании мы калибрируем динамическую стохастическую модель общего равновесия (DSGE-модель), учитывающую бытовое и промышленное потребление электроэнергии. Мы пришли к выводу, что временные колебания цен на электроэнергию и колебания производительности приводят к схожим ответным реакциям, а также к количественно схожим автокорреляциям суммарного количества. Расхождение в суммарных количествах лучше объясняются технологическими колебаниями, чем колебаниями цен на электроэнергию. Это приводит к выводу, что технологические колебания являются более важным источником флуктуаций бизнес-цикла в Бангладеш.We investigate the role of energy price shocks on business cycle fluctuations in Bangladesh. In doing so, we calibrate a Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium (DSGE) model, allowing for both energy consumptionby households and as an input in production. We find that qualitativel...

The UK’s consumer energy regulator, the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem), announced on 6 August 2021 that it will increase the rates that energy companies can charge consumers for energy beginning 1 October.  This increase comes on the heels of a rate increase that came into effect only half a year earlier, on 1 April, that pushed up household gas bills by an average of £90/year.  It is estimated that the new increase will raise the cost for households by another £140-155/year for natural gas. In this blog post series, I examine the UK’s natural gas infrastructure, the market dynamics behind rising global natural gas prices, and who will be affected the most by Ofgem’s rate increase. I show how the deregulation and financialization of UK natural gas over the last couple of decades has exposed UK consumers to the geopolitics of natural gas pipelines and fluctuations in financial market prices for natural gas.  I address natural gas taxes, environmental levies, and domestic energy suppliers in part two.

The residential energy consumption is influenced by a lot of factors. Understanding and calculating these factors is essential to making conscious energy policy decisions and feedbacks. Since 2013 the energy prices for households have been controlled by the government in Hungary and as a result of the utility cost reduction program a sharp decline can be observed in residential electricity, district heating and natural gas prices. This paper applies the LMDI (~Logarithmic Mean Division Index) method to decompose the absolute change of the residential energy consumption during the period of 2010–2015. I calculate the price, the intensive structure (it means the change of energy expenditure share on energy sources), the extensive structure (it is in connection with the change of energy expenditure share in total expenditure), expenditure (it is the change of per capita total expenditure) and population effect. All of that shows the impact of the specific factor on the residential energy consumption by income deciles. My results have verified the preliminary expectations: the decreasing energy prices for households have a positive impact on energy use and it has been strengthened by the expenditure effect as well. However, the intensive structure, the extensive structure and the population effect have largely offset it.

Starting from PES (primary energy saving) and CSR (cost saving ratio) definitions the work pinpoints a " grey area " in which CHP (combined heat and power e cogeneration) units can operate with profit and negative PES. In this case, CHP can be profitably operated with lower efficiency with respect to separate production of electrical and thermal energy. The work defines the R-index as the ratio between the cost of fuel and electricity. The optimal value of R-index for which CHP units operate with both environmental benefit (PES > 0) and economic profitability (CSR > 0) is the reference value of electrical efficiency, h el_ref , of separate production (national power grid mix). As a consequence, optimal R-index varies from Country to Country. The work demonstrates that the value of R corresponds to the minimum value of electrical efficiency for which any power generator operates with profit. The paper demonstrates that, with regard to the profitability of cogeneration, the ratio between the cost of commodities is more important than their absolute value so that different taxation of each commodity can be a good leverage for energy policy makers to promote high efficiency cogeneration, even in the absence of an incentive mechanism. The final part of the study presents an analysis on micro-CHP technologies payback times for different European Countries.

