Romeo Danielis is professor of Applied Economics at the University of Trieste. He has taught Regional Economics, Transport Economics and Logistics, Industrial Economics and Policy and Applied Microeconomics. He chaired the Italian Economics Society of Transportation and Logistics (SIET), directed the la Rivista di economia e politica dei trasporti, has been Managing Editor of the international Journal Trasporti Europei\European Transport. He is currently a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice.
Lecture: Decarbonising Transport: an economic perspective
Decarbonising transport is the accepted worldwide goal. However, it is still uncertain whether, when and how it could be achieved. The presentation will focus on vehicle electrification strategy and analyze the interaction between the transport and the electricity sector. The tecnological and economic features of most vehicle types will be analysed, including scooters and motorbikes, three-wheelers, cars, vans, urban and intercity buses, trucks, ships, airplanes. The main technical, political, industrial challenges will be reviewed, with a focus will be on their total cost of ownership.
Lecture: The electricity sector and the electricity markets
Electric power is a cornerstone of our daily life, and it will be increasingly so as electric vehicles and heat pumps gain market acceptance. Yet, it is highly problematic to produce and manage it efficiently, given its characteristics such as the need to constantly balance supply and demand, the difficulty to store it, the high infrastructural costs of the transmission lines and the existence of alternative energy sources (i.e., hydro, solar, wind, nuclear, coal, oil, gas, etc.). Moreover, the electricity sector one of the sectors contributing the most to CO2 emissions. The presentation will illustrate how the electricity sector developed over time, transitioning from a government-led, centralized structure to a market-led, decentralized organization. The design, functioning and managing of the main electricity markets (capacity market, wholesale market, balancing market, ancillary markets) will be explained together with the role of the transmission system operator.
Lecture: Regulating the electricity sector: future challenges
The electricity sector faces crucial future challenges such as how to accommodate an increasing role for renewable, non-dispatchable sources such as solar and wind energy, while at the same time assuring the grid stability. The presentation will focus on three main topics. First, how the competition among alternative energy sources takes place in the spot markets potentially leading to extremely high or negative prices, depending on the availability of renewable resources. Second, the properties of the policies enacted to reduce CO2 emissions from electricity generation such as emissions trading schemes, feed-in-tariff, net-metering and renewable energy obligations. Finally, the challenges that lay ahead such as the high energy prices and decoupling of the electricity and gas market; the growing number of hours with negative electricity prices; and the grid stability implications of investment decisions based on profitability criteria and market mechanisms.