About this Energy article
Alberta's Renewable Electricity Program: Design, results, and lessons learned by Sara Hastings-Simon; Andrew Leach; Blake Shaffer; Tim Weis is a Energy article available to read on EtoBox.
We present a case study and analysis of Alberta's Renewable Electricity Program, one of a suite of policies implemented between 2015 and 2019 to increase the share of renewable generation in the Canadian province's fossil-fuel-dominated electricity system. The program consisted of a series of reverse auctions for contracts-for-differences which provided successful proponents with a project-specific guaranteed price for power generation. We find that the Renewable Electricity Program was successful in three important ways. First, it contracted for new renewable generation at prices in the range of CA$30 to CA$43/MWh (US$23 to US$33/MWh), well below expectations and among the lowest procurement costs globally at the time. These contracts have resulted in gains to the government of CA$75.5 million (US$60 million) to date. Second, the program ushered new entrants into Alberta's power market, including through mandated Indigenous equity participation in one round of auctions. Third, we find that price discovery and the incentive to develop new projects provided by the program spurred privately-financed development. While the program was a success, we argue that its design did not adequa
It is typically read by researchers, students, and practitioners in Energy.
- Author
- Sara Hastings-Simon; Andrew Leach; Blake Shaffer; Tim Weis
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2022
- Language
- EN
- Field
- Energy (Physical Sciences)