Studies

Part of our work is published as a freely available study. Clients are ministries, regulators, industry associations, grid operators, and companies that want a question not only settled internally but put up for public debate.

A study answers a well-defined question, documents method and data, and ends with a recommendation. We write for readers who know the field but not the project: concise, free of jargon, and with a reasoning that can be followed. All reports are available here in full as PDFs, many of them with slides.

Not every project lends itself to publication. The confidential side of our work is shown under advisory.

For questions on published studies and for new study enquiries, contact Lion Hirth or Silvana Tiedemann.

Recent studies

Injection charges for offshore wind
BWO · 2026

Injection charges for offshore wind

BWO · 2026

Germany’s regulator plans to charge generators for grid costs from 2029, aiming to relieve consumers and incentivize grid-friendly behavior. For the offshore wind association BWO, we find neither is met: as the state largely sets sites, connections, and capacity, the charge cannot steer behavior and raises CfD bids, burdening the federal budget.

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Marginal pricing
Eurelectric · 2026

Marginal pricing

Eurelectric · 2026

The debate about marginal pricing and the “merit order” has flared up again, with policymakers proposing wholesale interventions echoing the “Iberian Mechanism.” For the industry association Eurelectric, we produced a short study benchmarking prices against other markets, explaining marginal pricing, and debunking key merit-order misconceptions.

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Regulation of large-scale batteries
ECO STOR · 2026

Regulation of large-scale batteries

ECO STOR · 2026

Battery optimization is becoming increasingly constrained by flexible connection agreements and grid fees. For battery developer ECO STOR, we are developing a coherent set of incentives, rules, and restrictions for batteries that minimizes adverse grid impacts while preserving their value for balancing and wholesale markets.

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Regional wholesale prices
Enercity · 2026

Regional wholesale prices

Enercity · 2026

Few energy policy questions are debated so fiercely as the split of the German bidding zone: the wholesale market is blind to grid congestion, leading to inefficient dispatch, costly redispatch, and distorted cross-border trade. For the utility Enercity, we delivered a study on the pros and cons of uniform, zonal, and nodal pricing.

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Management fee
SFOE · 2025

Management fee

SFOE · 2025

Switzerland’s move to a single-price imbalance settlement in 2026 requires updating the management fee methodology for renewables. For the Swiss Federal Office of Energy, we analyzed the current approach and developed a transparent formula reflecting balancing costs under the new market design.

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Dynamic retail tariff
Naturstrom · 2025

Dynamic retail tariff

Naturstrom · 2025

German utilities with more than 200,000 customers must offer a dynamic retail tariff, but only a few households have adopted such tariffs. For Naturstrom, one of the ten largest German utilities, we analyzed which household types benefit from dynamic tariffs and quantified the potential to unlock household flexibility.

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Swiss balancing market design
ElCom · 2025

Swiss balancing market design

ElCom · 2025

Since the introduction of the PICASSO-compatible bidding process, Switzerland has seen a sharp increase in balancing prices. For the Swiss regulator ElCom, with Takon and ZEW, we analyzed the causes of the price rise, evaluated the current market design, and developed concrete proposals to improve the Swiss balancing market.

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