UK Electricity Market Reform and the Energy Transition: Emerging Lessons

Michael Grubb and David M Newbery

Cambridge Working Papers in Economics from Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge

Abstract: The 2013 Electricity Market Reform (EMR) was a response to problems of delivering reliability with a growing share of renewables in its energy only market. Four EMR instruments combined to revolutionise the sector; stimulating unprecedented technological and structural change. Competitive auctions for both firm capacity and renewable energy have seen prices far lower than predicted and the entry of unexpected new technologies. A carbon price floor displaced coal, whose share fell from 46% in 1995 to 7% in 2017, halving CO2. Renewables grew from under 4% in 2008 to 22% by 2017, projected at 30+% by 2020 despite a political ban on onshore wind. Neither the technological nor regulatory transitions are complete, and the results to date highlight other challenges, notably to transmission pricing and locational signals. EMR is a step forwards, not backwards; but it is not the end of the story.

Keywords: Electricity market design; capacity auctions; renewables support (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D44 L94 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018-06-19
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-com, nep-des and nep-ene
Note: dmgn
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (57)

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Journal Article: UK Electricity Market Reform and the Energy Transition: Emerging Lessons (2018)
Journal Article: UK Electricity Market Reform and the Energy Transition:Emerging Lessons (2018)
Working Paper: UK Electricity Market Reform and the Energy Transition: Emerging Lessons (2018)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cam:camdae:1834

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