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German Nuclear Phase-out Policy: Effects on European Electricity Wholesale Prices, Emission Prices, Conventional Power Plant Investments and Eletricity Trade

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  • Thure Traber
  • Claudia Kemfert

Abstract

The German decision to finally phase-out nuclear electricity has led to a debate on its effects on electricity prices, emission prices in the European emission trading system, as well as on international electricity trade. We investigate these effects with a Electricity market model for Europe with investments in power plants under oligopolistic conditions in Germany. We find modest price increases on the German wholesale market by the mid-term 2020 and an effect of the accelerated nuclear phase- out of between four and twelve percent. Moreover, the increase in the emission allowance prices due to the change in nuclear policy is between 1:8 and 3 Euro per ton of CO2 by the same period. The large variations in our results are induced by four combinations of the European emission trading policy and the success of the German energy efficiency policy. Most pronounced price effects are found in scenarios with a successful energy savings policy, which acts as a substitute for new power plants. Moreover, the tighter the emission trading system is, the larger are the effects of the accelerated phase-out on electricity and emission prices. Under a tight system, however, investments in conventional generation are likely to be dominated by natural gas fired plants since the decrease of utilization rates induced by renewable energies are more important for coal fired power plants with their relative high investment costs.

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  • Thure Traber & Claudia Kemfert, 2012. "German Nuclear Phase-out Policy: Effects on European Electricity Wholesale Prices, Emission Prices, Conventional Power Plant Investments and Eletricity Trade," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1219, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
  • Handle: RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp1219
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    Cited by:

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    2. Brigitte Knopf & Yen-Heng Henry Chen & Enrica De Cian & Hannah Förster & Amit Kanudia & Ioanna Karkatsouli & Ilkka Keppo & Tiina Koljonen & Katja Schumacher & Detlef P. Van Vuuren, 2013. "Beyond 2020 — Strategies And Costs For Transforming The European Energy System," Climate Change Economics (CCE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 4(supp0), pages 1-38.
    3. Stephen Jarvis & Olivier Deschenes & Akshaya Jha, 2022. "The Private and External Costs of Germany’s Nuclear Phase-Out," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 20(3), pages 1311-1346.
    4. A. Schröder & T. Traber & C. Kemfert, 2013. "Market Driven Power Plant Investment Perspectives In Europe: Climate Policy And Technology Scenarios Until 2050 In The Model Emelie-Esy," Climate Change Economics (CCE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 4(supp0), pages 1-22.
    5. Brigitte Knopf & Bjørn Bakken & Samuel Carrara & Amit Kanudia & Ilkka Keppo & Tiina Koljonen & Silvana Mima & Eva Schmid & Detlef P. Van Vuuren, 2013. "Transforming The European Energy System: Member States' Prospects Within The Eu Framework," Climate Change Economics (CCE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 4(supp0), pages 1-26.
    6. Bruninx, Kenneth & Madzharov, Darin & Delarue, Erik & D'haeseleer, William, 2013. "Impact of the German nuclear phase-out on Europe's electricity generation—A comprehensive study," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 251-261.
    7. Philip Beran & Christian Pape & Christoph Weber, 2018. "Modelling German electricity wholesale spot prices with a parsimonious fundamental model – Validation and application," EWL Working Papers 1801, University of Duisburg-Essen, Chair for Management Science and Energy Economics, revised Mar 2018.
    8. Friedrich Kunz and Hannes Weigt, 2014. "Germanys Nuclear Phase Out - A Survey of the Impact since 2011 and Outlook to 2023," Economics of Energy & Environmental Policy, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 2).
    9. Ozan Korkmaz & Bihrat Önöz, 2022. "Modelling the Potential Impacts of Nuclear Energy and Renewables in the Turkish Energy System," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-25, February.
    10. Woo, C.K. & Ho, T. & Zarnikau, J. & Olson, A. & Jones, R. & Chait, M. & Horowitz, I. & Wang, J., 2014. "Electricity-market price and nuclear power plant shutdown: Evidence from California," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 234-244.
    11. Chi-Keung Woo & Ira Horowitz & Jay Zarnikau & Jack Moore & Brendan Schneiderman & Tony Ho & Eric Leung, 2016. "What Moves the Ex Post Variable Profit of Natural-Gas-Fired Generation in California?," The Energy Journal, , vol. 37(3), pages 29-57, July.
    12. Percebois, Jacques & Pommeret, Stanislas, 2019. "Storage cost induced by a large substitution of nuclear by intermittent renewable energies: The French case," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    energy modeling; nuclear phase-out; climate policy; oligopoly;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C63 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Mathematical Methods; Programming Models; Mathematical and Simulation Modeling - - - Computational Techniques
    • L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets
    • L94 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Electric Utilities
    • Q38 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Nonrenewable Resources and Conservation - - - Government Policy (includes OPEC Policy)

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