IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/enepol/v121y2018icp394-403.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A retrospective analysis of the market price response to distributed photovoltaic generation in California

Author

Listed:
  • Craig, Michael T.
  • Jaramillo, Paulina
  • Hodge, Bri-Mathias
  • Williams, Nathaniel J.
  • Severnini, Edson

Abstract

Due to rapid growth of distributed solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity in the U.S., numerous “value of solar” studies have attempted to quantify avoided costs associated with distributed PV. One such avoided cost that has received little attention is the market price response, or how distributed PV generation reduces utilities’ procurement costs and, consequently, consumers’ costs through reduced wholesale electricity prices in the short-term. We quantify the reduction in day-ahead wholesale electricity prices to distributed PV generation in California (CA) from 2013 through 2015. Using a database of all distributed PV systems in the three CA investor owned utilities, we estimate historic hourly distributed PV generation using three methods that we validate with metered generation from 205 PV systems. Via multiple linear regression, we then estimate electricity price reductions due to distributed PV generation. Across the three methods used to estimate PV generation, distributed PV generation reduced hourly median (mean) wholesale electricity prices by up to $2.7–3.1/MWh ($2.9–3.2/MWh) ($2015), or by 7–8% (8–9%). Lower wholesale prices reduced utilities’ energy procurement costs in the day-ahead market by up to $650–730 million ($2015) from 2013 through 2015. These avoided costs are similar to other avoided costs commonly included in value of solar studies.

Suggested Citation

  • Craig, Michael T. & Jaramillo, Paulina & Hodge, Bri-Mathias & Williams, Nathaniel J. & Severnini, Edson, 2018. "A retrospective analysis of the market price response to distributed photovoltaic generation in California," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 394-403.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:121:y:2018:i:c:p:394-403
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2018.05.061
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421518303781
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.enpol.2018.05.061?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Brancucci Martinez-Anido, Carlo & Brinkman, Greg & Hodge, Bri-Mathias, 2016. "The impact of wind power on electricity prices," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 474-487.
    2. Whitney K. Newey & Kenneth D. West, 1994. "Automatic Lag Selection in Covariance Matrix Estimation," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 61(4), pages 631-653.
    3. Solangi, K.H. & Islam, M.R. & Saidur, R. & Rahim, N.A. & Fayaz, H., 2011. "A review on global solar energy policy," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 15(4), pages 2149-2163, May.
    4. McConnell, Dylan & Hearps, Patrick & Eales, Dominic & Sandiford, Mike & Dunn, Rebecca & Wright, Matthew & Bateman, Lachlan, 2013. "Retrospective modeling of the merit-order effect on wholesale electricity prices from distributed photovoltaic generation in the Australian National Electricity Market," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 17-27.
    5. Tveten, Åsa Grytli & Bolkesjø, Torjus Folsland & Martinsen, Thomas & Hvarnes, Håvard, 2013. "Solar feed-in tariffs and the merit order effect: A study of the German electricity market," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 761-770.
    6. Gelabert, Liliana & Labandeira, Xavier & Linares, Pedro, 2011. "An ex-post analysis of the effect of renewables and cogeneration on Spanish electricity prices," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(S1), pages 59-65.
    7. Roth, Michael Buchdahl & Jaramillo, Paulina, 2017. "Going nuclear for climate mitigation: An analysis of the cost effectiveness of preserving existing U.S. nuclear power plants as a carbon avoidance strategy," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 67-77.
    8. Clò, Stefano & Cataldi, Alessandra & Zoppoli, Pietro, 2015. "The merit-order effect in the Italian power market: The impact of solar and wind generation on national wholesale electricity prices," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 79-88.
    9. Lion Hirth, 2013. "The Market Value of Variable Renewables. The Effect of Solar and Wind Power Variability on their Relative Price," RSCAS Working Papers 2013/36, European University Institute.
    10. Wiser, Ryan & Millstein, Dev & Mai, Trieu & Macknick, Jordan & Carpenter, Alberta & Cohen, Stuart & Cole, Wesley & Frew, Bethany & Heath, Garvin, 2016. "The environmental and public health benefits of achieving high penetrations of solar energy in the United States," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 472-486.
    11. Woo, C.K. & Moore, J. & Schneiderman, B. & Ho, T. & Olson, A. & Alagappan, L. & Chawla, K. & Toyama, N. & Zarnikau, J., 2016. "Merit-order effects of renewable energy and price divergence in California’s day-ahead and real-time electricity markets," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 299-312.
    12. Newey, Whitney & West, Kenneth, 2014. "A simple, positive semi-definite, heteroscedasticity and autocorrelation consistent covariance matrix," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 33(1), pages 125-132.
    13. Hirth, Lion, 2013. "The market value of variable renewables," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 218-236.
    14. Felix Creutzig & Peter Agoston & Jan Christoph Goldschmidt & Gunnar Luderer & Gregory Nemet & Robert C. Pietzcker, 2017. "The underestimated potential of solar energy to mitigate climate change," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 2(9), pages 1-9, September.
    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. Olukunle O. Owolabi & Toryn L. J. Schafer & Georgia E. Smits & Sanhita Sengupta & Sean E. Ryan & Lan Wang & David S. Matteson & Mila Getmansky Sherman & Deborah A. Sunter, 2021. "Role of Variable Renewable Energy Penetration on Electricity Price and its Volatility Across Independent System Operators in the United States," Papers 2112.11338, arXiv.org, revised Nov 2022.
    2. Mills, Andrew & Wiser, Ryan & Millstein, Dev & Carvallo, Juan Pablo & Gorman, Will & Seel, Joachim & Jeong, Seongeun, 2021. "The impact of wind, solar, and other factors on the decline in wholesale power prices in the United States," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 283(C).
    3. Wilkinson, Sam & Maticka, Martin J. & Liu, Yue & John, Michele, 2021. "The duck curve in a drying pond: The impact of rooftop PV on the Western Australian electricity market transition," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    4. Brown, Patrick R. & O'Sullivan, Francis M., 2020. "Spatial and temporal variation in the value of solar power across United States electricity markets," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    5. Anatoly P. Dzyuba & Irina A. Solovyeva & Aleksandr V. Semikolenov, 2022. "Prospects of introducing microgrids in Russian industry," Journal of New Economy, Ural State University of Economics, vol. 23(2), pages 80-101, July.
    6. Lavin, Luke & Apt, Jay, 2021. "The importance of peak pricing in realizing system benefits from distributed storage," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    7. Anatolyy Dzyuba & Irina Solovyeva & Aleksandr Semikolenov, 2023. "Raising the Resilience of Industrial Manufacturers through Implementing Natural Gas-Fired Distributed Energy Resource Systems with Demand Response," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-24, May.
    8. Kolb, Sebastian & Dillig, Marius & Plankenbühler, Thomas & Karl, Jürgen, 2020. "The impact of renewables on electricity prices in Germany - An update for the years 2014–2018," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    9. Gökgöz, Fazıl & Yücel, Öykü, 2024. "Merit-order of dispatchable and variable renewable energy sources in Turkey's day-ahead electricity market," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).

