Assessing the Plurality of Actors and Policy Interactions: Agent-Based Modelling of Renewable Energy Market Integration

The ongoing deployment of renewable energy sources (RES) calls for an enhanced integration of RES into energy markets, accompanied by a new set of regulations. In Germany, for instance, the feed-in tariff legislation for renewables has been successively replaced by first optional and then obligatory...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Complexity (New York, N.Y.) N.Y.), 2017-01, Vol.2017 (2017), p.1-24
Main Authors: Reeg, Matthias, Nienhaus, Kristina, Klein, Martin, Deissenroth, Marc
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agent based models
Alternative energy sources
Analysis
Design of experiments
Economic models
Energy industry
Energy policy
Energy resources
Energy trading
Impact analysis
Legislation
Literature reviews
Marketing
Markets
Operators
Organization theory
Power plants
Renewable energy sources
Renewable resources
Simulation
Stability analysis
Systems stability
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Summary:The ongoing deployment of renewable energy sources (RES) calls for an enhanced integration of RES into energy markets, accompanied by a new set of regulations. In Germany, for instance, the feed-in tariff legislation for renewables has been successively replaced by first optional and then obligatory marketing of RES on competitive wholesale markets. This paper introduces an agent-based model that allows studying the impact of changing energy policy instruments on the economic performance of RES operators and marketers. The model structure, its components, and linkages are presented in detail; an additional case study demonstrates the capability of our sociotechnical model. We find that changes in the political framework cannot be mapped directly to RES operators as behaviour of intermediary market actors has to be considered as well. Characteristics and strategies of intermediaries are thus an important factor for successful RES marketing and further deployment. It is shown that the model is able to assess the emergence and stability of market niches.
ISSN:1076-2787
1099-0526
DOI:10.1155/2017/7494313