In Hungary, regulated energy prices have been crucial in supplying electricity, district heating and natural gas to households, and as a result of a utility cost reduction programme, implemented in several stages starting from 2013, a sharp decline has been seen in these prices. However, this state intervention was performed without a strong policy background and the energy policy documents were just later adjusted to the prevailing situation. This paper focuses on the direct and indirect effects of this programme. The logarithmic mean Divisia index (LMDI) method is applied to decompose the absolute change in residential energy consumption between 2010 and 2017. We calculate price, intensive structure, extensive structure, expenditure and population effects. The results are in line with our expectations that decreasing energy prices for households had a positive impact on their energy use in the first few years. Overall, it induced an additional energy use of as much as 18.9 PJ between 2013 and 2017, while residential energy consumption stood at 263 PJ in 2017. We find that the state intervention created a new situation where the ratio of residential expenditure on energy services to total expenditure significantly decreased, the inflation rate declined and the economic and income situation of the majority, especially that of the middle class, considerably improved. However, the efficiency of the applied measures is still doubtful and several negative effects have also been detected. The utility cost reduction programme discourages energy conservation and energy efficiency; erodes the competitiveness of renewables; reduces gross capital formation in the energy sector; deteriorates security of supply; and increases energy prices for non-household customers. Despite these drawbacks, the utility cost reduction programme is expected to continue with some adjustments at most.

The paper describes the current situation of wind energy across the world and specifically discusses the offshore wind farm technology. Subsequently, wind energy potentiality and techno-economic feasibility of offshore wind farms is investigated in Malaysia. Analysis was conducted using HOMER software to assess the potential of wind energy along the South China Sea coastline. This study indicates the best sites to set up offshore wind farms in Malaysia while costs associated for wind energy generation are calculated. Also, case ...

Since the study of Ellerman and Decaux (1998) marginal abatement cost curves (MACCs) have become one of the favorite instruments to analyze the impacts of the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol and emission trading. This paper shows that the MACC in one country depends - via the link of world energy prices - on the level of abate-ment in the rest of the world. The strength of the dependence is influenced by factors, such as trade elasticities and trade structures. After discussing the mechanism theoretically, the CGE model DART is used to quantify the effects. We show that the MACC of a region does indeed shift with changes in the abatement level in the rest of the world and that especially with low domestic abatement level the MACCs can differ considerably.

Günümüzde enerji en önemli üretim faktörlerinden biri olarak dikkat çekmektedir. Üretim ve hizmetlerde hem sabit hem de değişken maliyetlere olan etkisiyle enerjinin maliyeti ürünün maliyetini doğrudan etkilemektedir. Doğrudan Yabancı Yatırım (DYY) yapmak maksadıyla optimal ortam arayan sermayenin yerel enerji fiyatlarına duyarsız olması beklenemez. Bu çalışmada AB-27 üyesi ülkeler örnekleminde yerel enerji fiyatlarının ülkenin DYY çekebilme gücü üzerine etkisi araştırılmış, anlamlı ve negatif yönde bir ilişki tespit edilmiş ve bulgular yorumlanmıştır.

The objective of this paper is twofold: i) to identify the relationship, in a deterministic way, between the useful water volume in the Brazilian reservoirs and the Price for Settlement of Differences (PSD) and; ii) to identify the parametric stochastic process which explains better the behaviour of the PSD series. Although there is a considerable amount of publications dealing with the commercialization of Brazilian electric energy through auctions, or dealing with models for predicting the increasing demand for electricity, little has been discussed about the econometric or stochastic behaviour of these prices, even though it is admitted, in these same publications, that they occur. It was collected 882 weekly observations of the useful water volume (%) and the PSD (R$/MWh). Regarding the first question, it was found that the useful volume of water can explain between 54% and 89% of the variations in the log PSD. Regarding the second question, it was found that a Vasicek (or Ornstein-Uhlenbeck) and a CKLS process, quite close to a Square Root Cox-Ingersoll-Ross (CIR-SR) process, better explain the stochastic behaviour of PSD. Lastly, futures studies are suggested at the end of this paper.

This paper estimates the effect of the shale oil and gas boom in  the United States on local economic outcomes. The main source of exogenous variation to be explored is the location of previously unexplored shale deposits. These have become technologically recoverable through the use of hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling. I use this to estimate the localised effects from resource extraction. A key observation is that, despite rising labour costs, there is no Dutch disease contraction in the tradable goods sector, while the non-tradable goods sector contracts. I reconcile this finding by providing evidence that the resource boom may give rise to local comparative advantage, through locally lower energy cost. This allows a clean separation of the energy price effect distinct from the local resource extraction effects.