Fsr Energy & Climate

Enrico Maria Carlini, head of Management and engineering of the electric system at the Italian power TSO, Terna Recorded 26 January 2016 in Milan at the SmartNet project kick-off meeting, in this interview by Ilaria Conti, Research and Policy Coordinator from the Florence School of Regulation, Enrico Maria Carlini talks about the evolution of the roll of TSOs and DSOs and tells us what the SmartNet project means to Terna. “The project (SmartNet) is very important for us, for the transmission operator point of view, taking into account that dispersed generation is now more or less 22 or 25% of the total energy produced in Italy” “Looking at the future of course, we have more integration between TSOs and DSOs, particularly on the real time information that we need to exchange”

Thomas-Olivier Léautier, Toulouse School of Economics, University of Toulouse Graduate School of Management, France and Fabien Roques, Compass Lexecon, University Paris Dauphine, France. While directing the Florence School of Regulation’s Executive Course to master Electricity Markets, 18-19 January 2016, in Florence, Italy, Thomas-Olivier Léautier and Fabien Roques met with reporter Nicholas Barrett to discuss the relationship between regulation and economics as well as the EU’s efforts to tackle climate change. Thomas-Olivier Léautier: “We need to reduce our carbon emissions while protecting our standard of living. Therefore, we need to, if possible, consume less electricity and produce less CO2 as we produce electricity. That requires tens of hundreds of billions of euros of investment. The more efficiently we do this… the cheaper this massive transformation is going be for society… it's super important.” Fabien Roques: “The European Commissions, even though it’s been criticised, is doing a good job e

Jonathan Stern, Head of Oxford Institute for Energy Studies Recorded in Vienna where Jonathan was co-chairing the ‘EU-Russia Energy Dialogue Gas Advisory Council’ ; and Jean-Michel Glachant (Director of the Florence School of Regulation) attending. In this interview we get a basic understanding were we (the EU) are today with gas and where we are going. “We are unsure where we are because things are changing so quickly, but the general view is that, after a decline of about 20% of demand in the EU, gas is stabilising, and will remain probably on this level for a few years unless decarbonisation towards renewables is very very successful, or the other probability is that coal will be phased out faster than we think, which means gas could improve its position a little bit, but we don’t see a very huge increase in gas demand." “The big problem that we have at the moment in Europe, and this is a new problem, is that we see domestic production beginning to going down much faster than we thought, principally bec

Xavier Labandeira, Director of FSR Climate, shares his thoughts on the outcomes of the Paris Climate Talks. “We for the first time introduce a 1.5 degree maximum increase of temperature as an aspirational environmental objective” “Once the emitters are into the agreement, which was not the case with Kyoto, they may find it easier to proceed in a way cooperatively, because leakage or competitiveness issues are minimalized” “More question marks arise from the issue of funding the huge investment flows necessary for the structural tenors that we need in order to have this decarbonisation” “Hopefully we will see many pricing devices in both the developed and developing world in the next few years” “We have a first step, a positive first step, but still much is needed, much more is needed, so we should not be too happy yet”

Simone Mori is Enel Group’s Head of European Affairs, and Head of Carbon Strategy. In this interview from Brussels just before the Paris Climate Conference, he talks with Jean-Michel Glachant, Director of the Florence School of Regulation, about his optimism for COP21. “If we should find a single parameter which drove the change up until now, it’s the dramatic drop in cost of several technologies” “Europe today is much more aligned, the Commission, the countries, the companies, there is a large consensus about the 2030 package” “This is a very wise idea, to put together top-down long-term targets to study direction, and a bottom-up, flexible menu of possible intervention to be at the disposal of national commitments but under the umbrella of multilateral agreement.”

Andris Piebalgs is Adviser to the President of Latvia and former Commissioner for Energy (Barroso I) and for Development (Barroso II) and now Senior Fellow at the Florence School of Regulation. Security of gas supply, is there enough security and is there enough supply? How important are long term contracts? An EU external energy policy? An interview by Ilaria Conti, Research and Policy Coordinator from the Florence School of Regulation Recorded 17 November 2015 “There are some security of supply issues that make this topic geopolitical, that make this topic also emotional, and because of all this complexity it is also a very interesting topic” “long term contracts… it is also security of demand, because producers need to invest a lot” “There are two challenges […] for the EU on Long Term Contracts: one is transparency”

http://florence-school.eu/event/two-day-executive-course-to-master-electricity-markets-18-19-january-2016/ Fabien Roques, Senior Vice President with the Economics Consultancy Compass Lexecon and Associate Professor at University Paris-Dauphine, talks about the demand response, which is one of the big missing parts of well-functioning electricity markets. This topic will be discussed during the 2-Day Executive Course to master Electricity Markets

