The Energy Transition: Economics and Policy

Course overview

Worldwide, the energy transition is underway. Whereas there is consensus regarding the need to reduce carbon emissions, promote renewables, and improve energy efficiency, there is still controversy regarding the optimal choice of policies to achieve those goals. Policies differ in their efficiency impacts (i.e., whether they induce higher or lower costs), but also on their distributional implications (i.e., whether they create winners and losers). Furthermore, agents’ behavioral biases might impact the success or failure of the chosen policies.

With this triple focus on efficiency, equity and behavioral considerations, the Barcelona GSE Intensive Course on The Energy Transition: Economics and Policy will provide participants (whether economists, engineers, or lawyers, working for firms or in regulatory agencies) with a thorough understanding of the most recent economic insights to analyze the performance of current and potential energy and climate policies. The course will mainly review policies affecting the transportation and power sectors, as well as the competition policy issues that are likely to arise during the energy transition. The program’s faculty includes leading international scholars and practitioners with extensive experience in the application of economic techniques for designing and assessing the performance of energy and climate policies.

Course directors

faculty Natalia Fabra
PhD, European University Institute
Universidad Carlos III de Madrid

faculty Massimo Motta
PhD, Université Catholique de Louvain
ICREA-UPF and Barcelona GSE

Key benefits

Review established and recent economic theories on how renewable-dominated electricity markets will work
Identify the distinguishing economic features and likely effects of energy and climate policies, and understand how existing policies could be improved
Understand the future performance of renewables-dominated electricity markets, and the likely impacts on conventional producers
Explore the basic principles in experimental economics as a means of assessing the performance of policy interventions
Understand the role of behavioral motivations in inducing energy conservation and investment in energy efficiency
Identify the effects of environmental taxes as well as the distributive implications of tax choices in the transportation sector
Learn to assess the regulatory and market risks of firms and agents involved in the energy transition
Discuss the competition policy implications that arise during the energy transition
Debate over recent reports and papers on the energy transition, and current as well as proposed regulatory energy and climate policies

The June 2020 edition of this course has been canceled due to the coronavirus health crisis.

New dates for professional courses will be announced once universities are able to safely resume on-campus activities.

Cancelation procedures for 2020 edition

Schedule

Schedule for the previous edition of this course. Instructors, topics, and schedule are subject to change.

Day 1

Time	Session	Professor
08:30-09:00	Registration
09:15-10:00	Introduction: the challenges of the energy transition	Natalia Fabra
10:00-11:30	Congestion and pollution regulation in transport	Juan Pablo Montero
Coffee break
12:00-13:30	The political economy of environmental tax choice	Juan Pablo Montero
Lunch
14:30-16:00	Electricity market design for the energy transition	Natalia Fabra
Short break
16:15-17:15	Auctions for renewable investments	Natalia Fabra
Coffee break
17:45-19:15	Electricity pricing and demand side response	Mar Reguant
Welcome dinner

Day 2

Time	Session	Professor
9:30-11:00	Behavioral insights for changing energy demand	Andreas Lange
Coffee break
11:30-13:00	Behavioral drivers of investment decisions	Andreas Lange
Lunch
14:15-15:45	Emissions regulation and carbon leakage	Mar Reguant
Coffee break
16:15-17:15	Car sharing and emerging mobility concepts	Andreas Lange
Short break
17:30-19:00	Insights from an EU competition policy perspective	Lluís Saurí

Faculty

Natalia Fabra

PhD, European University Institute

Professor, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid

Andreas Lange

PhD, University of Heidelberg

Professor, University of Hamburg

Juan-Pablo Montero

PhD, MIT

Professor, PUC-Chile

Mar Reguant

PhD, MIT

Professor, Northwestern University

Lluís Saurí

PhD, European University Institute

DG Competition, European Commission

Participant profile

Economists, engineers, lawyers, policy makers, researchers and managers working in (or interested in):

Regulatory agencies
Competition authorities
Economic consultancy firms
Corporations
International organizations
Other public institutions
Academics and researchers in energy and environmental economics

Fees

Fee Category	Early-bird Registration and Payment (until 8 May 2020)	Fee (until 2 June 2020)
Regular Fee	€2400	€3000
Reduced Fee Public Sector (e.g. agencies, tribunals, regulators, competition authorities, government institutions...) Academia (full-time professors and PhD students) Barcelona GSE Alumni (Graduates of Barcelona GSE master's programs)	€1200	€1500

Fee Category

Early-bird Registration
and Payment
(until 8 May 2020)

Fee
(until 2 June 2020)

Regular Fee

€2400

€3000

Reduced Fee

Public Sector
(e.g. agencies, tribunals, regulators, competition authorities, government institutions...)

Academia
(full-time professors and PhD students)

Barcelona GSE Alumni
(Graduates of Barcelona GSE master's programs)

€1200

€1500

NOTE: Early-bird registration fee will only be applied if payment is received before May 8. After May 8, regular fee will be applied.

Special discounts are not cumulative.

Confirmation

No participant will be given access to the Professional Courses or Workshops unless s/he is officially registered and has paid the full course fee before the deadline (subject to seat availability and notified by the Admissions Office accordingly). Therefore, a place for the course is guaranteed only upon full payment of the course fees. If a sponsor (participant's employer or university) is covering the course fees, the participant must provide their details in the application and specify if an invoice issued in advance will be required to arrange the payment. Upon successful confirmation of payment, an email will be sent to the participant acknowledging receipt of the course fees and, therefore, confirmation of course registration.

Cancelation

All cancelations must be received in advance by email. Participants wishing to withdraw from the course will have their course fees totally or partially refunded according to the following policies:

Until May 8, 2020: Full refund, except for 200€ to cover administration and admissions expenses.
Between May 8 and June 2, 2020: 50% of the course fee charged.
From June 2, 2020: No refund.

All refunds will be processed after the course and confirmed by email.

The Barcelona GSE reserves the right to cancel the course if the minimum number of participants is not met.

Accommodation

Please note that participation fees do not include accommodation expenses. Participants must make their own accommodation arrangements. Information and accommodation options are available on the accommodations page.