As the demand for electricity increases throughout the globe while we want to reduce the use of fossil fuels, the need for renewable energy sources is bigger than ever. In countries where solar power makes up a large part of the total energy production, the overall electricity spot price level has become lower. This thesis investigates the underlying mechanism that drives the energy market, and in specific, how the solar power impacts the electricity spot price. We present results from studies made in other markets, and introduce a Regime Switching model for explaining the impact in Sweden. We show that an increase of photovoltaics power has a price lowering effect on the daily price pattern in price area SE3 and SE4.

Wind power has been growing rapidly in Sweden over the past decade as the country focuses on 100% renewable energy by 2040. The thesis seeks to investigate if increased wind power has had a dampening effect on the hourly day-ahead spot prices in Sweden’s bidding area SE3. An empirical approach is undertaken to estimate the impact that wind power has had onprices. Hourly spot prices for bidding area SE3 for the years 2016-2019 are analysed using a multivariate regression method. Other important variables like hydropower and nuclear production which are very significant in the Swedish electricity market are controlled for in the study. The results confirm that in the period 2016-2019, bidding SE3 experienced a merit order effect on price caused by increased wind power. The study shows that a 1% increase inwind power production is estimated to have decreased SE3 hourly spot prices by between 0.0268% and 0.059% between 2016 and 2019.

This thesis investigates the feasibility and benefits of integrating Thermochemical heat Storage (THS) into a CHP (Combined Heat and Power) plant. A case study is done for the CHP-plant in Sala, Sweden, with a maximum heat output of 20.9 MW and maximum electricity output of 9.6 MW. The THS type considered is calcium oxide in a hydroxide system. The fluctuations in electricity price for years 2020, 2030 and 2040 are considered and low-price electricity is used as a charging source for THS. During charging the superheated steam (endothermic reaction) is used to cover some of the district heating demand. The high temperature discharge from the THS is used as reheat in the Rankine cycle. The operations are modeled in Ebsilon and optimization is done in MATLAB using genetic algorithm with the objective to achieve maximum annual revenue. The results suggest that it is not feasible to introduce THS with electricity as a charging source in year 2020, but in 2030 and 2040 THS shows promising potential. The biggest increase in revenue comes from reduced fuel consumption, and, to a lesser extent, increased income from electricity. It is concluded that Calcium hydroxide is a promising candidate for integration into CHP during large electricity price fluctuation. The main drivers for the feasibility of this combination are high fuel price and large fluctuations of electricity price.

DISSERTATION - Abstract in English Three Essays on Electricity Markets Author: PhDr. Petra Luňáčková Academic Year: 2017/2018 This thesis consists of three papers that share the main theme - energy. The articles introduce characteristics and behavior of electricity focusing on its unique properties. The dissertation aims at the Czech electricity market and analyzes also highly discussed solar power plants. The first article studies long term memory properties of electricity spot prices through the detrended fluctuation analysis, as electricity prices are dominated by cycles. We conclude that Czech electricity prices are strongly mean reverting yet non-stationary. The second part of the dissertation investigates possible asymmetry in the gas - oil prices adjustment. Oil prices determine the price of electricity during the times of peak demand, as the reaction of power plants fueled by oil is quick but marginal costs are high. We chose the gasoline - crude oil relationship known as "rockets and feathers" effect and offer two new tests to analyze such type of relationship as we believe that error correction model is not the most suitable tool. Analyzing international dataset we do not find statistically significant asymmetry. The third study assesses the impact of renewable energy sources, solar plants in...