The Erosion of Electricity Markets: Do the markets still provide the right signals?

摘要

Over the last 20 years, Europe has moved from a system of regulated utilities to liberalised power markets. The construction of new power stations has been based on market signals as perceived by power generators. More recently, large sections of the power generation industry, e.g. renewables, CHP, small hydro – have been removed from the competitive market or their position in the market has been altered by government intervention. In future such intervention will become even more prevalent and it is therefore very questionable whether the market provides appropriate signals for new-build. This paper will review the issue, will discuss whether there are ways of simulating market signals (e.g. capacity markets) or whether more radical action is required.