The Investment Effects of Market Integration: Evidence From Renewable Energy Expansion in Chile

We study the investment effects of market integration on renewable energy expansion. Our theory highlights that market integration not only improves allocative efficiency by gains from trade but also incentivizes new investment in renewable power plants. To test our theoretical predictions, we exami...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Gonzales, Luis E., Ito, Koichiro, Reguant, Mar
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2023
País:España
Institución:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositorio:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:dnet:digitalcsic_::d9646ebb99c6fdead89794e936a8dc71
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/354725
https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/85173766427
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Market integration
Renewable energy
Transmission expansion
Wholesale electricity markets
Descripción
Sumario:We study the investment effects of market integration on renewable energy expansion. Our theory highlights that market integration not only improves allocative efficiency by gains from trade but also incentivizes new investment in renewable power plants. To test our theoretical predictions, we examine how recent grid expansions in the Chilean electricity market changed electricity production, wholesale prices, generation costs, and renewable investments. We then build a structural model of power plant entry to quantify the impact of market integration with and without the investment effects. We find that the market integration in Chile increased solar generation by around 180%, saved generation costs by 8%, and reduced carbon emissions by 5%. A substantial amount of renewable entry would not have occurred in the absence of market integration. Our findings suggest that ignoring these investment effects would substantially understate the benefits of market integration and its important role in expanding renewable energy.