Green Electricity Market Research Articles

Toward sustainable environmental management: Insights from Chinese first-tier cities' consumers' response to green electricity payment policies

China's renewable energy industry is facing the challenge of overcapacity. The environmental management literature suggests that consumers' participation in the green electricity market holds immense potential in addressing renewable energy consumption concerns. However, the question of how payment policies influence China's consumers' willingness to pay for green electricity remains unresolved. Based on 2854 valid questionnaires from a survey conducted in China's four first-tier cities in 2023, our research findings reveal: (1) While 97.9% of consumers express a willingness to use green electricity, only 63.1% are willing to pay a higher cost, indicating the existence of a “value-action” gap between environmental awareness and actual willingness to pay. (2) China's consumers' willingness to pay for green electricity is approximately 38.4 RMB per month. This figure has decreased by 5.7 RMB compared to our survey in 2019. (3) Consumers' willingness to pay will be influenced by the attitudes of those around them. (4) The voluntary payment policy positively impacts consumers' willingness to pay for green electricity. (5) Male, younger, lower education level, higher income, and larger household size consumers exhibit a higher willingness to pay. (6) Electricity price sensitivity weakens the impact of payment policies on willingness to pay.

Cross-provincial collaborative transaction that considers both the green electricity and the green certificate markets under a renewable portfolio standard policy

In the current implementation of the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS), various quota entities are facing challenges, including high costs and limited flexibility within a non-collaborative, single green certificate market mechanism. To address these issues, we developed a cross-provincial collaborative transaction model that considers both the green electricity and the green certificate markets. It consists of five sub-models: a green electricity production net revenue maximization sub-model, a green electricity consumption net benefit maximization sub-model, a green electricity and green certificate market categorization sub-model, a cooperative game sub-model for green electricity and green certificate buyers and sellers, and a cooperative benefits allocation sub-model. The roles of each province (i.e., green electricity and certificate buyers and sellers), along with the optimal green electricity generation, green certificate trading volume, and cost of achieving RPS objectives for each province, can be determined by utilizing the first four sub-models. Ultimately, the cooperative benefit allocation sub-model promotes cooperation among the provinces. To validate the model's effectiveness, we chose five representative provincial-level regions of China for empirical analysis. We found that the cooperative mode decreased the cost by 238.554 × 108 CNY (15.9%) compared with each province independently achieving RPS targets in a non-cooperative mode. Moreover, cooperation increased green electricity generation by 447.94 × 108 kWh (13.3%). The cooperative mode will therefore encourage provincial governments to formulate cooperative strategies for achieving RPS objectives, ultimately reducing implementation costs and increasing flexibility and effectiveness.

Incentive-oriented power‑carbon emissions trading-tradable green certificate integrated market mechanisms using multi-agent deep reinforcement learning

Due to the stricter emission reduction and renewable energy consumption goals in China, the carbon emissions trading (CET) market and tradable green certificate (TGC) market, as key means to achieve these goals, urgently need to adjust the current operating mode timely and maximize market effectiveness by introducing adaptive incentive mechanisms. Therefore, taking the power industry as an example, an incentive-oriented power-CET-TGC integrated market simulation framework based on multi-agent deep reinforcement learning is constructed. The impact of consignment auction mechanism, traditional auction mechanism, and voluntary TGC trading mechanism on the transaction situation of each market is prospectively analyzed. The results demonstrate that with the introduction of various incentive mechanisms, the transaction scale and prices of CET and TGC markets increase, and the effectiveness of carbon reduction and renewable energy consumption is significant. Among them, auction mechanisms are valid way to promote the explicit cost of carbon emissions, and the voluntary TGC trading mechanism is an important means to enhance the clean value of green energy. In addition, it is recommended to adopt consignment auction mechanism under the short-term goal “carbon peak” of pursuing economic benefits and stable emission reduction, while traditional auction mechanisms are recommended under the long-term goal of “carbon neutrality” of urgently requiring large-scale emission reduction. Moreover, the voluntary TGC trading mechanism can achieve synergy and connection between the TGC market and the green electricity market to a certain extent. These insights can provide mechanism reference for the sustainable development and construction of CET and TGC markets.

