Thursday May 24, 2018

University of Alberta

Conference Summary

Policy initiatives to increase reliance on renewable generation (including wind and solar generation), driven by environmental concerns and reduced capital costs, have resulted in challenges to electricity market design worldwide. Many of these concerns stem from the intermittency of renewable generation capacity, which produces electricity only when the wind blows or the sun shines. Particular difficulties include designing incentives for increased entry of renewable generation, while at the same time ensuring system reliability through the continued availability of fossil fuel (e.g., natural gas) capacity.

Different solutions have been adopted in different jurisdictions. In some locations (including Alberta), capacity markets have been or are being introduced, in which firms are compensated for the capacity made available, as well as the energy they produce. Such markets are intended to provide revenue stability to encourage investment, but result in increased market complexity. Debate also arises over the appropriate method of renewable generation procurement, and the role of demand side response. While these issues are active areas of academic research, no consensus has been reached regarding the optimal method of integrating increased renewable generation.

The objective of this conference is to bring together leading international experts to discuss the key challenges in designing electricity markets to increase renewable generation. All invited speakers are actively engaged in research into the economic and policy issues relating to renewables. In order to ensure concrete policy relevance, the conference will also feature practitioners and policy makers from Alberta, which is currently transitioning its market and confronting these issues. These participants will provide discussion comments on the papers presented by the academic experts, relating these research papers to the policy discussion in an Alberta context.

Organizers: David Brown, Andrew Eckert, Corinne Langinier

The organizers (David Brown, Andrew Eckert and Corinne Langinier) gratefully acknowledge financial support from Future Energy Systems (FES), Worldwide Universities Network (WUN), Kule Institute for Advanced Study (KIAS), and the Faculty of Arts, without which this conference would not be possible.

List of participants

Location

Education Building, Room 129, University of Alberta, AB

Program


Registration

    Please visit: Registration

    Before April 24, 2018

    Faculty members: $100
    Goverment and Industry: $150
    Students: $50

    After April 24, 2018

    Faculty members: $200
    Goverment and Industry: $250
    Students: $100

Accommodation

Please visit: Hotel information

Parking

Visitor Parking is available on campus. Please visit: University of Alberta Parking Services