The Oakland Center
California State University, East Bay
1000 Broadway, Suite 109
Oakland, CA 94607
October 3 – 4, 2019

Event Full – Wait List Sign-up

Course Description:

Electricity markets have been restructured in fundamental ways over the last 25 years resulting often in markets that are subject to both competition and regulation. Drawing heavily on the tools of economics, this course will cover the fundamental concepts of competitive electricity markets, their potential efficiencies, and the incentive structures created under these restructured markets. Day Two will examine retail rate design and the role of traditional utilities in the transmission and distribution sectors.

Course Syllabus

Day One, October 3:
Continental Breakfast 8:30 am – 9:00 am
Session 1 – Competitive Wholesale Electricity Markets 9:00 am – 10:30 am
Session 2 – Market Power in Restructured Markets 10:45 am – 12:15 pm
Lunch Break 12:15 pm – 1:30 pm
Session 3 – Economics of Renewable Energy 1:30 pm – 3:00 pm
Session 4 – Resource Adequacy in Restructured Markets 3:15 pm – 4:45 pm
Day Two, October 4:
Continental Breakfast 8:30 am – 9:00 am
Session 5 – Retail Rate Design 9:00 am – 10:30 am
Session 6 – Future of Retailing and of the Distribution Utility 10:45 am – 12:15 pm
Lunch Break 12:15 pm – 1:30 pm
Session 3 – Energy Externalities 1:30 pm – 3:00 pm
Session 4 – Environmental Taxes, Caps, and Intensity Standards 3:15 pm – 4:45 pm

Lecturers:

Severin Borenstein is E.T. Grether Professor of Business Administration and Public Policy at the Haas School of Business. He received his A.B. from UC Berkeley and Ph.D. in Economics from M.I.T. He served on the Board of Governors of the California Power Exchange from 1997 to 2003. In 2012-2013, Borenstein served on the Emissions Market Assessment Committee that advised the California Air Resources Board on the operation of California’s Cap and Trade market for greenhouse gases.  In 2014, he was appointed to the California Energy Commission’s Petroleum Market Advisory Committee, which he chaired from 2015 until the Committee was dissolved in 2017. Since 2015, he has served on the Advisory Council of the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. In 2019, he was appointed to the Governing Board of the California Independent System Operator.

James Bushnell is a professor of economics at UC Davis. He received his B.S. from the University of Wisconsin in 1989 and Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research from UC Berkeley in 1993. He has served on the California Independent System Operator’s Market Surveillance Committee since 2002. In addition, Dr. Bushnell served on the California Power Exchange’s Market Monitoring Committee and on the California Air Resources Board’s Economic Assessment and Allocation Committee for its cap-and-trade program. In 2012-13, he served on the Emissions Market Assessment Committee to the California Air Resources Board (ARB) and is currently advising the ARB on the modeling and economic analysis of climate policy.

Cost for two-day course:

Government/Non-Profit rate

$625 (early registration on or before September 20, 2019)
$675 (registration on or after September 21, 2019)

 

Private-Sector rate
$1,625 (early registration on or before September 20, 2019)
$1,675 (registration on or after September 21, 2019)