How to promote the trading in China's green electricity market? Based on environmental perceptions, renewable portfolio standard and subsidies

The behavior evolution of market players is crucial to promoting green electricity trading. This paper develops an evolutionary game model of China's green electricity market to analyze the strategic interactions among players. The model incorporates key variables such as renewable energy subsidies, renewable energy quotas, and environmental perceptions. Then, a system dynamics simulation model is constructed, and simulation experiments are designed to reveal the influence of key factors on the evolutionary path. The results indicate that: (1) Players exhibit varying sensitivities to green electricity prices under different trading modes. (2) Renewable energy projects with high subsidy intensity have no willingness to enter the market if the benefits of participating in the green electricity market cannot surpass subsidies. (3) The evolutionary stabilization trend depends on users' environmental perceptions, and the environmental perception effect exhibits a diminishing marginal trend. (4) The implementation of renewable portfolio standard is an effective way to promote green electricity trading, especially when there is a high green electricity premium. (5) There is a trade-off between low incentive participation and high incentive coefficients in the system. These findings provide valuable policy recommendations for effectively promoting green electricity trading in China.

What Is the Impact of the Renewable Energy Power Absorption Guarantee Mechanism on China’s Green Electricity Market?

In order to accelerate the construction of a clean, low-carbon, safe and efficient energy system, China set the provincial weight of responsibility for renewable energy power consumption and established a renewable energy power absorption guarantee mechanism in 2019. As a market incentive policy, it has enduring effect on the low-carbon transformation of the power industry. Firstly, the operation mechanism of the renewable energy consumption guarantee mechanism is analyzed. The general framework, core elements and supporting measures are clarified. Secondly, a stock-flow diagram is constructed based on the system dynamics method. It contains the green electricity market sub-module, the green-certificate market sub-module and the excess power absorption market sub-module. Finally, multiple scenarios are set up to simulate the impact of the green-certificate market and excess power absorption market improvements on the installed capacity and tariff of China’s green power market. The renewable energy guarantee mechanism is an effective means to promote the consumption of green electricity in China. In addition, in the short term the cost of electricity for users has increased, but in the long term the cost of electricity shows a fluctuating downward trend. This study provides theoretical references for the formulation of clean and low-carbon policy objectives in the power industry and the optimization of market mechanisms.

5GSOLAR: The next generation of photovoltaics

5GSOLAR: The next generation of photovoltaics Emerging thin film photovoltaic technologies, currently being developed in research laboratories, are the EU’s key to unlocking its photovoltaic industry and ensuring the growth of a sustainable and green electricity market. The European Green Deal and its Fit for 55 initiative aim to transform Europe into a modern, resource-efficient and competitive economy, ensuring the reduction of net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030, compared to 1990 levels. Solar photovoltaics is considered as one of the cornerstones to achieve a green and carbon-neutral future. As the lowest-cost and most easily deployed clean energy technology, the installed photovoltaic (PV) capacity in Europe has reached almost 195 GW in 2022, and the REPowerEU plan targets to bring online over 320 GW of solar photovoltaic by 2025 and almost 600 GW by 2030.

Research on the Dynamic Characteristics of Photovoltaic Power Production and Sales Based on Game Theory

This paper mainly studies the dynamic characteristics of production and sales of distributed photovoltaic power. This is beneficial for the construction and development of a green power system, and it promotes the sustainable development of the social economy. First, the production and sales laws of the photovoltaic power are analyzed, and the trade process between photovoltaic power producers (PVPs) and photovoltaic power demanders (PVDs) is modeled as a game. Different from the existing relevant literature, two kinds of payoff bimatrices are provided, which correspond to the PVD market and PVP market, respectively. Then, the dynamic characteristics of the model are revealed by using the semitensor product method. The results present a more reliable theoretical basis for the sustainable development of the green electricity market. Finally, through an illustrative example, it can be seen that the strategies of all participants are constantly changing to obtain more profits rather than stable at a traditional Nash equilibrium point. It is worth pointing out that the method and results are applicable to other distributed low-carbon energies, contributing to the development of sustainable energy systems.

Risk evaluation and management mechanism of green electricity market based on multi-dimensional cloud model

In the process of continuous promotion in the green electricity market, various risks have emerged due to the inherent uncertainty and complex trading environment of the market. Evaluating and controlling the risks through a multi-dimensional evaluation is crucial for the smooth and healthy development of the green electricity market. This work proposes a risk assessment method for the green electricity market based on the multi-dimensional cloud model. First, the comprehensive indicator evaluation system is established for both pre-transaction and post-transaction dimensions by analyzing the operating mechanism of the green electricity market. Second, each dimensional cloud is formed by the evaluation clouds of all indicator levels. The comprehensive risk level cloud is generated based on the indicator values and the evaluation clouds of each indicator. Finally, the sources of market risk are identified, and the corresponding risk management methods are proposed on the basis of the risk evaluation level and membership degree of each indicator. The case study results demonstrate that the proposed method can accurately evaluate and reduce the potential risks existing in the green electricity market through the two-stage detection mechanism.

