Projektreferenzen

Wir sind stolz auf die vielen Projekte, die wir seit 2014 abgeschlossen habe. Sie reichen von großen BMWK-Vorhaben mit vielen Partner und Millionen-Budget bis zu kurzfristigen Beratungsprojekten, die in wenigen Wochen abgeschlossen sind. Einige der Projektberichte wurden veröffentlicht, darunter zuletzt die Folgenden:

2024 / ongoing

 

Solar price effect (BSW). Imagine a year without solar energy. With reduced supply, wholesale prices would be much higher than they actually are. For trade association BSW, we quantify this solar price effect. 2024.

Excess electricity (BMWK). The stellar performance of solar energy, outpacing all other generation technologies in growth in many countries including Germany, comes at a price: given that most assets are small-scale and subject to a feed-in-tariff, they keep generation even if supply exceeds demand. In this project, we forecast the probability of excess electricity situations for coming years and support the German government addressing the problem. Ongoing.

Smart charging (Rabot). Dynamic tariffs allow owners of EVs to benefit financially from charging their cars when it is cheapest. Time-of-use grid fees, intraday optimization, and bidirectional charging leverage such optimization. For Rabot Energy, a smart charging pioneer, we quantify the financials for a range of typical German drivers. Ongoing.

Injection charges (TenneT). Countries such as the Netherlands are discussing introducing injection charges as a mean to distribute offshore grid connection costs more fairly. With our partner Consentec, we provide an economic assessment of this option, as well as of alternatives. Ongoing.

EU electricity market design (BMWK). Continuous support and advice for Germany’s energy ministry in upcoming EU electricity market negotiations in a variety of topics ranging from support schemes to grid fees and capacity mechamisms. Ongoing.

Consultation (industrial company). After the German government publishing an electricity market white paper (“Strommarkt der Zukunft”), we provided support in drafting a stakeholder consultation response. 2024.

Capacity mechanism (BMWK). After a political decision to introduce a capacity market, this two-year project develops a feasible design. It explores approaches ranging from a hedging obligation to a centralized capacity procurement. The overall project is coordinated by Consentec, we lead the work on hedging obligations. Ongoing.

Solar generation peaks (50Hertz). Germany, like other countries, now has a significant amount of solar (and other) generation capacity that does not respond to wholesale prices, threatening market clearing. For TSO 50Hertz, we explore regulatory to reduce generation peaks from small-scale PV, including reforms of the feed-in tariff. Ongoing.

Grid fees (Industrial company). Network charges make up an ever-increasing share of industrial electricity bills, jeopardizing electrification investments. We provide forecasts of TSO grid fees until 2040, including projections of capacity and energy charges. 2024.

§19(2) StromNEV (TenneT). For decades, Germany’s system of rebates for grid fees for heavy industry had been identified as a barrier for industrial demand-side flexibility. Finally, a reform window has opened. In this project, we identify the numerous problems of the current rebates and propose a range of reform options. 2024. Report (DE | EN)

Wind competitiveness (RE project developer). The cannibalization effect threatens to make wind energy a victim of its own success. For a large onshore developer, we assess future factors that support wind competitiveness and provide input for a new business strategy. Ongoing.

Imbalance settlement price (Swissgrid). Responding to large system imbalances, Switzerland has decided to reform its imbalance settlement price. We provide quantitative assessment of various proposals and develop a new pricing regime. Our proposal is derived from first principles and informed by the real-world experience of other countries. Ongoing.

Support schemes (BMWK). Germany needs to update its renewables support scheme for wind and solar energy to comply with EU law. A particular concern is to reduce dispatch distortions. We provide assessment and advice on a range of options ranging from incremental reforms to fixed-for-floating swaps. Ongoing.

Network charges (Chancellery). Rising network charges are an increasing concern for policy makers, driven by concern about industrial competitiveness. For Germany’s chancellery, we have assessed current and future development of grid costs and network charges. 2024.

Grid fees (Industrial company).  Forecast of German TSO network charges on an annual basis until 2040 based on projections of investment, cost of capital, ancillary services, electricity prices, and electricity demand. 2024.

Ancillary services (Battery project developer). Battery project developers look at current and future ancillary services to rest their business case on, including reactive power and synthetic inertia. We provided an assessment of ancillary services markets and ad-hoc input to business case development. 2024.

Offshore tender (RE project developer). Offshore wind tenders now often include non-price criteria. We reviewed of the tender documents for a European offshore project and provided input regarding system integration. 2024.

REMIT (Utility). Expert witness on behalf of a European utility in a REMIT-related market manipulation lawsuit concerning balancing markets. 2024.

