Flexible Incentives Research Articles

Customer enrollment and participation in building demand management programs: A review of key factors

Increasing the efficiency and flexibility of electricity demand is necessary for ensuring a cost-effective and reliable transition to zero-carbon electricity systems. Such demand-side management (DSM) resources have been procured by utilities for decades via energy efficiency and demand response programs; however, the key drivers of program enrollment and customer participation levels remain poorly understood — even as governments and grid planners seek to scale up the deployment of DSM assets to meet climate targets. Here we systematically review the evidence on multiple factors that may influence customer enrollment and participation in building DSM programs, focusing primarily on residential and commercial buildings. We examine the contexts in which relationships between DSM factors and outcomes are most often explored and with which methods; we also score the strength, direction, and internal consistency of each factor's reported impact on the enrollment and participation outcomes. We find that studies most commonly assess the effects of economic incentives for load flexibility on program participation levels, often using simulation-based methods in lieu of measured data. Few studies focus on program enrollment outcomes or regulatory drivers of either enrollment or participation, and gaps are also evident in the coverage of emerging DSM opportunities like load electrification. Removal of structural barriers (e.g., the lack of controls infrastructure) and the use of third party services (e.g., load aggregators) are the factors with the largest positive impacts on DSM outcomes, but no single factor emerges as clearly most impactful. For a given factor, the range of reported impacts typically varies widely across the relevant studies reviewed. Our findings provide a snapshot of the state of knowledge about building DSM and customer decision-making, and they expose key gaps in understanding that must be filled if building DSM is to expand as a critical resource for operating clean power grids.

Global trends of strategic motivation in high-tech industries

Studying global trends plays the key role in strategic management as it makes it possible to identify competitive advantages, reduces the risks and helps to determine the development trends in the long-term perspective. When establishing the strategic motivation system in a company, trend awareness encourages building an up-to-date and flexible incentive system. The purpose of the article is to identify and analyze global and national trends that affect establishing the strategic motivation system in accordance with the peculiar features of this system in high-tech industry organizations. As a result of the analysis conducted the author presents a list and a detailed description of global development trends affecting motivation that includes digitalization of workplaces and jobs, continuous learning, the predominance of “soft” skills over “hard” ones, obsolescence of some jobs and the emergence of new professions, gender equality, talent management in enterprises. The author has studied the impact of the trends on the strategic motivation system, the peculiar features of their manifestation and development in the conditions of the Russian economics with the emphasis on high-tech industries: microelectronics, aerospace engineering, pharmaceutical industry. The author also has concluded about complex interrelation of global and national trends both on the vertical hierarchical (global – national – sectorial) and horizontal hierarchical (the impact of trends on each other) levels, and about the applicability of the research results in establishing the strategic motivation system at the high-tech industry enterprises of the Russian Federation.

Optimization model of low-carbon technology adoption timing for coal power under decarbonization and flexibility demand: Empirical study in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, China

Substituting renewable energy for coal power under the carbon neutrality goal is an inevitable path for power system transformation, while the high share of renewable energy leads to a rapid rise in system flexibility demand. Currently, coal-fired power is still one of the most economical and reliable large-scale flexible resources in China. Therefore, the issue of how to mitigate the conflict between cleanliness and flexibility for coal-fired power is urgent to be solved. Accordingly, this paper established an optimization framework for the retirement and technology adoption of coal-fired power units with high spatial-temporal resolution, and the regional carbon emission budget is estimated from a top-down perspective. Secondly, a dynamic carbon quota allocation method considering technological innovation and adoption is proposed. The carbon trading cost of the units is evaluated from a bottom-up perspective, to realize the interaction between the obligatory policy constraints of the top-level target and the flexible incentives of the market mechanism. Finally, the empirical analysis was conducted in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region of China. The optimal solution achieved by proposed method results in a substantial 27% reduction in total costs while keeping the increase in carbon emissions below 3%. By analyzing the dynamic evolution path of coal and the scale of diffusion of multi-type technologies, the differences in the roles coal power assuming at various stages of decarbonization are discussed. The robustness of the model and the validity of the proposed method were verified by comparing the dynamic/static carbon quota allocation. Overall, this study provides an effective optimization model for investigating the low-carbon technology adoption timing for coal power in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, and offers valuable insights for other coal-dominated emerging economies seeking for power system transformation roadmap in the forthcoming net-zero carbon age.

