The Effects of Expert Selection, Elicitation Design, and R&D Assumptions on Experts’ Estimates of the Future Costs of Photovoltaics

Elena Verdolini, Laura Diaz Anadon, Jiaqi Lu and Gregory Nemet
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Laura Diaz Anadon: John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
Jiaqi Lu: La Follette School of Public Affairs, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA

No 2015.01, Working Papers from Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei

Abstract: Expert elicitations of future energy technology costs can improve energy policy design by explicitly characterizing uncertainty. However, the recent proliferation of expert elicitation studies raises questions about the reliability and comparability of the results. In this paper, we standardize disparate expert elicitation data from five EU and US studies, involving 65 experts, of the future costs of photovoltaics (PV) and evaluate the impact of expert and study characteristics on the elicited metrics. The results for PV suggest that in-person elicitations are associated with more optimistic 2030 PV cost estimates and in some models with a larger range of uncertainty than online elicitations. Unlike in previous results on nuclear power, expert affiliation type and nationality do not affect central estimates. Some specifications suggest that EU experts are more optimistic about breakthroughs, but they are also less confident in that they provide larger ranges of estimates than do US experts. Higher R&D investment is associated with lower future costs. Rather than increasing confidence, high R&D increases uncertainty about future costs, mainly because it improves the base case (low cost) outcomes more than it improves the worst case (high cost) outcomes.

Keywords: Photovoltaic Costs; Energy R&D; Expert Elicitation; Survey Design; Heuristics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O32 Q40 Q55 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ene
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (15)

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Related works:
Journal Article: The effects of expert selection, elicitation design, and R&D assumptions on experts' estimates of the future costs of photovoltaics (2015)
Working Paper: The Effects of Expert Selection, Elicitation Design, and R&D Assumptions on Experts’ Estimates of the Future Costs of Photovoltaics (2015)
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