Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-fbnjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T02:33:42.615Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

4 - Reliability and the Missing Money Problem

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 February 2022

Todd S. Aagaard
Affiliation:
Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law
Andrew N. Kleit
Affiliation:
Pennsylvania State University
Get access

Summary

Capacity markets are created to ensure that restructured electricity markets provide reliable service. Reliability requires that generation capacity in electricity markets is adequate to meet demand at all times, including during periods of peak usage. In a typical market, the reliability of supply is left to buyers and sellers to resolve through their transactions. Electricity markets, however, have their peculiarities. In particular, the missing money problem is a theory contending that features specific to electricity markets distort incentives for investment in generation capacity, impairing reliability. Potential sources of these distorted incentives include inelastic demand and supply, price caps, system reliability as a public good, the use of engineering-based reliability standards, and system operations. Missing money theories provide the general rationale for policies seeking to enhance the supply of capacity in electricity markets. Each of the potential causes of missing money has generated both support and critique and may have different implications for policy.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

G References

Albadi, MH and El-Saadany, EF (2008) A summary of demand response in electricity markets. Electric Power Systems Research 78, 1989–96.Google Scholar
Besser, JG, Farr, JG, and Tierney, SF (2002) The political economy of long-term generation adequacy: why an ICAP mechanism is needed as part of standard market design. Electricity Journal 15, 5362.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bidwell, M and Henney, A (2004) Will the new electricity trading arrangements ensure generation adequacy? Electricity Journal, August/September 2004, 1538.Google Scholar
Borenstein, J, Bushnell, J, and Knittel, CR (1999) Market power in electricity markets: beyond concentration measures. Energy Journal 20, 6588.Google Scholar
Botterud, A and Doorman, G (2008) Generation investment and capacity adequacy in electricity markets. International Association for Energy Economics Newsletter, Second Quarter 2008, 1115.Google Scholar
Bublitz, A, Keles, D, Zimmermann, F, Fraunholz, C, and Fichtner, W (2019) A survey on electricity market design: insights from theory and real-world implementations of capacity remuneration mechanisms. Energy Economics 80, 1059–78.Google Scholar
Bushnell, J (2005) Electricity Resource Adequacy: Matching Policies and Goals, Berkeley, CA: UC Berkeley Center for the Study of Energy Markets.Google Scholar
Bushnell, J, Flagg, M, and Mansur, E (2017) Electricity Capacity at a Crossroads, Davis, CA: UC Davis Energy Economics Program.Google Scholar
Chen, X and Kleit, AN (2016) Money for nothing? Why FERC Order 745 should have died. Energy Journal 37, 201–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cramton, P and Ockenfels, A (2012) Economics and design of capacity markets for the power sector. Zeitschrift für Energiewirtschaft 36, 113–34.Google Scholar
Cramton, P, Ockenfels, A and Stoft, S (2013) Capacity market fundamentals. Economics of Energy & Environmental Policy 2, 2746.Google Scholar
Cramton, P and Stoft, S (2006) The Convergence of Market Designs for Adequate Generating Capacity. White paper for the California Electricity Oversight Board (April 25).Google Scholar
Department of Energy (DOE) (2017) Transforming the Nation’s Electricity System: The Second Installment of the QER (January).Google Scholar
de Vries, LJ and Hakvoort, RA (2004) The Question of Generation Adequacy in Liberalized Electricity Markets. Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei Working Paper No. 5 (March).Google Scholar
Evans, AW (1970) Private goods, externality, public goods. Scottish Journal of Political Economy 17, 79.Google Scholar
Energy Information Administration (EIA) (2020) Battery Storage in the United States: An Update on Market Trends.Google Scholar
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) (2016a) Settlement intervals and shortage pricing in markets operated by regional transmission organizations and independent system operators (Order 825). Federal Register 81, 42, 882910.Google Scholar
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) (2016b) Offer caps in markets operated by regional transmission organizations and independent system operators (Order 831). Federal Register 81, 87, 770800.Google Scholar
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) (2018) Uplift cost allocation and transparency in markets operated by regional transmission organizations and independent system operators (Order 844). Federal Register 83, 18, 13457.Google Scholar
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Staff (2001) Ensuring Sufficient Capacity Reserves in Today’s Energy Markets: Should We? And How Do We? (September 26).Google Scholar