Consumer-centric electricity markets: Six design principles

Key to the necessary decarbonization of energy systems is the large-scale expansion of renewable energy sources and their integration into the electricity system. This integration is challenging because the feed-in from renewable energy sources is highly intermittent and largely dependent on uncontrollable factors such as weather patterns. To maintain grid stability, which refers to the required balance between demand and supply in the electricity system, flexibility is key. Large flexibility potentials can be found on the electricity demand side. However, current electricity market design in Europe, while providing major flexibility incentives, often neglects small-scale electricity consumers and distributed energy resources. We contribute to shape future electricity markets with consumers at the heart by developing six design principles for a consumer-centric electricity market design. We proceed by conducting a systematic literature review and evaluate the findings by expert interviews. Based on the developed design principles, we define a consumer-centric electricity market design as a set of market rules that align with the rules of other relevant energy markets and allow for the efficient matching of electricity demand and supply, with consumers having nondiscriminatory market access, being exposed to fine-grained price signals, being able to express their preferences, and having sufficient possibilities to protect themselves against unexpected price spikes. By actively incorporating consumers into electricity markets, we contribute to the overarching goal of integrating renewable energy sources while promoting energy justice, i.e., supporting a balanced mix of economic, political, environmental, and social interests.

The Role of Tax Incentives in Encouraging Innovation and Technology Adoption in Industrial Management

In the context of globalization and increasingly fierce industrial competition, technological innovation is the key to increasing the efficiency and competitiveness of an industry. This research will explore the relationship between tax incentives provided by the government and the level of innovation and adoption that occurs in industry, as well as its impact on industrial management. This research uses a qualitative approach with descriptive methods. The research results show that tax incentives play a crucial role in encouraging innovation and technology adoption in the industrial sector. Clear and flexible incentive designs have a positive impact, while factors such as complex provisions, policy uncertainty, and the availability of skilled labor can limit their effectiveness. Involvement in industrial collaboration, level of education, and positive perceptions of tax incentives also contribute to increasing the use of these incentives. In conclusion, the importance of designing tax policies that take into account the dynamics of the industry and business environment can create effective tax incentives in supporting innovative growth at the industry level.

Uniform taxation of electricity: incentives for flexibility and cost redistribution among household categories

Recent European developments have shown a rapid adoption of residential solar PV with increased self-consumption and self-sufficiency levels. A major driver for their economic viability is the electricity tax exemption for the consumption of self-produced electricity. This leads to large residential PV capacities and potentially overburdened distribution grids. Moreover, the tax exemption favoring wealthier households capable of making capital-intensive investments in solar panels has prompted debates regarding energy equity and the suitable taxation level for self-consumption. This study investigates the implementation of uniform electricity taxes on all consumption, irrespective of the origin of the production, by means of a case study of 155,000 hypothetical Danish prosumers. The results show that the new taxation policy redistributes costs dependent on household consumption and their PV usage. As more consumption is taxed, the tax level can be reduced by 38%, leading to 61% of all households seeing net savings of up to 23% off their yearly tax bill. High-occupancy houses save an average of 116 €/year at the expense of single households living in large dwellings who pay 55 €/year more. Implementing a uniform electricity tax in combination with a reduced overall tax level can (a) maintain overall tax revenues and (b) increase the interaction of batteries with the grid while reducing behind-the-meter operations. In the end, the implicit cross-subsidy is removed by taxing self-consumption uniformly, leading to a cost redistribution supporting occupant-dense households and encouraging the grid-side flexibility of prosumers. This policy measure improves economic efficiency and greater use of technology with positive system-wide impacts while redistributing tax contributions by alleviating the regressive tax design.

Day-Ahead Optimal Bidding for a Retailer With Flexible Participation of Electric Vehicles

The existing bidding models for retailers managing electric vehicles (EVs) in distribution-level day-ahead (DA) electricity markets have not fully addressed EVs’ temporal distribution, charging and discharging management, or bidding curves. To address these challenges, this paper proposes a DA optimal bidding model for a retailer with flexible participation of EVs. First, the investigating period for DA optimal bidding is modeled to cover the connecting periods of all EVs that may potentially impact the DA power demand prediction. Then, incentive mechanisms for charging and discharging are proposed to enable retailers to manage EVs under uncertain market prices and EV parameters while also considering the battery degradation cost and the preferences of EV users based on a social survey. The optimal charging model based on incentive mechanisms for charging-discharging helps EVs minimize their energy purchase costs under different price scenarios. Based on the minimum EV energy purchase cost, the optimal bidding model of a retailer aims to achieve the maximum bidding profit considering the conditional value at risk (CVaR), with the step bidding curves and the temporal differences for different time intervals considered. Simulations validate the proposed model under flexible incentive mechanism for charging and incentive mechanism for discharging participation of EVs.

