This paper analyses the medium-term effects of a carbon tax on growth and CO2 emissions in Ireland, a small open economy. We find that a double dividend exists if the carbon tax revenue is recycled through reduced income taxes. If the revenue is recycled by giving a lump-sum transfer to...

This study analyzes the effects of additional interconnection on welfare and competition in the Irish electricity market. I simulate the wholesale electricity markets of Great Britain and the island of Ireland for 2005. I find that in order for the two markets to be integrated in 2005,...

We evaluate how increasing wind generation affects wholesale electricity prices, balancing payments and the cost of subsidies using the Irish Single Electricity Market (SEM) as a test system, with hourly data from 1 January 2008 to 28 August 2012. We measure the effect of wind on the marginal...

Like most countries Ireland faces the double target of decreasing emissions and keeping energy costs low to maintain competitiveness of the economy. The two goals are not always compatible. This study measures the effect of increasing wind in electricity generation on the total electricity costs...

In a deregulated market, the decision to build new thermal power plants rests with private investors and they will decide whether to invest on the basis of expected profits. This paper evaluates how such profits are affected by the increasing presence of wind generation. We use hourly historical...

The Irish Single Electricity Market is establishing how to comply with the European Union Target Model. One option is to move away from the regulated environment used in the current design and allow generating firms to bid freely in the market. This study shows that in 2011, allowing firms to...

This article considers the possible effects on electricity costs of implementing The Brighter Evenings Bill, 2012, which would move Ireland to Central European Time (CET). The results suggest that such a change would produce very limited savings in peak de mand for electricity and possibly some...

This paper evaluates the effect of wind generation on CO2 emissions using 2008-2012 historical data for the Irish Single Electricity Market. Wind generation decreases CO2 emissions, but by less than the average system emissions. When we evaluate the results by technology, we find that wind...