Energy, Transportation, Environment Department Publications

The German "Energiewende": An Introduction

The German government's multi-decade effort to transition to a low-carbon, renew-ables-based energy economy is now commonly known as "energiewende" ("energy transition"). The transition has four major objectives: increasing the share of renewables to at least 80% (in electricity) and 60% for total final energy consumption, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80-95% (basis: 1990), phasing out nuclear ...

Germany's Nuclear Phase Out - A Survey of the Impact since 2011 and Outlook to 2023

In this paper we analyze the effects of the German nuclear phase out, focusing on the seven nuclear power plants affected by the March 2011 moratorium, and continuing through the final phase out of the last plant in 2022. We provide an ex-post assessment of model analyses on the impact of the nuclear moratorium presented by the modelling community, in 2011 or shortly after. These are then compared ...

Power System Transformation toward Renewables: Investment Scenarios for Germany

We analyze distinctive investment scenarios for the integration of fluctuating renewables in the German power system. Using a combined model for dispatch, transmission, and investment, three different investment options are considered, including gas-fired power plants, pumped hydro storage, and transmission lines. We find that geographically optimized power plant investments dominate in the reference ...

Regional Cooperation Potentials in the European Context: Survey and Case Study Evidence from the Alpine Region

The energiewende ("Energy Turnaround") in Germany will occur within the context of setting up Europe's internal electricity market. An important initial step will be to intensify regional cooperation between neighboring countries. We assert that the full benefits of regional cooperation will be realized by integrating Europe's market segments, e.g., real-time, day ahead, reserve markets and backup ...

A Description of the Operative Decision-Making Process of a Power Generating Company on the Nordic Electricity Market

In a liberalised electricity market, power generating companies face various trading possibilities. In addition, they have to take scheduling decisions. Both kinds of decisions are affected by uncertainties, e.g. power plant outages, uncertain market prices for electricity or imperfect wind power forecasts. This paper presents an overview of the decision-making process of a power generating company ...

An Electricity Market Model with Generation Capacity Expansion under Uncertainty

This article presents an electricity dispatch model with endogenous electricity generation capacity expansion for Germany over the horizon 2010–2035. The target is to quantify how fuel and carbon price risk impacts investment incentives of thermal power plants. We provide a framework for the evaluation of investment decisions under long-term uncertainty which helps integrating numerous scenarios in ...

Bewertung der Angebotsmerkmale des Personenfernverkehrs vor dem Hintergrund der Liberalisierung des Fernbusmarktes

Ein Überblick zu methodischen Fragen der Wegekostenrechnung

Verkehrssicherheit und Zahlungsbereitschaft - ein Überblick zum Stand der Forschung

Distributional Effects of Energy Transition: Impacts of Renewable Electricity Support in Germany

The discussion of the support for renewable energy must consider the distributional impact of cost allocation. The public is sensitive to social imbalances caused by rising power prices that might jeopardize the acceptance of energy transformation. By the end of 2012 about 19 percent of German power is produced with renewables other than hydropower. As a result, German consumers will pay for global ...