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Policies for decarbonizing a liberalized power sector

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  • David Newbery

Abstract

Given the agreed urgency of decarbonizing electricity and the need to guide decentralized private decisions, an adequate and credible carbon price appears essential. The paper defines and quantifies the useful concept of the break-even carbon price for mature zero-carbon electricity investments. It appears an attractive alternative given the difficulty of measuring the social cost of carbon, but modelling shows it extremely sensitive to projected fuel prices, the rate of interest, and the capital cost of generation options, all of which are very uncertain. This has important implications, and justifies combining a carbon price floor with suitable long-term contracts for electricity investments. The same sensitivity demonstrated for the break-even carbon price translates into similar sensitivities for marginal abatement cost curves.

Suggested Citation

  • David Newbery, 2016. "Policies for decarbonizing a liberalized power sector," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 1614, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    • Handle: RePEc:cam:camdae:1614
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    7. Osorio, Sebastian & Pietzcker, Robert Carl & Pahle, Michael & Edenhofer, Ottmar, 2018. "How to deal with the risks of phasing out coal in Germany through national carbon pricing," EconStor Preprints 190771, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    8. Newbery, David M., 2016. "Towards a green energy economy? The EU Energy Union’s transition to a low-carbon zero subsidy electricity system – Lessons from the UK’s Electricity Market Reform," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 1321-1330.
    9. David M. Newbery & David M. Reiner & Robert A. Ritz, 2018. "When is a carbon price floor desirable?," Working Papers EPRG 1816, Energy Policy Research Group, Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge.
    10. Neuhoff, Karsten & May, Nils & Richstein, Jörn C., 2022. "Financing renewables in the age of falling technology costs," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    carbon price; electricity; investment; renewables; marginal abatement cost;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C65 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Mathematical Methods; Programming Models; Mathematical and Simulation Modeling - - - Miscellaneous Mathematical Tools
    • Q42 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Alternative Energy Sources
    • Q48 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Government Policy
    • Q51 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Valuation of Environmental Effects
    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming

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