Organizational constraints and outsourcing under demand uncertainty: Evidence from the Brazilian electricity distribution industry

This paper examines how public firms’ organizational constraints affect the sensitivity of labor outsourcing to demand uncertainty. We focus on a single industry in which state-owned firms are subject to additional organizational constraints that private firms are not. We mitigate omitted variable bias by considering the endogenous trade-off between insourcing and outsourcing by measuring average labor prices for each firm. We find that, on average, private firms with strong incentives for profit and flexibility rely more on outsourcing; moreover, their outsourcing is more sensitive to relative prices of insourced and outsourced labor. However, when demand uncertainty arises, state-owned firms increase outsourcing more, making their outsourcing less sensitive to input prices. The results suggest the organizational constraints of state-owned firms, such as multiple objectives other than profit maximization and strong labor protection of insourced labor, exacerbate the downside risk of hiring insourced labor under fluctuating demand, leading state-owned firms to rely more on outsourcing.

The Economics of Demand-side Flexibility in Distribution Grids

To avoid unnecessary distribution network investments, distribution tariffs are expected to become more cost-reflective, and DSOs are expected to procure flexibility. This will provide an implicit and an explicit incentive to provide demand-side flexibility. In this paper, we develop a long-term bi-level equilibrium model. In the upper level, the DSO optimizes social welfare by deciding the level of investment in the distribution network and/or curtailing consumers. The regulated DSO also sets a network tariff to recover the network and flexibility costs. In the lower level, the consumers, active and passive, maximize their own welfare. We find that implicit and explicit incentives for demand-side flexibility are complementary regulatory tools, but there are limits. If network tariffs are too imperfect, the resulting consumption profiles can become too expensive to fix with curtailment. We also find that it is difficult to set an appropriate level of compensation because of the reaction by prosumers.

Bonus Question: Does Flexible Incentive Pay Dampen Unemployment Dynamics?

Bonus Question: Does Flexible Incentive Pay Dampen Unemployment Dynamics?

FLEXIBILITY OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT DURING COVID-19 IN JORDANIAN TOURISM COMPANIES

The purpose of this cross-sectional study is analyzing the impact of human resources management flexibility on employee efficiency and effectiveness during the COVID-19 pandemic. A questionnaire was distributed electronically using a convenient sampling of 261 managers from Jordanian tourism companies. The results showed a statistically significant impact (α ≤ 0.05) of the flexibility of managers, including flexibility of skills, capabilities, and human resource management functions, especially performance evaluation, on the efficiency and effectiveness of employees. Finally, Jordanian tourism companies should involve their employees in many qualification courses to train and develop them to acquire more skills in using IT systems and adopt flexible incentive, promotion, compensation, and reward systems. Keywords: Flexibility of Managers, Flexibility of HRM Functions, COVID-19 Pandemic, Jordanian Tourism Companies DOI： https://doi.org/10.35741/issn.0258-2724.58.3.30

Bonus Question: Does Flexible Incentive Pay Dampen Unemployment Dynamics?

Bonus Question: Does Flexible Incentive Pay Dampen Unemployment Dynamics?

Bonus Question: Does Flexible Incentive Pay Dampen Unemployment Dynamics?

Bonus Question: Does Flexible Incentive Pay Dampen Unemployment Dynamics?

