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The papers in these workshops represent the personal views of the individual authors and do not necessarily represent the views of their companies, organisations or the IEA.
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Security of Energy Supply for Electricity Generation |
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| Location and date(s) of workshop: |
IEA, Paris: 24 May 2005 |
| Organiser(s): | IEA / NEA |
| Contact(s): |
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Background: |
The world’s resources of fossil fuels are concentrated in relatively few countries and a large part of these resources is located in non-OECD member countries (e.g. a large and increasing share of Europe’s gas supplies comes from Russia and Algeria). This makes security of energy supply a major objective of all OECD countries, where the intention is to diversify the energy dependence among several types of sources and suppliers. After the oil crises in 1973/74 and 1979/80 the tendency was to base electricity generation more on domestic fuels or fuels from OECD countries, like lignite and coal but also gas from OECD sources and quasi domestic fuels like nuclear fuels which could easily be stored for several years. The recently increasing use of gas for electricity generation has reinforced the debate on the security of gas supply for power generation as the increase in gas demand will largely be met by imports from non-OECD countries. At the same time, the liberalisation of electricity markets creates a new framework for energy policies. In fact, in competitive electricity markets, decisions to choose technology, fuel and fuel suppliers are made on private economic grounds, within the limits of government regulation. If these markets fail to properly address the geopolitical risk of supply disruptions they should be supported through effective policy actions. Such policies should be justified on the basis of comprehensive cost-benefit analysis and they should be designed to have the least distorting effect on liberalised markets. The International Energy Agency (IEA) and the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) are jointly organizing a workshop to identify and discuss the concept of security of energy supply in the power sector, the implications for technology choices and the role of governments in addressing the related issues, particularly in the context of liberalised electricity markets. Workshop Logistics The workshop is scheduled to be run at the IEA headquarters, in the conference Room 1 (first floor), on Tuesday, 24 May 2005, commencing at 9.00 a.m. and concluding at around 5.00 p.m. Workshop Outline The workshop will include three sessions, the third being in the form of a round table discussion on energy policy options. The sessions will address: • the concept of security of energy supply applied to the power sector, both from a pure economic perspective and in terms of political realities in the context of competitive electricity markets; • the impacts on technologies and fuel choices of the security of energy supply approach and its related implemented policies; and • the policy options available to governments to address the security of energy supply for power generation in the context of liberalized markets. Workshop Chair David W. Pearce, emeritus Professor of economics at the University College London, will chair the workshop. Professor Pearce has a strong record of academic achievements and publications in the field of the environmental economics and in particular on the health consequences of energy externalities. Target Audience Potential attendees will include representatives of member governments, experts from international bodies, regulators, academics and stakeholders from the electricity sector. Attendees are invited to provide active contribution to the debates taking place in each session. In order to further stimulate such debates, all registered participants will be provided in advance of the workshop with introductory remarks from the chair. |
| Links to relevant documents: |
Final Agenda |
| Proceedings: | Key Outcomes and Findings, Giuseppe Sangiovanni, Energy Analyst, International Energy Agency Welcome: Claude Mandil, Executive Director, International Energy Agency, Luis Echávarri, Director General, Nuclear Energy Agency. Session 1: The Concept of Security of Energy Supply inside the Power Sector David W. Pearce, Department of Economics, University College London (UK) Stefan Gewaltig, Directorate-General for Energy and Transport (EC). Richard Lavergne, Director General for Energy and Raw Materials, French Ministry of Economy, Finance and Industry (France). Session 2: Security of Energy Supply & Specific Technologies William Blyth, Energy Efficiency and Environment Division (IEA). Antonio de Tomás, Technical Secretary, Unión Fenosa (Spain). Thorsten Diercks, Legal Adviser, DEBRIV (Germany). Knud Pedersen, Deputy Director General, Danish Energy Authority (Denmark). Session 3: Round Table – Policy Options Lee Kang-won, Senior Director, Restructuring Department, KEPCO (Republic of Korea) Pieter Boot, Deputy Director-General for Energy, Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs (Netherlands). Hiroshi Iwano, Director, Office of Electric Transmission and Distribution, Agency for Natural Resources and Energy, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (Japan). Session 3: Round Table – Policy Options (continued) David Meyer, Senior policy advisor, US Department of Energy (USA). Summary and Closing Remarks: David W. Pearce, Department of Economics, University College London (UK). |
