IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/juipol/v16y2008i3p159-170.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Capacity payments in imperfect electricity markets: Need and design

Author

Listed:
  • Joskow, Paul L.

Abstract

This paper argues that a variety of imperfections in wholesale "energy-only" electricity markets lead to generators earning net revenues that are inadequate to support investment in a least cost portfolio of generating capacity and to satisfy consumer preferences for reliability. Theoretical and numerical examples are used to illustrate the sources of this "missing money" problem. Improvements in "energy-only" wholesale electricity markets, especially those that improve pricing when capacity is fully utilized, can reduce the magnitude of the missing money problem. However, these improvements are unlikely to fully ameliorate it. Forward capacity obligations and associated auction mechanisms to determine capacity prices are necessary to restore appropriate wholesale market prices and associated investment incentives to support the optimal portfolio of generating investments. The deficiencies of the original capacity payment mechanisms adopted in the US are discussed and the necessary improvements identified.

Suggested Citation

  • Joskow, Paul L., 2008. "Capacity payments in imperfect electricity markets: Need and design," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 159-170, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:juipol:v:16:y:2008:i:3:p:159-170
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0957-1787(07)00092-6
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    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. Paul Joskow & Jean Tirole, 2007. "Reliability and competitive electricity markets," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 38(1), pages 60-84, March.
    2. Chao, Hung-po & Wilson, Robert, 1987. "Priority Service: Pricing, Investment, and Market Organization," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 77(5), pages 899-916, December.
    3. Paul Joskow & Jean Tirole, 2006. "Retail electricity competition," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 37(4), pages 799-815, December.
    4. Peter Cramton & Steven Stoft, 2006. "The Convergence of Market Designs for Adequate Generating Capacity," Papers of Peter Cramton 06mdfra, University of Maryland, Department of Economics - Peter Cramton, revised 2006.
    5. Paul Joskow & Jean Tirole, 2006. "Retail electricity competition," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 37(4), pages 799-815, December.
    6. Paul L. Joskow, 1976. "Contributions to the Theory of Marginal Cost Pricing," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 7(1), pages 197-206, Spring.
    7. Richard Gilbert & Karsten Neuhoff & David Newbery, 2004. "Allocating Transmission to Mitigate Market Power in Electricity Markets," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 35(4), pages 691-709, Winter.
    8. Richard Green, 2004. "Electricity Transmission Pricing: How much does it cost to get it wrong?," Working Papers EP63, Energy Policy Research Group, Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge.
    9. Michael A. Crew & Paul R. Kleindorfer, 1976. "Peak Load Pricing with a Diverse Technology," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 7(1), pages 207-231, Spring.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Peter Cramton & Axel Ockenfels & Steven Stoft, 2013. "Capacity Market Fundamentals," Economics of Energy & Environmental Policy, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 2).
    2. Mathias Mier, 2018. "Policy Implications of a World with Renewables, Limited Dispatchability, and Fixed Load," Working Papers V-412-18, University of Oldenburg, Department of Economics, revised Jul 2018.
    3. Mier, Mathias, 2021. "Efficient pricing of electricity revisited," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    4. Daniel Adelman & Canan Uçkun, 2019. "Dynamic Electricity Pricing to Smart Homes," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 67(6), pages 1520-1542, November.
    5. Poletti, Steve, 2009. "Government procurement of peak capacity in the New Zealand electricity market," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(9), pages 3409-3417, September.
    6. Roques, Fabien A., 2008. "Market design for generation adequacy: Healing causes rather than symptoms," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 171-183, September.
    7. Peter Cramton & Axel Ockenfels, 2012. "Economics and Design of Capacity Markets for the Power Sector," Papers of Peter Cramton 12cocap, University of Maryland, Department of Economics - Peter Cramton, revised 2012.
    8. Simshauser, Paul, 2022. "Rooftop solar PV and the peak load problem in the NEM's Queensland region," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    9. Ovaere, Marten & Heylen, Evelyn & Proost, Stef & Deconinck, Geert & Van Hertem, Dirk, 2019. "How detailed value of lost load data impact power system reliability decisions," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 1064-1075.
    10. Mier, Mathias & Weissbart, Christoph, 2020. "Power markets in transition: Decarbonization, energy efficiency, and short-term demand response," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    11. Boom, Anette, 2009. "Vertically integrated firms' investments in electricity generating capacities," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 544-551, July.
    12. Meunier, Guy, 2010. "Capacity choice, technology mix and market power," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(6), pages 1306-1315, November.
    13. Xuejuan Su, 2015. "Have customers benefited from electricity retail competition?," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 47(2), pages 146-182, April.
    14. Paul Joskow & Jean Tirole, 2007. "Reliability and competitive electricity markets," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 38(1), pages 60-84, March.
    15. van Kooten, G. Cornelis, 2015. "All you want to know about the Economics of Wind Power," Working Papers 241693, University of Victoria, Resource Economics and Policy.
    16. Anette Boom & Sebastian Schwenen, 2021. "Is real-time pricing smart for consumers?," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 60(2), pages 193-213, December.
    17. Briggs, R.J. & Kleit, Andrew, 2013. "Resource adequacy reliability and the impacts of capacity subsidies in competitive electricity markets," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 297-305.
    18. Gillingham, Kenneth, 2009. "Economic efficiency of solar hot water policy in New Zealand," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(9), pages 3336-3347, September.
    19. Hung-po Chao, 2011. "Demand response in wholesale electricity markets: the choice of customer baseline," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 39(1), pages 68-88, February.
    20. Allcott, Hunt, 2011. "Rethinking real-time electricity pricing," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 820-842.

    More about this item

    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:eee:juipol:v:16:y:2008:i:3:p:159-170. 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: https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/utilities-policy .

    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.