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Energy Market in the European Union: Consumption, Prices and Renewable Energy

A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "C: Energy Economics and Policy".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (25 July 2023) | Viewed by 10063

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Econometrics and Statistics, Institute of Economics and Finance, Warsaw University of Life Sciences – SGGW, Nowoursynowska 166, 02 787 Warsaw, Poland
Interests: sustainable development; financial market; energy markets

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Guest Editor
Department of Econometrics and Statistics, Institute of Economics and Finance, Warsaw University of Life Sciences – SGGW, Nowoursynowska 166, 02 787 Warsaw, Poland
Interests: labour market; time series analysis; energy markets

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Guest Editor
Faculty of Management, University of Warsaw, ul. Szturmowa 1/3, 02-678 Warszawa, Poland
Interests: development economics; green economics; sustainable development

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

For almost three decades, the European energy market has been fundamentally transformed. This mainly concerns harmonisation and liberalisation of the internal energy market in the European Union (EU) and transformations towards low-emission economies. The driving force behind these activities are the regulations of the EU bodies, which constitute the basis of the common energy policy. The five main objectives of the EU's energy policy are defined in the framework of the Energy Union in 2015. They concern: (1) diversification of EU’s energy sources; (2) ensuring the functioning of a fully integrated internal energy market; (3) improving energy efficiency; (4) decarbonisation of the economy; and (5) promoting research in low-carbon and clean energy technologies and prioritising research and innovation to stimulate the energy transition and improve competitiveness.

The liberalisation and harmonisation of the EU’s internal energy market aims primarily at creating a more flexible, competitive, and customer-oriented market with market-based supply prices. The aim of the regulators is to solve energy poverty, clarify the roles and responsibilities of market participants and regulators, address security of supply of electricity, gas and oil, and the development of trans-European transmission networks. The achievement of these aims is inseparably associated with the concept of sustainable energy development (SED). The literature identifies four areas of SED that frame the creation of the internal energy market. These are: affordable innovative energy services, sustainable energy supply, sustainable energy consumption, and energy security.

In this context, the following issues are of interest: changes in and around energy markets within EU structures (e.g., consumption, prices, use of renewable energy sources), trends in these markets, the behaviour of market participants, the transformation of energy systems from large power generation units to local resources, prosumer’s energy production, etc.

Dr. Dorota Żebrowska-Suchodolska
Dr. Aleksandra Matuszewska-Janica
Dr. Mariola Zalewska
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • energy markets
  • energy consumption
  • energy prosumption
  • energy prices
  • renewable energy sources
  • sustainable development
  • energy supply
  • energy demand
  • European Union

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

23 pages, 1672 KiB  
Article
Differences in the Structure of Household Electricity Prices in EU Countries
by Aleksandra Matuszewska-Janica, Dorota Żebrowska-Suchodolska, Mariola E. Zalewska, Urszula Ala-Karvia and Marta Hozer-Koćmiel
Energies 2023, 16(18), 6636; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16186636 - 15 Sep 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1202
Abstract
Private households are an important group of energy consumers. Based on Eurostat data, their energy consumption constituted 30% of the final consumption of energy use across the European Union in 2021. The cost of energy is one of the main components of household [...] Read more.
Private households are an important group of energy consumers. Based on Eurostat data, their energy consumption constituted 30% of the final consumption of energy use across the European Union in 2021. The cost of energy is one of the main components of household budgets; thus, the prices provided by energy carriers have a significant impact on energy consumption. The price offered to the final consumer consists of three components: the price of energy and its supply, network costs, and taxes and levies. The values of the three components, however, depend on several factors, among which the structure of the energy markets and energy policies in individual EU countries play a key role. This work aimed to analyze and assess the structure of electricity prices offered to households across EU countries in the years 2019–2021. The differences and similarities between the pricing policies of selected products in the EU and their impacts on households’ purchasing capacity were captured and a non-pattern classification method (k-means) was applied as a research tool. The results indicated that the heterogeneity of the electricity price structure increased significantly over the period analyzed. This may be a consequence of the use of strongly differentiated tools to mitigate electricity price increases and the steps being taken towards low-carbon economies. Full article
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15 pages, 1960 KiB  
Communication
Potential Solutions for the Short to Medium-Term Natural Gas Shortage Issues of Europe: What Can Qatar Do?
by Mohammed Al-Breiki and Yusuf Bicer
Energies 2022, 15(21), 8306; https://doi.org/10.3390/en15218306 - 7 Nov 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2478
Abstract
European countries are required to look for alternative gas suppliers to deliver energy security for Europe. Qatar has been proposed to be an alternative gas supplier; however, there are problems that limit Qatar from exporting more gas to Europe, namely: the limited LNG [...] Read more.
European countries are required to look for alternative gas suppliers to deliver energy security for Europe. Qatar has been proposed to be an alternative gas supplier; however, there are problems that limit Qatar from exporting more gas to Europe, namely: the limited LNG quantities available for export, the long-term fixed contracting strategy, and the lack of room to receive additional gas in European LNG terminals. As these problems are critical and limit Qatar from exporting more gas to Europe, this research aims to propose potential solutions to overcome them. The results show that to solve the issue of the limited LNG quantities available for export, Qatar can produce electricity from renewable sources and export the gas consumed for power production, and can produce renewable natural gas (RNG) from green hydrogen and captured carbon dioxide. Two BCM of natural gas can be exported if 15% of the electricity required is produced from renewables in Qatar. In addition, 0.45 BCM of RNG can be exported if Qatar uses its natural resources to produce 5000 MW of renewable power. Redirecting contracts coming to an end and increasing dependence on spot markets can resolve the issue of a long-term fixed contracting strategy. Finally, using floating import terminals may alleviate the problem of European LNG terminals running out of room to receive more gas. Full article
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24 pages, 1332 KiB  
Article
The Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, and Blockchain in True Cost Accounting for Energy Transition in Europe
by Joanna Gusc, Peter Bosma, Sławomir Jarka and Agnieszka Biernat-Jarka
Energies 2022, 15(3), 1089; https://doi.org/10.3390/en15031089 - 1 Feb 2022
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 5404
Abstract
The current energy prices do not include the environmental, social, and economic short and long-term external effects. There is a gap in the literature on the decision-making model for the energy transition. True Cost Accounting (TCA) is an accounting management model supporting the [...] Read more.
The current energy prices do not include the environmental, social, and economic short and long-term external effects. There is a gap in the literature on the decision-making model for the energy transition. True Cost Accounting (TCA) is an accounting management model supporting the decision-making process. This study investigates the challenges and explores how big data, AI, or blockchain could ease the TCA calculation and indirectly contribute to the transition towards more sustainable energy production. The research question addressed is: How can IT help TCA applications in the energy sector in Europe? The study uses qualitative interpretive methodology and is performed in the Netherlands, Germany, and Poland. The findings indicate the technical feasibilities of a big data infrastructure to cope with TCA challenges. The study contributes to the literature by identifying the challenges in TCA application for energy production, showing the readiness potential for big data, AI, and blockchain to tackle them, revealing the need for cooperation between accounting and technical disciplines to enable the energy transition. Full article
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