Exploring the participation willingness and potential carbon emission reduction of Chinese residential green electricity market

China officially established a green electricity trading market in 2021. This study investigated the intention of Chinese households to participate in the green electricity tariff and surveyed their acceptable maximum premium; afterwards, the corresponding potential carbon emission reduction is evaluated. The survey shows that 82% of Chinese households support the additional willingness-to-pay (WTP) for green electricity. The mean willingness-to-pay values without protest-zeros are evaluated as RMB14.6 with a gender differential that men prefer to pay more than women. Relative impact factors analysis shows that household' intention of using green-e significantly impacts their participation in extra WTP, but households' income does not show a significant effect. On the other hand, the model for extra expenditure shows the opposite effect of these two factors. Last, the study conducted a scenario analysis to evaluate the potential emission reduction and related welfare transformation efficiency. The scenario analysis reveals that households’ green electricity trading potentially contributes to 30%–54% of the carbon reduction and a reasonable trading mechanism could achieve emission reductions goal with less welfare loss. Finally, some policy implications are proposed, providing theoretical support for policy-makers.

Electricity Market Reforms for Energy Transition: Lessons from China

In response to the rising importance of the climate agenda, many countries have restructured their electricity markets to facilitate the utilization of renewable energy. China is an interesting case because it has expanded its utilization of wind and solar energy with unmatched speed. This review starts with an analysis of the 2002 reforms that uncoupled electricity production from transmission. The investigation covers the period leading up to the 2022 proposal, which aimed to build a nationally integrated electricity market. The analysis suggests that a careful alignment of incentives for key market players to produce and consume renewable energy is vital during the process of energy transition. The introduction of feed-in tariffs in 2009 for wind energy, which were subsequently extended to solar energy, stimulated a high growth in installed capacity. However, a high electricity curtailment rate resulted. Since 2018, the Chinese government has resorted to curtailment caps and renewable portfolio standards to increase the utilization of renewable electricity. After the announcement of the “dual carbon goals” in 2020, the Chinese government launched a series of reforms that aimed to nurture growth in the green electricity market and the formation of a nationally integrated electricity market. The removal of interregional trade barriers is a key element of China’s current electricity market reforms and will be crucial to determining whether China can achieve its climate goals.

Power purchase agreements with incremental tariffs in local currency: An innovative green finance tool

Investment volume in green projects, specifically in the green electricity market, suffers from limitations such as inadequate long-term financing, various risks, and a low rate of return on investment. Renewable energy power purchase agreements (PPAs), as a direct legal contract between a power provider and a power buyer, are one of the most popular instruments to increase investment. In this study, we model an adjusted PPA in the local currency framework to lower exchange rate risk and incremental tariffs by having the government pay part of the spillover tax revenues to the PPA, leading to a higher return on investment. The major conclusion of this study is that the use of tax revenue through the spillover effect of green electricity supply is a suitable source of financing for PPAs. As one policy implication, we recommend that developing countries allocate 50% of the tax revenue originating from power supply and adopt incremental PPAs to encourage private investment in green projects.

Pricing contract design of a multi-supplier-multi-retailer supply chain in hybrid electricity market

PurposeIn the hybrid electricity market consisting of renewable and conventional energy, the generation output of renewable power is uncertain because of its intermittency, and the power market demand is also fluctuant. Meanwhile, there is fierce competition among power producers in the power supply market and retailers in the demand market after deregulation, which increases the difficulty of renewable energy power grid-connection. To promote grid-connection of renewable energy power in the hybrid electricity market, the authors construct different contract decision-making models in the “many-to-many” hybrid power supply chain to explore the pricing strategy of renewable energy power grid-connecting.Design/methodology/approachConsidering the dual-uncertainty of renewable energy power output and electricity market demand, the authors construct different decision-making models of wholesale price contract and revenue-sharing contract to compare and optimize grid-connecting pricing, respectively, to maximize the profits of different participants in the hybrid power supply chain. Besides, the authors set different parameters in the models to explore the influence of competition intensity, government subsidies, etc. on power pricing. Then, a numerical simulation is carried out, they verify the existence of the equilibrium solutions satisfying the supply chain coordination, compare the differences of pricing contracts and further analyze the variation characteristics of optimal contract parameters and their interaction relations.FindingsRevenue-sharing contract can increase the quantity of green power grid-connection and realize benefits Pareto improvement of all parties in hybrid power supply chain. The competition intensity both of power supply and demand market will have an impact on the sharing ratio, and the increase of competition intensity results in a reduction of power supply chain coordination pressure. The power contract price, spot price and selling price have all been reduced with the increase of the sharing ratio, and the price of renewable power is more sensitive to the ratio change. The sharing ratio shows a downward trend with the increase of government green power subsidies.Originality/valueOn the basis of expanding the definition of hybrid power market and the theory of newsvendor model, considering the dual-uncertainty of green power generation output and electricity market demand, this paper builds and compares different contract decision-making models to study the grid-connection pricing strategy of renewable energy power. And as an extension of supply chain structure types and management, the authors build a “many-to-many” power supply chain structure model and analyze the impact of competition intensity among power enterprises and the government subsidy on the power grid-connecting pricing.

