Transforming energy systems to fulfill the needs of a low-carbon economy requires large investments in renewable electricity production (RES-E). Recent literature underlines the need to take a closer look at the composition of the RES-E investor group in order to understand the motives and investment processes of different types of investors. However, existing energy policies generally consider RES-E investments made on a regional or national level, and target investors who evaluate their RES-E investments according to least-cost high-profit criteria. We present empirical evidence to show that RES-E investments are made by a heterogeneous group of investors, that a variety of investors exist and that their formation varies among the different types of renewable sources. This has direct implications for our understanding of the investment process in RES-E and for the study of motives and driving forces of RES-E investors. We introduce a multi-dimensional framework for analyzing differences between categories of investors, which not only considers to the standard economic dimension which is predominant in the contemporary energy literature, but also considers the entrepreneurship, innovation-adoption and institutional dimensions. The framework emphasizes the influence of four main investor-related factors on the investment process which should be studied in future research: motives, background, resources and personal characteristics.
A deregulation of the electricity market in Europe will result in increased competition among the power-producing companies. They will therefore carefully estimate the financial risk in an investment in new power-producing capability. One part of the risk assessment is to perform a sensitivity analysis. This paper presents a sensitivity analysis using factorial design, resulting in an assessment of the most important technical and economical factors affecting an investment in a gas turbine combined cycle and a steam cycle fired by woodchips. The study is performed using a simulation model that optimizes the operation of existing power plants and potential new investments to fulfil the desired heat demand. The local utility system analysed is a Swedish district heating system with 655 GWh y-1 heat demand. The conclusion is that to understand which of the technical and economical factors affect the investment, it is not sufficient to investigate the parameters of the studied plant, but also the parameters related to the competing plants. Both the individual effects of the factors and the effect of their interaction should be investigated. For the energy system studied the price of natural gas, price of woodchips and investment cost have the major influence on the profitability of the investment. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley and Sons, Ltd.
Liberalisation of the electricity market and governmental politics influence heat and power supply in Sweden, like in many other countries. In this paper, the impact of subsidies and fuel and electricity costs on a representative Swedish district heating system is analysed. The energy system model MODEST (model for optimisation of dynamic energy systems with time dependent components and boundary conditions) was used to optimise investments and operation for heat and power production plants. At higher electricity prices, combined heat and power introduction may be profitable in the studied system. With current fuel prices, a natural gas fired combined cycle would primarily be favourable. A lower woodchips price and a governmental grant would make cogeneration with a biomass fired steam cycle more beneficial. © 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
A study is presented where factorial design is used to find how some selected economic and technical factors affect the profitability of an investment in a combined heat and power plant. The study is performed on a Swedish district heating system. The minimal cost for supplying the demanded heat is calculated with a developed energy system optimisation model, MODEST. The effects on the resulting parameters, such as system cost and optimal size of steam cycle, are calculated from a series of experiments performed using high and low levels of the most relevant factors. The conclusion of the study is that both the main factors and the interactions between them have to be analysed to establish an accurate ranking of the technical and economic factors. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
The liberalisation of the European electricity market influences investment decisions in combined heat and power plants. Energy companies modify their business strategies and their criteria for investments in power generation capacity. In this paper, the gains from a co-operation between a paper mill and municipal utility are studied. We find that a widened system boundary, including both the industrial plant and the district heating company, increases cost-effectiveness by 7-11%, compared to a situation with two separately optimised systems. Furthermore, optimal investments are strongly in.uenced by the actors' different required returns. With a relatively low required rate of return on energy investments, typical for a municipally owned utility, the most profitable investment is a wood chips-fuelled cogeneration plant. With a higher rate of return on capital, typical for a competitive industry, the optimal investment is mainly a heat-only steam boiler. Finally, some general influences on required rate of return caused by electricity market deregulation are observed. Whilst tending to increase companies' required returns, deregulation may, besides extending the outlet for locally generated electricity, also obstruct long-termhigh-cost investments such as cogeneration based on conventional technology. © 2002 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.