Original scientific paper
The role of renewable energy sources on electricity prices in Spain. A maximum entropy econometric model
Blanca Moreno
; Department of Applied Economics, School of Business and Economics, University of Oviedo Oviedo, Spain
Maria Teresa Garcia-Alvarez
; Department of Economic Analysis and Business Administration, School of Business and Economics, University of La Coruna La Coruna, Spain
Abstract
The liberalization of electricity markets in Europe aims to increase competition, thus decreasing electricity prices for the consumers, including households. Moreover, the electricity generated from renewable energies (RES-E) is physically integrated into the electricity market and can influence electricity prices. This paper presents the impact of the liberalization process in the Spanish electricity market and the impact of RES-E on household electricity prices.
However, as the electricity market liberalization is relatively recent, the related data is limited, and even when trying to estimate the electricity price models through regression procedures a dimensionality problem presents itself. Therefore, in this paper a Maximum Entropy Econometric approach is used that allows for the estimation of models when information is limited. The obtained results suggest that the use of wind energy in electricity generation can contribute to the reduction of electricity prices. However, the electricity generated from hard coal increases the electricity prices. Results also reveal that energy dependence also has an important effect on electricity prices.
Keywords
Electricity price; Renewable energy; Market liberalization; Entropy measure; Information Theory
Hrčak ID:
107272
URI
Publication date:
1.4.2013.
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