Designing tax and subsidy incentives towards a green and reliable electricity market

Incentive schemes and policies play an important role in reducing carbon emissions from electricity generation. This paper investigates designing tax and subsidy incentives towards a reliable and low emission electricity market, using Australia’s National Electricity Market as a case study. In this work, a novel framework is proposed to design interactive tax/subsidy incentives on both emission reduction and resource adequacy in competitive electricity markets as a game model. In our model, market participants decide on their capacity expansion/retirement strategies considering the impact of designed incentive schemes on their long-term operation such that the desired levels of emission reduction and fast response generation are achieved in the network. The simulation results for Australia’s electricity market during 2017–2052, indicate the necessity of incentive policies, in spite of the cost reduction trajectory for renewable technologies, to reach the emission intensity reduction above 45% in the market by 2052. In 80% emission intensity reduction scenario, the designed incentive schemes highly encourage the investment on synchronous renewables, +17 GW, storage technologies, +15.7 GW, and transmission lines, +1.6 GW, to support high additional penetration of Variable Renewable Energy, wind and solar, +39 GW, which paves the way to transition to a green and reliable electricity market.

Combinatorial Mitigation Actions: A Case Study on European Union’s Electricity Sector

Appropriate Greenhouse Gas (GHGs) mitigation action has become a promising concern because of its feasibility and sustainability. This article reviews mitigation approaches taken by European Union’s electricity sector to promote appropriate reduction in large developing country. From an applicable and integrated aspect, it examines Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS), carbon tax, Clean Development Mechanism, Joint Implementation, green electricity market, carbon capture and sequestration, and energy efficiency. Then the successful experiences and lessons on this case are identified. The former include: allow diverse approaches coexistence, establish ancillary service system, and make carbon market serve for electricity market. The latter contain that price fluctuates inappropriately, obligation is distorted, no banking for allowances operated in the first period, and part of abatement approaches conflict mutually. Based on these results, this article proposes a framework of combinatorial mitigation actions which is characterized as integral, collaborative and appropriate reduction. It is composed of: i) construct intensity-based carbon market; ii) make diverse approaches collaborative; iii) build synergy between mitigation approaches and electricity market; iv) enhance carbon management and auditing system; and v) reform aging power plants with low carbon technologies. Although numerous challenges lie ahead, this framework has the potential to reduce GHGs from electricity industry extensively and sustainably.

An Empirically Grounded Model of Green Electricity Adoption in Germany: Calibration, Validation and Insights into Patterns of Diffusion

Spatially explicit agent-based models (ABM) of innovation diffusion have experienced growing attention over the last few years. The ABM presented in this paper investigates the adoption of green electricity tariffs by German households. The model represents empirically characterised household types as agent types which differ in their decision preferences regarding green electricity and other psychological properties. Agent populations are initialised based on spatially explicit socio demographic data describing the sociological lifestyles found in Germany. For model calibration and validation we use historical data on the German green electricity market including a rich dataset of spatially explicit customer data of one of the major providers of green electricity. In order to assess the similarity of the simulation results to historical observations we introduce two validation measures which capture different aspects of the green electricity diffusion. One measure is based on the residuals of spatially-aggregated time series of model indicators and the other measure considers a temporally aggregated but spatially disaggregated indicator of spatial spread. Finally, we demonstrate the descriptive richness of the model by investigating simulation outputs of the calibrated model in more detail. In particular, the results provide insights into the dynamics of the spatial and lifestyle heterogeneity “underneath†the diffusion curve of green electricity in Germany.