Massimo Tavoni, Deputy Coordinator for Climate Change and Sustainable Development, FEEM, Italy. On the 12 November 2015 at the European University Institute in Florence, he was the discussant at the presentation of the book ‘EU Climate Policy EXPLAINED’, co-edited by Peter Vis and Jos Delbeke. This book explains the EU’s climate policies in an accessible way, to demonstrate the step-by-step approach that has been used to develop these policies, and the ways in which they have been tested and further improved in the light of experience. It shows that there is no single policy instrument that can bring down greenhouse gas emissions, but the challenge has been to put a jigsaw of policy instruments together that is coherent, delivers emissions reductions, and is cost-effective. In view of the forthcoming 2015 UN Climate Change conference in Paris, this book is of great interest for academics and policy makers alike.

Peter Vis is the EU Visiting Fellow at St. Antony’s College, University of Oxford (UK), for the academic year 2014–2015. Prior to that he was Head of Cabinet to Connie Hedegaard, European Commissioner for Climate Action (2010–2014). He has an MA (history) from the University of Cambridge (UK). On the 12 November 2015 at the European University Institute in Florence, he presented the new book ‘EU Climate Policy EXPLAINED’ which he co-edited with Jos Delbeke to Florence School of Regulation Climate and selected audience. This book explains the EU’s climate policies in an accessible way, to demonstrate the step-by-step approach that has been used to develop these policies, and the ways in which they have been tested and further improved in the light of experience. It shows that there is no single policy instrument that can bring down greenhouse gas emissions, but the challenge has been to put a jigsaw of policy instruments together that is coherent, delivers emissions reductions, and is cost-effective. In vie

Peter Vis and Massimo Tavoni answer questions from the audience after the presentation of the book ‘EU Climate Policy EXPLAINED’, co-edited by Peter Vis and Jos Delbeke. 12 November 2015, European University Institute, Florence, Italy This book explains the EU’s climate policies in an accessible way, to demonstrate the step-by-step approach that has been used to develop these policies, and the ways in which they have been tested and further improved in the light of experience. It shows that there is no single policy instrument that can bring down greenhouse gas emissions, but the challenge has been to put a jigsaw of policy instruments together that is coherent, delivers emissions reductions, and is cost-effective. In view of the forthcoming 2015 UN Climate Change conference in Paris, this book is of great interest for academics and policy makers alike.

Xavier Labandeira, Director of Florence School of Regulation Climate, introduces the presentation of the book ‘EU Climate Policy EXPLAINED’, co-edited by Peter Vis and Jos Delbeke. This book explains the EU’s climate policies in an accessible way, to demonstrate the step-by-step approach that has been used to develop these policies, and the ways in which they have been tested and further improved in the light of experience. It shows that there is no single policy instrument that can bring down greenhouse gas emissions, but the challenge has been to put a jigsaw of policy instruments together that is coherent, delivers emissions reductions, and is cost-effective. In view of the forthcoming 2015 UN Climate Change conference in Paris, this book is of great interest for academics and policy makers alike.

Adrien de Hauteclocque is a Legal Secretary (Référendaire) of Judge M. van der Woude at the Court of Justice of the European Union (General Court), Luxembourg, and an Adviser of the Loyola de Palacio Chair. Here he is interviewed by the Director of the Florence School, Jean-Michel Glachant, on the topics discussed at the FSR Fifth Policy Advisory Council which brought together renowned academics, experts from leading energy companies as well as representatives from the European Commission, the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) and National Regulatory Authorities (NRAs). Recorded 6 November 2015, Florence, Italy “we talked this morning about the long term import gas contracts… we have a problem with this contract… I think it is fair to say they have very ambiguous effects both on competition and on security of supply, sometimes they are good, sometimes they are bad…” “maybe we should think about introducing some kinds of ex-ante notification mechanisms so that there would be some level

FSR Fifth Policy Advisory Council report by Jean-Michel Glachant The FSR Policy Advisory Council is the bi-annual exclusive meeting where the FSR tests new ideas and research proposals with a small selected audience of FSR donors, academics, regulators and representatives from EU Institutions. Held under Chatham House Rules, the PAC is attended by significant players in the European Energy Industry. In this podcast, Jean-Michel Glachant, Director of the Florence School reveals some extracts from the meeting. Recorded in Florence 6 November 2015 “…it is very likely that the TSO business in the power industry, the transmission business in the power industry, will enter or is entering a complete revolution.”

