Impacts of the introduction of CO2 price floors in a two-country electricity maket model

The recent low of CO2 prices in the European Union Emission Trading Scheme have triggered a renewed discussion, whether the introduction of a CO2 price oor would lower investor uncertainty and thus trigger more investment in low-carbon electricity generation. We compare the effects of a CO2 price floor on the dynamic investment pathway of an...

Daily storage management of hydroelectric facilities

This work presents a management procedure for hydroelectric facilities with daily storage. The water storage gives an additional degree of freedom allowing to shift in time power production when it is more convenient and to work at the maximum efficiency of hydraulic turbine. The management is optimized by coupling two different approaches:...

Experience-based exploration of complex energy systems

In our energy-restricted world, planners and engineers have to cope with problems of CO2 emissions and oil- and gas-shortages. Many planning activities not captured under the heading of “futures studies” share common goals like dealing with an uncertain, complex future. We focus on two novel approaches: agent-based modelling and serious games....

Modeling Socio-technical Systems with AgentSpring

AgentSpring is a new agent-based modeling framework especially suited to model and simulate complex socio-technical systems, such as energy markets or transport infrastructures. Common problems encountered when modeling and analyzing such systems are how to represent the variety of facts that describe the system and how to allow agents to make...

Agent-Based Simulations of Energy Transitions

The notion of transition receives noticeable attention in political as well as scientific arenas. In the policy arena in the Netherlands, significant results have not been achieved yet despite all the efforts on ‘managing’ the transition to a sustainable energy sector. Although the scientific literature on transitions contains publications from...

Modeling the adaptation of infrastructures to prevent the effects of climate change: An overview of existing literature

Climate change is likely to affect our infrastructures and, consequently, the way society interacts with these infrastructures. For instance, higher average temperatures increase the need for electricity delivered through the grid in the summer due to augmented air-conditioning. As the scientific consensus is that climate change effects may be...

New Methods for Analysis of Systems-of-Systems and Policy: The Power of Systems Theory, Crowd Sourcing and Data Management

Our world is a complex socio-technical system-of-systems (Chappin & Dijkema, 2007; Nikolic, 2009). Embedded within the geological, chemical and biological planetary context, the physical infrastructures, such as power grids or transport networks span the globe with energy and material flows. Social networks in the form of global commerce and the...

Simulating Energy Transitions

Have you ever wanted to know whether a CO2 tax outperforms the EU emissions trading scheme? Or how long it really takes markets to change and to let consumers choose differently? In this book, Emile Chappin explores simulation models to provide us with answers before policy interventions are implemented and shows that, by developing agent-based...

Modelling cooperative agents in infrastructure networks

This paper describes the translation of concepts of cooperation into an agent-based model of an industrial network. It first addresses the concept of cooperation and how this could be captured as heuristical rules within agents. Then it describes tests using these heuristics in an abstract model of an industrial network. The discussion addresses...

Coupling Agent-Based Models of Natural Gas and Electricity Markets

In this paper two agent-based models of energy markets are considered: one modelling the market for natural gas and the other of the electricity market incorporating a CO2 market. Because the energy systems are highly interrelated it is interesting to study how they were conceptualised and to explore possibilities to connect the two models,...

Carbon policies: Do they deliver in the long run?

Carbon taxation and emission trading are policy instruments for achieving significant CO2 emission reduction by inducing a shift in technology and fuel choice. Simulations with a quantitative agent-based model of a competitive electricity generation sector show that under both policies CO2 emissions increase for 10-15 years due to the long life...

On the Impact of CO2 Emission-Trading on Power Generation Emissions

Under the Kyoto Protocol, governments agreed on and accepted CO2 reduction targets in order to counter climate change. In Europe one of the main policy instruments to meet the agreed reduction targets is CO2 emission-trading (CET), which was implemented as of January 2005. In this system, companies active in specific sectors must be in the...