Warm glow from green power: Evidence from Australian electricity consumers

Green electricity products are increasingly made available to consumers in many countries in order to address a number of environmental and social concerns. Most of the literature on this green electricity market focuses on consumers’ characteristics and product attributes that could affect participation. However, the contribution of this environmental consumerism to the overall environmental good does not depend on participation alone. The real impact relies on market participation for green consumers (the proportion of green consumers) combined with the level of green consumption intensity – the commitment levels, or proportion of consumption that is green. We design an online interface that closely mimics the real market decision environment for electricity consumers in Western Australia and use an error component model to analyze consumers’ choice of green electricity products and their commitment levels. We show that product attributes have limited impact on the choice of green products; however, there is still great potential for better participation by improving the design of green electricity programs. When green products are selected, most respondents select the minimum commitment possible, and this is insensitive to the premium being charged on green power, suggesting that we are largely observing a buy-in ‘warm glow’ for carbon mitigation.

Study on the development and intelligent prediction model of green electricity market in China

Since China is facing to increasingly serious power shortage and pressure from environmental protection, development and utilisation of the green electricity (GE) are the basic measures for the strategy of sustainable development. This paper analyses the status and advanced prospect of GE market of necessity, and the current problems in China's GE market. Finally, on this basis, the paper proposes measures on the development of GE market in China.

THE NEW TARGETS OF 2020 FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF RENEWABLE ENERGY POWER PLANTS IN SERBIA

At the end of 2012 and the beginning of 2013, the Serbian Government issued the new national regulations in order to provide an acceptable legislation framework to achieve 2020 targets of 27% increase of total renewable energy sources share in the gross final energy consumption, relative to 2009. The target of a 37% increase relates to participation of renewable energy sources in electricity production. It requires construction of new significant capacities of renewable energy power plants as clearly defined in the National Action Plan for Renewable Energy Sources. This paper comprises critical analyses of targeted new installed capacity of renewable energy power plants for electricity production from different point of views, such as: new national energy policy, new national regulations, renewable energy sources potential in Serbia, efficiency of power plants and the investment financial models. According to the new national energy policy identified in the National Action Plan for Renewable Energy Sources, it is concluded that the new regulations related to the construction of new renewable energy power plants is completed, particularly concerning the investment security, provision of green electricity market, status of green electricity producer, and significant reduction of time for administrative procedures required to obtain a building permit. Particularly, the real wind potential in Serbia, based on the measured data over the past ten years of measurement campaigns at more than thirty locations, has been used to correct the targeted installed capacity of wind power plants.

THE NEW TARGETS OF 2020 FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF RENEWABLE ENERGY POWER PLANTS IN SERBIA

At the end of 2012 and the beginning of 2013, the Serbian Government issued the new national regulations in order to provide an acceptable legislation framework to achieve 2020 targets of 27% increase of total renewable energy sources share in the gross final energy consumption, relative to 2009. The target of a 37% increase relates to participation of renewable energy sources in electricity production. It requires construction of new significant capacities of renewable energy power plants as clearly defined in the National Action Plan for Renewable Energy Sources. This paper comprises critical analyses of targeted new installed capacity of renewable energy power plants for electricity production from different point of views, such as: new national energy policy, new national regulations, renewable energy sources potential in Serbia, efficiency of power plants and the investment financial models. According to the new national energy policy identified in the National Action Plan for Renewable Energy Sources, it is concluded that the new regulations related to the construction of new renewable energy power plants is completed, particularly concerning the investment security, provision of green electricity market, status of green electricity producer, and significant reduction of time for administrative procedures required to obtain a building permit. Particularly, the real wind potential in Serbia, based on the measured data over the past ten years of measurement campaigns at more than thirty locations, has been used to correct the targeted installed capacity of wind power plants.

Research on the consumption mode of green electricity in China-Based on theory of reasoned action

Abstract In recent years, the renewable energy such as wind energy or solar energy is well developed in China, but the green electricity generated from these sources is still difficult to operate commercially. To promote the development of green electricity market, this paper takes Jiangsu Province as examples and explores the consumption mode of green electricity. Through questionnaires design and investigation, we find that information dissermination, green value and bandwage effect play an important role in people's subsriciption intention, while the actual purchase behavior is mainly drived by subsriciption intention, rather than payment capacity. It implies that we should strengthen the knowledge popular of green electricity through school education, media dissernmination and the spread of green knowledge in the community. © 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of RIUDS