Jorge Vasconcelos, former regulator of Portugal and co-founder of CEER (Council of European Energy Regulators) talks about the evolution of European energy system – in the light of its decentralisation or “localisation”. Interview by Jean-Michel Glachant, Director of the Florence School Recorded at the FSR’s 5th Policy Advisory Council on 6 November 2015 “The application of these [digital] technologies will produce very important and substantial change” “Don’t forget that every electricity consumer is connected with 250 million consumers in Europe”

Prof. Karsten Neuhoff is Head of the Climate Policy Department at the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin). In this interview by the FSR Research and Policy Coordinator Ilaria Conti, Prof. Neuhoff answers questions on the evolution of electricity balancing in Europe in light of the current and upcoming challenges. And, one big question: can we think of a single electricity Balancing market for Europe? Recorded on 1 November 2015, Milan “a common approach on balancing will be very important, because ultimately that reflects a common approach of operating the system, and only if we find a common way of operating the system then we can exchange information accurately between TSOs and run the system precisely” “Starting from the past, European efforts had been initially on the day-ahead, and now to some extent on the intra-day market, and very often defining the interphases between countries. That is sufficient if you have stable flows in a conventional power system. The future…”

Professor Ariel Ezrachi is the Slaughter and May Professor of Competition Law and a Fellow of Pembroke College, Oxford. Here he talks to Nicholas Barrett about the algorithms after our money. "The use of a single algorithm could have a de-facto horizontal impact on pricing." "We also reflect on the possibility of using algorithms to facilitate tacit collusion." "We discussed the possibility of almost perfect price discrimination, the possibility for platforms to make use of data in order to try to second guess the reservation price for customers and target them in a way that would optimise profit." "When we speak about big data and energy, the questions are whether the ability of the supplier to gather information, even through the meters, as to the behaviour of the customers and their usage could then be leveraged in order to gain an advantage over others."

Professor Mats Nilsson, an economist at Luleå University of Technology. Here he talks to Nicholas Barrett about the transition to renewable energy and Europe's "extreme focus on renewables". "There is a good intention behind the support for renewables, but we have to remember that the support for renewables was for a sustainability goal, but that has become mixed with the co2 goal." "The manufacturing industry is now starting to leave Europe as a protest against the rising electricity costs. That comes as a shock, I think, to policy makers and industry members alike." "We don't have to continue, we can take a deep breath, we can phase out the renewable support we have."

http://florence-school.eu/event/fsr-climate-annual-conference-2015/?instance_id=302 Claudio Marcantonini, is the deputy director of FSR Climate. Here he talks to Nicholas Barrett about the first 10 years of the European Union's emission Trading Scheme and what it means to the rest of the world. "The EU ETS did not have a strong negative impact on the economy, there was no negative impact in terms of production, job losses or relocation of industries" "There is no evidence of carbon leakage, we have reduced emissions in Europe but not at the expense of increased emissions in other parts of the world." "It shows that a carbon price is feasible and that you can build a policy that puts a price on emissions on a level the size of Europe."

http://florence-school.eu/event/two-day-executive-course-to-master-electricity-markets-18-19-january-2016 Fabien Roques, Senior Vice President with the Economics Consultancy Compass Lexecon and Associate Professor at University Paris-Dauphine, talks about the FSR's new 2-day Executive Course to master Electricity Markets. The new training programme covers many topics, one of them is the capacity mechanisms.

http://fsr.eui.eu Jean Tirole, Nobel Laureate and Professor of Economics at the Toulouse School of Economics explains what we can expect from COP21, the UN Climate conference taking place in Paris in December. An interview by Jean-Michel Glachant, Director of the Florence School of Regulation and Holder of the Loyola de Palacio Chair. Recorded 9 September 2015 An interview by Jean-Michel Glachant, Director of the Florence School of Regulation and Holder of the Loyola de Palacio Chair. Recorded at the Tenth Conference on The Economics of Energy and Climate Change, from the Toulouse School of Economics, Toulouse, France. http://www.tse-fr.eu/conferences/2015-tenth-conference-economics-energy-and-climate-change “promises are non-binding, so they are just promises. We have seen in the past, from Kyoto to Copenhagen, that actually the countries don’t abide by their promises.” “If you put some effort into reducing your pollution, you’re not even sure if it will have any impact” “We have to develop satellit