Our objective

One objective of the Institute of Public Economics is to facilitate research that analyzes the performance of electricity markets and the design of policies to assist in the integration of renewables into the power system. The Institute also facilitates communication of research results in this area.

• Topics include:
• Policies targeting the cost-effective integration of electric vehicles into existing electric infrastructure;
• Analyze market power execution in restructured electricity markets;
• Issues related to electricity market design in a high renewable energy future;
• Designing roof-top solar compensation policies;
• Designing regulations to motivate utilities to invest in distributed energy resources such as rooftop solar, storage, and demand-side management programs;
• Designing demand response compensation;
• Retail rate design in the presence of distributed energy resources;
• Measuring the effects of mergers in restructured electricity markets.

Electricity Research Papers

• "The Impacts of Load Following Contracts" (David Brown and David Sappington)
• "Socioeconomic and Demographic Disparities in Residential Battery Storage Adoption: Evidence from California" (David Brown)
• "Pricing Patterns in Wholesale Electricity Markets: Unilateral Market Power or Coordinated Behavior?" (David Brown and Andrew Eckert)
• "Vertical Integration and Capacity Investment in the Electricity Sector" (David Brown and David Sappington)
• "On the Profitability of Self-Sabotage" (David Brown and David Sappington)
• "Analyzing Firm Behaviour in Restructured Electricity Markets: Empirical Challenges with a Residual Demand Analysis" (David Brown and Andrew Eckert)
• "Residential Electricity Pricing in Texas's Competitive Retail Market" (David Brown, Chen-Hao Tsai, Chi-Keung Woo, Jay Zarnikau, and S. Zhu)
• "Rising Market Concentration in Texas's Retail Electricity Market," (David Brown, Jay Zarnikau, Parviz Adib, Chen-Hao Tsai, and Chi-Keung Woo)
• "Does Locational Marginal Pricing Impact Generation Investment Location Decisions? An Analysis of Texas's Electricity Market", (David Brown, Chi-Keung Woo, and Jay Zarnikau)
• "On the Benefits of Behind-the-Meter Rooftop Solar and Energy Storage: The Importance of Retail Rate Design" (David Brown and Richard Boampong)
• "Procuring Electric Storage as a Transmission Asset" (David Brown and David Sappington)
• "Imperfect Competition in Electricity Markets with Renewable Generation: The Role of Renewable Compensation Policies" (David Brown and Andrew Eckert)
• "Motivating the Optimal Procurement and Deployment of Electric Storage as a Transmission Asset" (David Brown and David Sappington)
• "Employing Simple Cost-Sharing Policies to Motivate the Efficient Implementation of Distributed Energy Resources" (David Brown and David Sappington)
• "Information and Transparency in Wholesale Electricity Markets: Evidence from Alberta'' (David Brown, Andrew Eckert, and James Lin)
• "Capacity Market Design: Motivation and Challenges in Alberta's Electricity Market," (David Brown)
• "The Effect of Subsidized Entry on Capacity Auctions and the Long-Run Resource Adequacy of Electricity Markets" (David Brown)
• “Carbon Pricing with an Output Subsidy under Imperfect Competition: The Case of Alberta’s Restructured Electricity Market” (David Brown, Andrew Eckert, and Heather Eckert)
• “Electricity Markets in Transition: Market Distortions Associated with Retail Price Controls" (David Brown, Andrew Eckert, and Heather Eckert)
• "Mergers with Endogenous Forward Contracting" (David Brown and Andrew Eckert)
• "Analyzing Electricity Market Structure Changes and Mergers: The Importance of Forward Commitments" (David Brown and Andrew Eckert)
• "Measuring Market Power and the Efficiency of Alberta's Restructured Electricity Market: An Energy-Only Design" (David Brown and Derek Olmstead)
• "Designing Compensation for Distributed Solar Generation: Are Common Net Metering Policies Optimal?" (David Brown and David Sappington)
• "On the Optimal Design of Demand Response Policies," (David Brown and David Sappington)
• “Optimal Policies to Promote Efficient Distributed Generation of Electricity” (David Brown and David Sappington)
• "On the Role of Maximum Demand Charges in the Presence of Distributed Generation Resources'" (David Brown and Andrew Eckert)
• "The Effect of Default Rates on Retail Competition and Pricing Decisions of Competitive Retailers: The Case of Alberta" (David Brown and Andrew Eckert)
• "Optimal Procurement of Distributed Energy Resources" (David Brown and David Sappington)
• "Capacity Payment Mechanisms and Investment Incentives in Restructured Electricity Markets" (David Brown)

Graduate Students – Researching Electricity Markets

• Yiang Guo
• Boris Ortega Moreno
• Bonnie Luo

Post-Doctoral Fellows – Researching Electricity Markets

• Jingchao Zhang
• Douglas Silveira

Past Conference

The IPE and the department of Economics hosted a conference on "Renewable Energy and Electricity Markets" in May 2018 at the University of Alberta.

Location: Education Building, Room 129, University of Alberta, AB

Organizers: David Brown, Andrew Eckert and Corinne Langinier

Hanson Lectures and Workshops

• Hanson Lecture -- 2017

• Speaker: Professor Meredith Fowlie, University of California, Berkeley
• Title: The Changing Economics of Electricity Markets
• Date: December 5, 2017

• Workshop -- 2017

• Speaker: David Brown, University of Alberta, Department of Economics
• Title: The Economics of Capacity Payment Mechanisms in Restructured Electricity Markets
• Date: Monday March 27, 2017

• Workshop -- 2016

• Speaker: David Brown, University of Alberta, Department of Economics
• Title: The Economics of Renewable Energy - Home Solar Power
• Date: February 22, 2016
• IPE Solar Workshop - Video
• IPE Solar Workshop - Slides

• Hanson Lecture -- 2012

• Speaker: Professor Severin Borenstein, University of California at Berkeley
• Title: What It Will Take to Make Renewable Energy Competitive?
• Date: October 26, 2012

Fellows

• David Brown

• David Brown, who is an Associate Professor of Economics in the Department of Economics, University of Alberta, holds a Canada Research Chair in Energy Economics & Policy at the University of Alberta. Professor Brown received his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Florida. His research lies at the intersection of energy economics, industrial organization, and regulatory policy. In particular, Professor Brown's research analyzes the effects of regulatory policies on the performance of electricity markets. This includes research that measures market power execution in wholesale power markets; analyzes the impacts of mergers and market structure changes; designing regulations to motivate utilities to invest in cost-effective distributed energy resources; and analyzing the distributional impacts of emerging technologies. The objective of his work is to gain insights into the impact of imperfect competition on market outcomes and to design regulatory policies to improve the operation of electricity markets.

• Andrew Eckert

• Andrew Eckert is a Professor in the Department of Economics. He has obtained degrees from the University of Saskatchewan (BA, 1993), the University of Western Ontario (MA, 1994) and the University of British Columbia (PhD, 1999). Professor Eckert's research interests lie in the field of industrial organization and energy economics. Prior to joining the University of Alberta, he spent a year as an economist with the Competition Bureau, where he was engaged in work regarding competition issues in several industries. Professor Eckert’s research has been published in a wide range of economic journals. Current research focuses on market power in wholesale electricity markets and the effects of carbon pricing, merger analysis in wholesale electricity markets, and policies regarding retail electricity markets.