Let me choose what I want: The influence of incentive choice flexibility on the quality of crowdsourcing solutions to innovation problems

Organizations increasingly engage in crowdsourcing to find solutions to their innovation problems, but many of these solutions are of low quality. This could be because organizations do not really know what motivates each individual participant to engage in crowdsourcing, and thus offer the same incentives to all. As a ‘one-size-fits-all’ incentive structure is not optimal due to divergent participant motives, in this paper, we aim to empirically investigate how providing participants with incentive choice flexibility impacts solution quality. Based on a between-subject field experiment, we find that participants who have an opportunity to choose their preferred incentive spend much more time developing their solutions and come up with higher quality solutions than those who are offered a single incentive option. Our study contributes to the literature by highlighting the importance of adopting a flexible incentive structure to improve the quality of the crowdsourced solutions, and by suggesting that an exclusive focus on how a single incentive type (either non-monetary or monetary) impacts solution quality is unsuitable for estimating such impact correctly.

The genesis of the legal regulation of migration control in the EU countries and the impact on this process of the military invasion of the russian federation on the territory of independent Ukraine

The article is devoted to the study of legal regulation of migration control, security, legal regulation of asylum, integration of immigrants, etc. in EU countries, as well as its generalization and identification of stages of development of suchregulation. It is established that, in general, there are four such stages: 1) from the beginning of the formation of the European Community to the end of the 1960s; kin. 60’s - 70’s of the XX century .; 80 years of the twentieth century. - zero years of theXI century; 4) since the 10 years of the XI century. It was established that at the first stage of the formation of the European Community migration policy was not relevant in the legal regulation.
 It is researched that the beginning of the second stage is connected with the adoption in 1968 of the Regulation «On freedom of movement of workers within the community», which aimed to create incentives for mobility and flexibility of labor migrationwithin European education. This Regulation provides for the elimination of any discrimination on grounds of nationality between workers of the Member States in respect of employment, remuneration and other conditions of work and employment.
 It was determined that in the third stage migration of economic-social migration was transferred to the sphere of politics. An important factor in the politicization of migration has been the use of an asylum institute for immigration purposes as an alternative way of economic immigration to EU countries. This period is characterized by the interstate cooperation of European countries within the framework of the Task Force on Immigration (Trevi) and the Schengen Group, as well as with functional organizations such as the police, the Schengen Agreement on the free crossing of borders between the participating countries and the abolition of border controls in Maastricht the definition of migration, asylum and refugees became part of theThird Pillar and the Treaty of Amsterdam, where sections of the Third Pillar concerning immigration, asylum and refugees as were komunitaryzovani.It is concluded that the European Union countries are in the fourth stage of the development of legal regulation of migration control, which began with the migration crisis of 2014-2015, but has not yet been resolved with the problems and challengesfaced by the participating countries.

A Time-Varying Incentive Optimization for Interactive Demand Response Based on Two-Step Clustering

With the increasing marketization of electricity, residential users are gradually participating in various businesses of power utility companies, and there are more and more interactive adjustments between load, source, and grid. However, the participation of large-scale users has also brought challenges to the grid companies in carrying out demand-side dispatching work. The user load response is uneven, and users’ behavioral characteristics are highly differentiated. It is necessary to consider the differences in users’ electricity consumption demand in the design of the peak–valley load time-sharing incentives, and to adopt a more flexible incentive form. In this context, this paper first establishes a comprehensive clustering method integrating k-means and self-organizing networks (SONs) for the two-step clustering and a BP neural network for reverse adjustment and correction. Then, a time-varying incentive optimization for interactive demand response based on two-step clustering is introduced. Furthermore, based on the different clustering results of customers, the peak–valley load time-sharing incentives are formulated. The proposed method is validated through case studies, where the results indicate that our method can effectively improve the users’ load characteristics and reduce the users’ electricity costs compared to the existing methods.

Research on the Identification Model of Interest Conflict Influencing Factors in PPP Projects Construction of Smart City

To systematically adjust and coordinate interest conflicts, it is necessary to identify the influencing factors of interest conflicts comprehensively and accurately. Based on theoretical and practical research, this paper initially screened 52 factors affecting the interest conflict in the construction of smart city PPP projects, and then conducted expert interviews and questionnaire analysis to adjust and revise the index system, and finally formed 27 relevant index systems. In order to further identify the key influencing factors and clarify the importance of the factors, the interval gray number-DEMETAL method is used to identify the key factors that induce multiple interest conflicts in the construction of smart city PPP projects to enhance the identification effect. The research shows that: the complexity of the project, the comprehensive quality of project personnel, and the differences in ideological and cultural concepts have become the main factors. Project social benefit, project quality compliance rate, project profit rate or rate of return become the most important result factors. Government behavior is the primary influence and restriction of the interest conflict in the construction of smart city PPP projects. In addition, interest conflicts are closely related to other project stakeholders, especially the private sector, social capital, and public behavior. Therefore, the government's decision-making behavior and incentive and restraint mechanism must first examine the interests of stakeholders and their behavior strategies, especially the behavior evolution trend under the government's incentive and restraint mechanism, which implement a flexible incentive and restraint mechanism.

