78456 - ECONOMICS AND MANAGEMENT OF ENERGY UTILITIES M

Conoscenze e abilità da conseguire

The course provides the basics for understanding the regulation of public utilities, the design of electricity markets and the guiding principles of business management for the energy sector. At the end of the course students are able to understand the main challenges of infrastructural and power investments, and can engage them both in public perspective of regulation and competition policy of utilities and in the enterprise perspective of capital budgeting. Futhermore students are finally able to identify key management issues of engineering, procurement, construction and operation phases of industrial projects, and can deal with them applying project and process management techniques.

Contenuti

The course introduces the most relevant economic theories and empirical perspectives, from microeconomics to macroeconomics and regulatory economy fundamentals. Public policies and regulation such as competition, natural monopolies, renewable energy support, environmental policies and energy efficiency measures are analysed throughout the course. Economics of energy resources and markets, focusing on Oil&Gas, grids and networks, traditional power and renewable energy are discussed focusing on major industry trends and dynamics. After an extensive overview of the market context, management and other business-related tools will be provided from project management to capital budgeting.

The course is divided in four modules:

1. Introductory topics and basics of macroeconomics and resource economy
   • Fundamental Concept of Energy
   • Energy supply and the economics of exhaustible resources
   • Introduction to theory of the firm and market structures
2. Energy and power regulation
   • Introduction to regulatory economics
   • European energy regulation: a single market for gas and electricity
   • Wholesale power markets: competition and antitrust issues
   • The Energy Transition: promoting green economy and Green Deal against climate changes
3. Energy markets, industries and technologies
   • Global energy trends: Oil&Gas markets, energy security and peak oil
   • Geopolitics and energy
   • The electricity sector: power plants, networks and technologies
   • Renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies
4. Management of energy companies and investment projects

• Introduction to capital budgeting and corporate finance
• Economic and financial aspects of generation technologies
• LCOE – Levelized Cost of Energy
• Risk Management concepts
• Project Management fundamentals

Testi/Bibliografia

No assigned textbook for the course. Lectures will be supported by power point presentation.

Lecture notes will be available at the web site https://iol.unibo.it/ and on MS Teams Classroom repository.

Suggested bibliography:

• Pearce D W, Turner R K, Economics of Natural Resources and the Environment, Johns Hopkins Univ Pr (December 1989)
• Kirschen D, Strbac G, Fundamentals of Power System Economics, John Wiley & Sons, (2004)
• Stoft S, Power System Economics: Designing Markets for Electricity, Wiley, (2002)

Suggested research readings:

• IEA - International Energy Agency, World Energy Outlook 2018, and in general all IEA free publications (https://www.iea.org/publications/ )
• IRENA - the International Renewable Energy Agency, REthinking Energy 2017, and other relevant IRENA free publications (http://www.irena.org [http://www.irena.org/] )
• BNEF - Bloomberg New Energy Finance, Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment 2018, and in general all BNEF free publications (https://about.bnef.com/clean-energy-investment/ )
• Mckinsey Global Institute, Beyond the super-cycle: how technology is reshaping resources, (http://www.mckinsey.com/mgi/overview )
• BP, Energy Outlook 2018, http://www.bp.com/en/global/corporate/energy-economics/energy-outlook.html

Metodi didattici

• Online Class lectures;
• Case studies and excel laboratories;
• Meetings/Workshops with energy experts, business managers and corporate directors

Modalità di verifica e valutazione dell'apprendimento

Final exam consisting of an Oral exam: with open question and exercises

Strumenti a supporto della didattica

MS power point presentations

Orario di ricevimento

Consulta il sito web di Giuseppe Mastropieri