Value of flexibility (ZVEI). Small-scaled demand-side flexibility resources such as EVs, heat pumps, and solar batteries are widely acknowledged as core ingredients of future energy systems, but scale-up is sluggish in practice. In this report, we estimated the economic value for markets and grids based on a numerical Python model. 2023-24. Report (DE | EN)

Cross-border forward markets (TSOs). European TSOs issue long-term transmission rights. ACER had proposed numerous changes, including the establishment of a virtual hub. In this report for the German TSOs, we develop an analytical framework to assess cross-border forward markets and assess these proposals. 2023-24. Report

Real-time price (Elia). Belgium TSO Elia works on reforming its imbalance settlement price in the context of PICASSO. As part of a review committee, we provide input and assessments and support external communication. Ongoing.

PKNS (BMWK). The “Platform climate-neutral power system” is Germany’s principal stakeholder forum for electricity market design. With our partners Guidehouse and Consentec we provided scientific guidance. Neon lead the work package on locational signals, covering topics such as bidding zone split and dynamic grid fees. 2022-24. Website

EU electricity market design (BMWK). Large-scale, multi-year project on numerous electricity market topics for Germany’s Economics Ministry, including EU electricity market reform. Jointly with Consentec, we provided advice on crisis response and the design of the revenue cap. 2021-24.

 

2023

 

Industrial power prices (Agora Energiewende). Study on design options for electricity price subsidies for industrial consumers, considering incentives, hedging and flexibility. 2023.

Network charges (Staatskanzlei Niedersachsen). Briefing paper on the current state of network charges in Germany, shortcomings, and reform options. 2023.

Electricity market reform (European Parliament). Assessment of electricity market reform proposals such as CfDs, PPAs, price caps, and peak shaving. Joint project with Bruegel for ITRE committee. 2023. Report

Smart retail tariffs (Utility). Proposal for a dynamic retail tariff that offers customers price insurance without stifling decentralized flexibility (report DE|EN) and dynamic grid fees (report DE|EN). 2023.

German electricity market (Utility). Along with PA Consulting, we provided a global energy company with strategic assessments of the German power market. 2023.

Revenue cap implementation (BNetzA). Germany’s energy regulator is tasked with implementing the revenue cap on power generators. Along with Frontier Economics, we provided economic expertise. Ongoing.

Passive balancing (multi client). Study on the role of decentral balancing, i.e. the response of market parties to imbalance prices, commissioned by a group of market parties. 2023. Report (DE|EN)

Electricity market design (Agora Energiewende). Support of Germany’s leading energy think tank on electricity market design, in particular regional dynamic network charges. 2022-23. Report (DE|EN)

Gaming (TenneT). Game-theoretical assessment of local markets for flexibility, formally identifying optimal increase-decrease bidding strategies and mitigation measures. Joint work with Takon and ZEW. 2021-24. Working paper

Coal exit (BMWi). Germany’s government committed to cancel carbon certificates along with its coal exit. In this project with Aurora, we provided estimates how many certificates to delete. 2021-23.

 

2022

 

Intraday / Balancing (TSO). Econometric identification of the link between intraday prices and balancing activation based on millions of individual transactions. We found a strong correlation, a possible sign for insider trading. 2022.

Electricity market design (Utility). Analytics and assessments on the EU market design reform, focusing on offshore wind. 2022.

Imbalance settlement pricing (Elia). Support in developing a new imbalance settlement pricing scheme in Belgium in the context of PICASSO. 2022.

Future gas costs (E3G). Assessment of future costs of gas supply for Berlin-based think tank E3G. 2022. Report

Home battery storage (Sonnen). Simulations for optimizing home battery storage operations during the energy crisis. 2022.

PV support scheme design (Swissgrid). Support scheme for solar energy centered around generation adequacy. We proposed an optimized contract for differences. 2022.

Consumer centric market design (50Hertz / Elia). Study on better integration of flexible consumers into power markets, particularly device-specific metering, passive balancing, and ex-ante firm imbalance pricing. 2022.

Balancing markets (Utility). For a European storage investor, we provided an assessment of multiple European balancing markets and long-term balancing price forecasts. 2022.

Future Energy Outlook (TransitionZero). Advice on setting up a global energy outlook, including recruitment and technical model development. 2021-22.

Charging infrastructure (Agora Verkehrswende). Partnering with Consentec, we assessed the market for public EV charging infrastructure and developed a proposal for a competitive market design. 2021-22. Report

Nodal pricing model (TSO). Development of a GAMS load flow model of Europe for simulations of locational marginal prices. 2021-22.

Dispatch Hubs (Elia / 50Hertz). For TSOs Elia und 50Hertz we assess the incentives implied in multiple variants of their “Dispatch Hub” proposals, in particular incentives for inc-dec gaming. 2020-22. Report

2021

 

Strommarkttreffen (Agora Energiewende). For many years, we organized and grew Strommarkttreffen, a professional network that links researchers with practitioners. Agora Energiewende supported us financially. 2016-21.

