Renewables in the Mainstream: Towards a "Third Way" for electricity market design?

Background

The generation from renewable sources is now at the same level as that from gas and twice that from nuclear generation. Much more is expected and needed to deliver a low carbon energy system, but this raises questions about how energy markets are best operated and regulated to facilitate additional deployment.

The IEA Working Party on Renewable Energy Technologies (REWP), with the active participation of its Renewable Industry Advisory Board (RIAB) members, hosted a workshop bringing together senior decision makers from the key players worldwide: governments from IEA and partner countries, technology providers, utilities and project developers. Discussion of specific and concrete examples allowed a debate on the key elements needed to transform the energy system to one underpinned by high levels of renewable energy supply. The event built upon IEA secretariat work on policy and market design, including a recent series of workshops within the framework of the IEA Electricity Security Advisory Panel (ESAP). The results of this event provided an essential contribution to current IEA activities and publications on electricity market design and the IEA Grid Integration of Variable Renewables (GIVAR) programme.

Participants List‌

Agenda‌:

Session 1: Competitive renewables markets – What is happening on the ground?

This session showcased how far renewable energies are currently developing on a purely commercial basis. Key questions were: What are the most important characteristics of successful projects in the absence of economic support policies? What limiting factors to the deployment on a purely commercial basis can be observed in today’s markets?

Moderator
Seb Henbest‌, Head of Europe, Middle East & Africa, Bloomberg New Energy Finance

Speakers
Marc-Alain BEHAR, Group Marketing Manager, Solaire Direct
Felix Grölman‌, CEO, Grundgrün Energie GmbH
Steve Sawyer‌, Secretary General, Global Wind Energy Council

Session 2: Adapting liberalised power markets - Minor tweak or major overhaul?

Wholesale market liberalisation took place in the past decades to increase efficiency of system operations and investments. However, experience with liberalised power markets has been mixed. This session explored relevant examples of where liberalised power markets have been changed or where changes are currently under discussion to better accommodate renewable energies:

Moderator
Stefan Ulreich, E.ON SE

Speakers
Manuel Baritaud‌, Senior Energy Analyst, IEA
Marco Nicolosi‌, Director, Connect Energy Economics GmbH
Michael Grubb‌, Senior Advisor, UK Energy Regulator Ofgem
Albert Melo‌, Director General, CEPEL

Session 3: Adapting regulated markets – How far to go with liberalisation?

The majority of investments into power generation infrastructure is still made in heavily regulated markets. However, a number of countries with ambitious renewable energy plans have recognised the need for change to energy markets. What are the key issues in more regulated frameworks and how can they be overcome?

Moderator
Francesco Venturini‌, CEO, Enel Green Power

Speakers
Xianzhang Lei‌, Head of State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC) Europe office
Takatsune Ito, Deputy Director, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Japan
Fabien Roques‌, Senior Vice-President, Compass Lexecon

Session 4: Liberalisation and regulation – finding the best of both worlds

High level panel discussion with selected RIAB members to reflect the sessions’ content and debate what an integrated model could look like.

Moderators
Martin Schöpe, REWP Chairman
Paolo Frankl, Head of Renewable Energy Division, IEA

Panelists
Arnaud Chaperon, Senior Vice President, New Energy Division, TOTAL
Katrin Düning, Head of Berlin Office, ENERCON
Mike Eckhart, Managing Director & Global Head of Environmental Finance, Citigroup
Rafael Mateo, CEO, Acciona Energy
Claude Turmes, European Parliament
Maja Wessels, Executive VP Global Public Affairs, First solar