    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. Csereklyei, Zsuzsanna & Qu, Songze & Ancev, Tihomir, 2019. "The effect of wind and solar power generation on wholesale electricity prices in Australia," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 358-369.
    2. Macedo, Daniela Pereira & Marques, António Cardoso & Damette, Olivier, 2020. "The impact of the integration of renewable energy sources in the electricity price formation: is the Merit-Order Effect occurring in Portugal?," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    3. Figueiredo, Nuno Carvalho & Silva, Patrícia Pereira da, 2019. "The “Merit-order effect” of wind and solar power: Volatility and determinants," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 54-62.
    4. Wilkinson, Sam & Maticka, Martin J. & Liu, Yue & John, Michele, 2021. "The duck curve in a drying pond: The impact of rooftop PV on the Western Australian electricity market transition," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    5. Bell, William Paul & Wild, Phillip & Foster, John & Hewson, Michael, 2017. "Revitalising the wind power induced merit order effect to reduce wholesale and retail electricity prices in Australia," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 224-241.
    6. López Prol, Javier & Steininger, Karl W. & Zilberman, David, 2020. "The cannibalization effect of wind and solar in the California wholesale electricity market," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    7. Nibedita, Barsha & Irfan, Mohd, 2022. "Analyzing the asymmetric impacts of renewables on wholesale electricity price: Empirical evidence from the Indian electricity market," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 194(C), pages 538-551.
    8. Zipp, Alexander, 2017. "The marketability of variable renewable energy in liberalized electricity markets – An empirical analysis," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 1111-1121.
    9. Javier L'opez Prol & Wolf-Peter Schill, 2020. "The Economics of Variable Renewables and Electricity Storage," Papers 2012.15371, arXiv.org.
    10. Sánchez de la Nieta, A.A. & Contreras, J., 2020. "Quantifying the effect of renewable generation on day–ahead electricity market prices: The Spanish case," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    11. Thomaßen, Georg & Redl, Christian & Bruckner, Thomas, 2022. "Will the energy-only market collapse? On market dynamics in low-carbon electricity systems," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    12. Gürtler, Marc & Paulsen, Thomas, 2018. "The effect of wind and solar power forecasts on day-ahead and intraday electricity prices in Germany," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 150-162.
    13. Marc Baudry & Clément Bonnet, 2016. "Demand pull isntruments and the development of wind power in Europe: A counter-factual analysis," Working Papers 1607, Chaire Economie du climat.
    14. Mosquera-López, Stephanía & Nursimulu, Anjali, 2019. "Drivers of electricity price dynamics: Comparative analysis of spot and futures markets," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 76-87.
    15. De Siano, Rita & Sapio, Alessandro, 2022. "Spatial merit order effects of renewables in the Italian power exchange," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    16. Abban, Abdul Rashid & Hasan, Mohammad Z., 2021. "Solar energy penetration and volatility transmission to electricity markets—An Australian perspective," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 434-449.
    17. Sapio, Alessandro, 2019. "Greener, more integrated, and less volatile? A quantile regression analysis of Italian wholesale electricity prices," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 452-469.
    18. Karel Janda & Michaela Koscova, 2018. "Photovoltaics and the Slovak Electricity Market," Working Papers IES 2018/02, Charles University Prague, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Economic Studies, revised Jan 2018.
    19. Janda, Karel, 2018. "Slovak electricity market and the price merit order effect of photovoltaics," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 551-562.
    20. Mwampashi, Muthe Mathias & Nikitopoulos, Christina Sklibosios & Konstandatos, Otto & Rai, Alan, 2021. "Wind generation and the dynamics of electricity prices in Australia," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).

    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:eee:enepol:v:121:y:2018:i:c:p:394-403. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/enpol .

    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.