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Staff (2014a) Staff Analysis of Shortage Pricing in RTO and ISO Markets (October).Google Scholar
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Staff (2014b) Staff Analysis of Uplift in RTO and ISO Markets (August).Google Scholar
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Staff (2020) 2020 Assessment of Demand Response and Advanced Metering (December).Google Scholar
Finon, D and Pignon, V (2008) Electricity and long-term capacity adequacy: the quest for regulatory mechanism compatible with electricity market. Utilities Policy 16, 214.Google Scholar
Gibberson, M (2017) Integrating Reliability-Must-Run Practices into Wholesale Markets, Washington, DC: R Street Institute (Policy Study No. 114).Google Scholar
Hogan, WW (2005) On an “Energy Only” Electricity Market Design for Resource Adequacy, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Center for Business and Government (September 23).Google Scholar
Jaffe, AB and Felder, F (1996) Should electricity markets have a capacity requirement? If so, how should it be priced? Electricity Journal, December, 5260.Google Scholar
Johnson, EP and Oliver, MW (2019) Renewable generation capacity and wholesale electricity price variance. Energy Journal 4, 143–68.Google Scholar
Joskow, PL (2008) Capacity payments in imperfect electricity markets: need and design. Utilities Policy 16, 159–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Joskow, P and Tirole, J (2007) Reliability and competitive electricity markets. RAND Journal of Economics 38, 6084.Google Scholar
Kemp, A, Forrest, S, and Frangos, D (2018) International Review of Market Power Mitigation Measures in Electricity Markets, Sydney, Australia: Report by Houston Kemp Economists for the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (May).Google Scholar
Keppler, JH (2017) Rationales for capacity remuneration mechanisms: security of supply externalities and asymmetric investment incentives. Energy Policy 105, 562–70.Google Scholar
Kiesling, LL (2009) Deregulation Innovation and Market Liberalization, New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Kleit, AN and Michaels, RJ (2013) If you buy the power, why pay for the powerplant? Reforming Texas electricity markets. Regulation 36, 3237.Google Scholar
Mankiw, NG (2012) Principles of Microeconomics, 7th ed., Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning.Google Scholar
Nicolay, T (2011) Regulation by any other name: electricity deregulation in Alberta and power purchase agreements. Journal of Energy & Natural Resources Law 29, 4586.Google Scholar
North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC) (2018) 2018 Long-Term Reliability Assessment.Google Scholar
Newbery, D (2016) Missing money and missing markets: reliability, capacity auctions and interconnectors. Energy Policy 94, 401–10.Google Scholar
Pfeifenberger, J, Newell, S, Earle, R, Hajos, A, and Geronimo, M (2008) Review of PJM’s Reliability Pricing Model (RPM), Boston, MA: Prepared by the Brattle Group for PJM Interconnection, LLC (June 30).Google Scholar
Pfeifenberger, J, Spees, K, and Schumacher, A (2009) A Comparison of PJM’s RPM with Alternative Energy and Capacity Market Designs, Boston, MA: Brattle Group.Google Scholar
Pfeifenberger, J, Spees, K, Carden, K, and Wintermantel, N (2013) Resource Adequacy Requirements: Reliability and Economic Implications, Boston, MA: Prepared by the Brattle Group for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (September).Google Scholar
Rosellón, J (2006) Different approaches to supply adequacy in electricity markets. Energy Studies Review 14, 101–30.Google Scholar
Siddiqui, AS, Sioshansi, R, and Conejo, AJ (2019) Merchant storage investment in a restructured electricity industry. Energy Journal 40, 129–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shivakumar, A, Welsch, M, Taliotis, C, Jakŝić, D, Baričević, T, Howells, M, Gupta, S, and Rogner, H (2017) Valuing blackouts and lost leisure: estimating electricity interruption costs for households across the European Union. Energy Research & Social Science 34, 3948.Google Scholar
Shuttleworth, G, Falk, J, Meehan, E, Rosenzweig, M, and Fraser, H (2002) Electricity Markets and Capacity Obligations, London, UK: Report by NERA for the UK Department of Trade and Industry.Google Scholar
Stoft, S (2003) Demand for operating reserves: key to price spikes and investment. IEE Transactions on Power Systems 18, 470–77.Google Scholar
Surendran, R, Hogan, WW, Hui, H, and Yu, C-N (2016) Scarcity Pricing in ERCOT, Austin, TX: Paper presented by ERCOT at FERC Technical Conference (June 27–29).Google Scholar
Teichler, SL and Levitine, I (2005) Long-term power purchase agreements in a restructured electricity industry: realizing the promise of electricity deregulation. Wake Forest Law Review 40, 677708.Google Scholar
Vaheesan, S (2013) Market power in power markets: the filed-rate doctrine and competition in electricity. University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform 46, 921–73.Google Scholar
Wilson, JF (2010) Reconsidering resource adequacy. Public Utilities Fortnightly, April, 3339.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×