Virtual Executive Education Course
September 21-24, 2020
Due to COVID-19, we are offering this course online with pre-recorded material for each of the 8 modules and a 2-hour interactive session each day for 4 days. The course is designed to impart at least the same amount of information as the in-person course, but in a more interactive format. The format has been developed from the courses that Professors Borenstein and Bushnell teach at UC Berkeley and UC Davis.
The format will be a combination of screencast videos, which will be sent to you the week before the course begins, and interactive online sessions. The screencast videos have been pre-recorded, and they will be 60-75 minutes for each of the 8 modules. We recommend watching the screencast videos linked below before the associated interactive session so they are fresh in your mind for the interactive portion.
Each 2-hour interactive session will take place from 10:30am-12:30pm PDT, with a short break in the middle. During the interactive portions of the course, you will have the opportunity to ask questions and participate in policy discussions.
Course Description:
Electricity markets have been restructured in fundamental ways over the last 25 years often resulting 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. We will also examine retail rate design and the economics of environmental regulation.
Schedule for interactive part of each module:
Monday, September 21
Session 1: Fundamentals of Electricity Regulation
Session 2: Retail Rate Design
Tuesday, September 22
Session 3: Competitive Wholesale Electricity Markets
Session 4: Market Power in Electricity Markets
Wednesday, September 23
Session 5: Economics of Renewable Energy
Session 6: Capacity Markets and Resource Adequacy
Thursday, September 24
Session 7: Energy Externalities
Session 8: Environmental Caps and Intensity Standards
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 U.C. 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. From 2015 to 2020, he 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 the University of California at 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.
Costs:
Government/Non-Profit rate
$625 (early registration on or before September 8, 2020)
$675 (registration on or after September 9, 2020)
Private-Sector rate
$1,625 (early registration on or before September 8, 2020)
$1,675 (registration on or after September 9, 2020)