Virtual Executive Education Course

September 7-10, 2021

 

We are offering a virtual course again as COVID precautions are easing, but expect to return to in-person courses in the future. If it is difficult for you to travel to Berkeley, now is the time to register! The course includes 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 with a more interactive approach. 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 (sent to you in advance of the course) and interactive online sessions. The pre-recorded screencast videos will be 60-75 minutes for each of the 8 modules.

Each 2-hour interactive session will take place from 10:30am-12:30pm PDT. During the interactive portions of the course, you will have the opportunity to ask questions and participate in policy discussions.

Please contact us for any questions about the upcoming Executive Education Course.

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. This course covers the fundamental concepts of electric utility regulation and competitive electricity markets, the incentives that each market structure creates, and the potential drawbacks of each. We will also examine retail rate design and the economics of environmental regulation.

The following topics will be covered in the course:

  • Fundamentals of Electricity Regulation
  • Retail Rate Design
  • Competitive Wholesale Electricity Markets
  • Market Power in Electricity Markets
  • Economics of Renewable Energy
  • Capacity Markets and Resource Adequacy
  • Energy Externalities
  • 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 August 24, 2021)
$675 (registration on or after August 25, 2021)

Private-Sector rate
$1,625 (early registration on or before August 24, 2021)
$1,675 (registration on or after August 25, 2021)