In “Wiring America,” EPIcenter affiliate Gaurav Doshi analyzes how Texas’s CREZ high-capacity transmission build-out curbed the market power of fossil-fuel generators. Using a two-stage empirical strategy, the study first shows that CREZ reduced wind curtailment, adding roughly 0.11 GWh of additional wind during peak hours and 0.22 GWh at the off-peak – and then demonstrates […]
This paper authored by EPIcenter affiliate Matt Oliver dicusses how pipeline congestion in the U.S. Rocky Mountain region creates sizable price wedges, or “basis differentials,” between closely linked hubs—Opal, WY, and Cheyenne, CO. As demand for transport approaches capacity on the 325-mile corridor (via CIG, WIC, and REX), secondary market scarcity rents drive the Cheyenne […]
In a world shifting toward renewable power generation, the way we connect our power grids may matter more than ever. Using data from 155 regions on five continents, this study authored by EPIcenter affiliate Constance Crozier shows that linking neighboring grids via high‐voltage direct current (HVDC) lines can replace—or drastically reduce—the need for expensive batteries. […]
This paper by EPIcenter affiliate Gaurav Doshi examines how Texas’s $6.8 billion CREZ transmission expansion catalyzed wind deployments in the West and Panhandle region. Employing a discrete choice framework, developers were found to be 20 percentage points more likely to locate in CREZ counties, implying a willingness to pay of roughly $2,808 per MW of […]
Listen to the Curtailment 101 podcast: EPIcenter affiliates Gaurav Doshi and Matthew Oliver’s article in The Energy Forum discusses the why grid operators occasionally curtail wind and solar output when transmission capacity is insufficient or demand is low, and the economic and environmental impacts of these decisions. Congestion-based curtailment arises when the transmission network cannot […]