Spot prices of electricity in Germany and other European countries

„Spot prices are the central indicators of scarcity and competition in liberalized wholesale electricity markets. These markets differ from others due to a number of specific factors. Strong variations in load, the instantaneous balancing requirement between generation and demand as well as network transportation effects may lead to a complex interaction of regionally dispersed flexible hydro and relatively inflexible thermal generation technologies. It is shown in this book to what extend the structure and level of German spot prices of electricity can be explained by this interaction. A static merit order approach is not suitable for this analysis. It must be replaced by a dynamic model taking into account the inflexibility of generation capacity to get realistic estimators of marginal costs during peak and off-peak periods. The first part of this book contains theoretical models that illustrate the way specific factors and the distribution of ownership and control over capacity may influence prices in large and heterogeneous electricity generation systems. The second part is devoted to the spot price simulation model EUDIS. It demonstrates how such factors are incorporated in an empirical model of the European electricity generation system. Simulation results are presented to highlight the predictive and analytical power of the approach for the current German wholesale market. Das englischsprachige Buch untersucht die “„Spot“„-Preise auf dem Elektrizitätsmarkt. In dem Buch wird gezeigt, wie Struktur und Niveau des Spotpreises sich durch das Zusammenwirken der verschiedenen Faktoren von der Erzeugung bis zum Transport und abhängig von Angebot und Nachfrage erklären lässt. Der erste Teil enthält theoretische Modelle für große und heterogene Systeme. Der zweite Teil ist dem Spot Price Simulation Modell “„EUDIS“„ gewidmet. Es wird gezeigt, wie sich die Faktoren an einem beispielhaften Modell des Europäischen Systems verkörpern.“