Intraday / balancing (multi client). For a group of German electricity trading houses, we assessed the German intraday electricity market. Using state-of-the-art econometrics, we found the activation of balancing reserves to be followed by price movements. 2021. Report (DE|EN)

Open energy outlook (TransitionZero). On behalf of NGO TransitionZero, we developed a technical proposal for a transparent, rigorous global energy systems model. 2021.

Redispatch for loads (BMWi). Outline of incentive-based participation of electricity consumers in Germany’s redispatch system based on capacity remuneration. Key design parameters are assessed with respect to economic efficiency and gaming incentives. Study for the Economics Ministry. 2020-21.

Procurement of ancillary services (BMWi). Assessment of market-based procurement of non-frequency ancillary services such as inertia, black start capability and voltage support. Teaming up with EF.Ruhr and others, Neon served as work package leader. 2019-21. Report 1 | Report 2

 

2020

 

Italy’s PUN (BMWi). The Italian electricity market has six different bidding zones, but consumers pay a uniform prezzio nationale unico (PUN). For Germany’s Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy, we assessed the pro’s and con’s of such an arrangement. 2020.

System imbalances (Trading company). During three episodes in June 2019, Germany’s power system was heavily out of balance. For a European trading house, we provided expertise and analysis on the reasons and regulatory implications. 2019-20.

RE auction design (BMWi). Evaluation of Germany’s renewable energy auctions and assessment of reform options on behalf of Germany’s Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy. Navigant served as project lead. Neon contributed analyses of system-friendly wind power and locational signals. 2018-20. Report

Open modeling (BMWi). Study on open source energy system modeling and open data in the energy sector for BMWi. Neon lead a consortium of DIW Berlin, TU Berlin and ETH Zurich. 2018-20. OPSD | Report | Paper

Market-based redispatch (BMWi). Large study on competitive procurement of redispatch resources and local flexibility markets. Our core conclusion was that the risk of inc-dec gaming likely outweighs potential benefits. Neon served as project lead of a large consortium. 2017-20. Markt/Netz report (DE) | Final Report (DE | EN)

Earlier

 

EU electricity market design (BMWi). Policy advice on wholesale market and balancing market design for Germany’s Economics Ministry in the context of the Clean Energy Package. Neon was member of a consortium with Connect Energy Economics, Consentec, and others. 2016-19.

ENTSO-E Transparency Platform (European Commission). Quality assessment of the data provided by European Transmission System Operators for DG Energy, Brussels. 2017. An article based on this study appeared in Applied Energy. Report | Article

Grid benefits of offshore wind (RE project developer). Neon delivered input to a policy paper, assessing the grid and system benefits of offshore wind, driver by high capacity factors. 2016.

Wind value lift (RE project developer). Evaluation of design options and operation strategies to improve the economics of wind power under market conditions. 2016-17.

Trading benchmark (Trading company). Regulatory assessment and quantitative cost benchmarks for portfolio management costs of renewable energy for the trading department of a major European utility. 2017.

Nodal vs. zonal pricing (BMWi). Consulting on locational price signals in wholesale markets for Germany’s Economics Ministry. Joint project with Consentec. 2016-17. Report

Open Power System Data (BMWi). Construction of an online platform for European power system data. Neon coordinated a team of three research institutes. 2015-17. Platform

RE time series (Utility). Neon developed time series of wind and solar generation at high granularity from re-analysis models. 2016.

Electricity market design (IEA-RETD). Assessment of long-term wholesale and retail power market design under very high shares of variable renewables in cooperation with FTI CL Energy. 2015-16. Report

Benefits of hydro flexibility (Utility). Model-based assessment of capture prices for a European utility. Neon provided a model-based assessment of the market value of wind energy and hydroelectricity. 2016.

Price drop (Swedish Energy). Swedish wholesale power prices declined by two thirds from 2010 to 2015. Neon conducted a model-based assessment of the reasons for this price drop. 2016. Report

Wind value in the Nordics (Energiforsk). Model-based assessment of the market value of wind energy in the hydro-dominated power system of the Nordic region. Neon designed the study, developed the model, and wrote the report, which appeared in Applied Energy. 2016. Article

Model development (Trading company). Neon supported the trading department of a major European utility in power market model development. 2015.

Whole system costs (DECC). Neon reviewed a report on whole system costs of wind and solar power for the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change, London. 2015. Report

Renewables integration cost (Agora Energiewende). Qualitative study for Agora Energiewende. Neon advised Agora and helped implement workshops in Berlin and Paris. 2015. Report

System-friendly wind and solar (IEA). Model-based study for the International Energy Agency. Neon assessed the market and system benefits of low-wind speed turbines and west-oriented PV. 2014-16. Paper