Energy Economics and Finance Seminar
Speaker
Location
Kleinman Center Classroom
Fisher Fine Arts Building, Room 306
Getting Here
Event Summary
The seminar series in Energy Economics & Finance (EEF) is jointly organized by Wharton’s Business Economics and Public Policy Department, the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy, and Wharton’s Business, Climate and Environment Lab. The scope of the seminar includes regulation and policy papers. The scope of the seminar also includes environmental and transportation issues, as long as there is a connection with energy. Sessions are biweekly on Mondays from 3:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Snacks, beer, and wine will be served after the seminar!
For Fall 2022, the seminar will be held in-person in the Kleinman Center Classroom (Fisher Fine Arts Building Room 306). We have a strong preference for in-person seminar attendance***, but if you are unable to make a certain session or are not based on Penn’s campus, please reach out to Dhivya Kaushik (email below) to get access to the Zoom link.
Find and add a Google Calendar version of the schedule on the BEPP seminar page.
To sign up for the seminar, please send your name, email, and affiliation to Dhivya Kaushik: dhivya@wharton.upenn.edu
Title: “Soaking Up the Sun: Battery Investment, Renewable Energy, and Market Equilibrium”
Abstract: Renewable energy and battery storage are seen as complementary technologies that can together facilitate reductions in carbon emissions. We develop and estimate a dynamic competitive equilibrium model of storage investment and operations to evaluate the adoption trajectory of utility-scale storage under different counterfactual policy environments. Using data from California, we find that the first storage unit breaks even in 2027 when renewable energy share will reach 52%. Despite this, battery adoption is virtually non-existent until 2040 without a storage mandate or subsidy. Our model indicates this is because equilibrium effects reduce the marginal value of subsequent storage investments; expected future capital cost reductions incentivize delayed investment; and depreciation from cycling lowers the value of investment. We show that California’s 2024 storage mandate decreases future electricity generation costs by $511 million but also increases expected capital costs by $944 million by shifting adoption earlier, before projected capital cost declines are realized.
Jackson Dorsey
Fall 2022 Seminar Schedule
- 9/22: Edson Severnini, Carnegie Mellon University
- 10/17: Sarah Armitage, Environmental Defense Fund
- 11/14: Beia Spiller, Resources for the Future
- 11/28: Jackson Dorsey, Indiana University
- 12/5: Meredith Fowlie, UC Berkeley