Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
capacity charge (
/MW) to generators will have to be considered as an additional
xed cost for investors in new generation facilities. Uniform capacity charges will
unduly harm the interests of peak generators favoring base load ones. Their size and
location being equal, a base load generator will make a larger use of the network,
and obtain larger bene
ts from it, than a peak load one producing just a few hours
in the year. Thus, transmission charges applied should be structured as
xed pay-
ments that are speci
c to each generator or consumer or, alternatively, as capacity
ones that are dependent on the location and generation technology, or type of
consumer.
4.5 Allocation of Costs in Regional Markets
The existence of RES generation is expected to result in an increase in
ows among
areas in a region in most scenarios that can be envisaged for the future. Then, a
large fraction of grids will be used by external agents, which calls for the devel-
opment of pan-regional tariffs or compensation schemes. Mechanisms implemented
for the allocation of the cost of new network reinforcements at regional level should
result in countries or systems in the region paying a fraction of the cost of the grid
that is commensurate with the benets they perceive they are obtaining from these
reinforcements. Otherwise, these countries may oppose the construction of these
transmission facilities, which may be badly needed by the region as a whole, among
other things, to realize the integration of RES generation required to achieve
environmental policy objectives, see [ 18 ]. As discussed above, if proper mecha-
nisms, based on bene
ciaries, are not applied centrally at regional level to allocate
the cost of all network investments, then some ad hoc mechanism should be applied
when allocating the cost of large network infrastructures of a regional (cross-
border) nature. The latter could result in side-compensations among countries.
These side-compensations should be paid by those countries or systems mainly
bene
ting from relevant network investments to those other systems that would not
bene
t signi
cantly from these investments but would have to bear a signi
cant
part of the costs of any kind associated with these projects.
Additionally, given that generators, at least large RES-based ones, are competing
at regional level by selling their output in other areas in the system than those where
they are located, achieving a level playing
eld among these generators also calls
for computing network tariffs to be paid by all of them in an integrated manner
through the application of a common charging scheme or, at least, through the
harmonization of certain aspects of the computation of tariffs. Minimum aspects to
harmonize should include the fraction of the cost of the grid to be levied on
generators within each system, since generators and large consumers are those
network users whose economic decisions are most affected by the level of elec-
tricity tariffs (and within them transmission charges) they have to pay, and the
structure of tariffs in order for transmission charges, which are aimed at recovering
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