Scheduling Flexible Nonpreemptive Loads in Smart-Grid Networks

A market consisting of a generator with thermal and renewable generation capability, a set of <i>nonpreemptive</i> loads (i.e., loads which cannot be interrupted once started), and an independent system operator (ISO) is considered. Loads are characterized by durations, power demand rates, and utility for receiving service, as well as disutility functions giving preferences for time slots in which service is preferred. Given this information, along with the generator&#x2019;s thermal generation cost function and forecast renewable generation, the social planner solves a mixed-integer program to determine a load activation schedule which maximizes social welfare. Assuming price-taking behavior, we develop a competitive equilibrium concept based on a relaxed version of the social planner&#x2019;s problem, which includes prices for consumption and incentives for flexibility, and allows for probabilistic allocation of power to loads. Considering each load as representative of a population of identical loads with scaled characteristics, we demonstrate that the relaxed social planner&#x2019;s problem gives an exact solution to the original mixed integer problem in the large population limit, and give a market mechanism for implementing the competitive equilibrium. Finally, we evaluate via case study the benefit of incorporating load flexibility information into power consumption and generation scheduling in terms of proportion of loads served and overall social welfare.

A collection of SWOT factors (strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) for hybrid energy networks

District heating and cooling (DHC) systems traditionally have strong links to electricity and gas networks via combined heat and power (CHP) processes. However, the role of CHP plants will significantly change due to a growing competition for renewable fuels and an increasing share of renewable electricity production. Consequently, other heat sources will be needed for DHC networks in the future. Here, especially heat pumps will play a major role, but also power-to-gas processes can contribute via recovering its waste heat, thus creating different coupling points between the DHC, electricity and gas system. By an optimized planning and operation of locally available coupling points a “hybrid energy network” (HEN) can be created.To analyze the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT analysis) of hybrid energy systems, a three-stage process is being conducted based on a literature search, qualitative input from experts during a dedicated workshop and a comprehensive feedback and discussion phase with experts. Currently, the first two stages of the method have been completed, collecting a wide range of inputs, comments and feedback from the different experts of the IEA ISGAN Annex 6 “Power Transmission and Distribution Systems” and the IEA DHC Annex TS3 “Hybrid Energy Networks”. Results:besides a novel classification approach for Hybrid Energy Networks, different SWOT factors were collected, e.g. strengths include the potential to cost-efficiently support the integration of Wind and PV electricity as well as to decarbonize heating and cooling demands. Weaknesses include their complexity, the required investments into coupling points and (current) regulatory restrictions. Opportunities include by trend increasing incentives for flexibility and efficiency services, upcoming (green) financing options and regulations. Threats include possible disruptions of existing business models and uncertainties of the future development including the regulatory framework as well as competing flexibility services.

How are business models capturing flexibility in the District Energy (DE) grid?

Flexibility in the energy system has been studied previously but few results have been implemented in district energy (DE) pricing models. This means that pricing models are not accounting for existing information making them less efficient than they need to be. We have studied if and how business models of DE firms capture flexibility in the DE grid and suggest price model updates to harvest flexibility. A systematic literature search with content analysis of resulting scientific peer-reviewed publications and project reports has been performed. Thereby, the different business models which have been described in the literature have been categorized. Based on literature, efficient price models have been identified. Another source of information is six demonstrators aiming at generating knowledge about DE flexibility. They are part of the Flexi-sync Project (ERA-Net). Findings show that most DE grids are slow to recognize and capture flexibility that can be catalyzed through end-users, thermal inertia, heat pumps and other. Similarly, DE firms employ a marginal cost logic to determine whether flexibility should be operationalized, and often their business models and price models are not oriented towards expressing that value logic to their customers. We identify that there is a potential for DE companies to further capitalize on flexibility in the energy system. By inclusion of flexibility incentives in price models a win-win can be established by cutting operational costs for the DE provider and energy consumption of the end-user.