Michael Schmidthaler

Power Outage Cost Evaluation: Reasoning, Methods and an Application

This paper analyses different assessment techniques used for power outage costs evaluation. Socio-economic analyses to quantify the effects of power cuts are essential for energy policy and to provide a rationale for investments in electricity supply security enhancing measures. Different analytical approaches are presented. An application of these assessment options provides insights in the macroeconomic value of electricity supply security. This is an essential input in the current discussion of grid extensions and investments in renewable energy sources. The applied analysis tool for the simulation of different power outage scenarios is available for download and enables policy makers to base decisions on the ground of the economic dimension of electricity supply security.

Der volkswirtschaftliche Verlust durch Stromausfälle: Eine empirische Analyse für Haushalte, Unternehmen und den öffentlichen Sektor

Abstract This work discusses different methodological approaches for the economic evaluation of electricity supply security, quantifies the expected economic costs of power outages in Austria, and provides an interpretation of the results regarding the future challenges of sustaining the currently high levels of electricity supply security. By applying a macroeconomic simulation tool, which assesses the damages of power outages which can be defined for the period between one to 48 hours taking into account the day of the week and time of day, the value of supply security can be estimated precisely with high spatial and sectoral resolution. This is demonstrated exemplarily for a power outage scenario which is similar in scope, timing and duration to a historic even in Italy in 2003 affecting over 50 million people. Decision-makers in politics and businesses can use the analysis tool APOSTEL to conduct precise evaluations of the value of supply security, for cost-benefit analyses of supply security enhancing investments, of regulatory descions which affect the level of supply securty and for many more applications with regards to energy policy. Precise knowledge of the social and economic value of a secure supply of electricity becomes even more crucial considering that the average value of lost load for a one-hour power cut in Austria on a weekday morning in the summer is calculated at 17.1 € per kWh of electricity not supplied.

Assessing the socio-economic effects of power outages ad hoc

This contribution presents the methodology and the application possibilities of blackout-simulator.com, a recent software development for the ad-hoc simulation of user specified power outages in Europe. This tool draws upon a novel econometric modeling approach including businesses’ production data as well as data from a willingness-to-pay (WTP) survey covering more than 8300 households. Making use of these inputs, blackout-simulator.com allows elaborated economic assessments of the value of electricity supply security. Households’ WTP to avoid power outages is elicited via a stated preference (SP) approach. Power outages at any user-defined time and duration in all of the European countries (at the NUTS II specification level) can be assessed for durations from 1 to 48 hours. Such analyses can serve as essential inputs especially in the discussions on necessary investments for maintaining and upgrading transmission and distribution infrastructures. This tool thus provides a rationale for electricity supply security enhancing investments and energy policy decisions. Illustrating the capabilities of blackout-simulator.com, the blackout of September 28th 2003 in Italy, is assessed in this contribution. Damages to society are found to exceed 1.15 billion Euros, which corresponds to almost 0.1 percent of the annual Italian GDP.

Measuring greenhouse gas abatement costs in Upper Austria

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present and discuss the methodological approach and the results of the investigation of greenhouse gas emission abatement costs in Upper Austria.Design/methodology/approach – The assessment covers the quantification of marginal abatement costs (MACs) of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and the emission reduction potentials of various energy efficiency and fuel switch measures with a special emphasis on the heat, electricity and transport sectors in Upper Austria during the period from 2010 to 2030.Findings – The expert‐based assessment in Upper Austria shows negative abatement costs for 19 of 56 evaluated strategies. While these measures are very efficient from an economic point of view, the remaining 37 measures are associated with higher costs. The evaluation reveals a significant reduction potential of 5.2 million tons CO2e (which represent 21 per cent) of the current GHG emissions in Upper Austria for the examined period.Research limitations/implications – MACs ...