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Abstract Energy policymakers often attempt to shape their countries' energy mix, rather than leave it purely to market forces. By calibrating and simulating a Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium (DSGE) model, this paper analyzes the primary fossil fuel mix in the USA and compares it to Germany and the UK, given the different evolution of the mixes and the different roles played by relative prices and policy in North America and Europe. It is found that the model explains well the evolution of the primary fossil fuel mix in the USA for the period 1980–2014, suggesting that relative fossil fuel prices generally dominated in determining the mix during this time. However, this is not the case for Germany and the UK. For both countries, the model performs well only for the period after the market-oriented reforms in the 1990s. Additionally, the volatility of private consumption and output for the pre- and post-reform periods is evaluated for Germany and the UK and it is found that the liberalized energy markets brought about a transition from coal to natural gas, but with increased macroeconomic volatility.

Saudi Arabia relies heavily on oil-based generation to meet its power needs within a geographically unbalanced pattern of natural demand and supply. Many initiatives are currently being assessed to reduce the high opportunity cost of burning oil for the country. This paper examines the cost and implication of a disruptive policy where Saudi Arabia imports liquefied natural gas (LNG). To determine the possible and optimal sources to procure LNG into Saudi Arabia we use and configure a partial equilibrium model, specified as a linear programming problem. Two import scenarios were tested: the first assumes an import terminal with a capacity of 5 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) and the other scenario assumes 22 MTPA. Results show that Saudi Arabia can import LNG for power generation at a discount to the opportunity cost of oil. Especially during the summer months, as Saudi Arabia's gas demand is counter-seasonal to major importing regions it leads to even more interesting market pricing conditions. It also shows a small difference in landed cost of LNG between the two scenarios which implies the global LNG market can accommodate relatively large demand from Saudi Arabia without distorting significantly the global market pricing mechanism.

In this paper, we deal with the analysis of energy and exergy utilization in the public and private sector of Saudi Arabia by considering the energy and exergy flows for the years between 1990 and 2001. Energy and exergy analyses for the public and private sector are undertaken to study the energy and exergy efficiencies. These sectoral efficiencies are then compared, and energy and exergy flow diagrams for the public and private sector over the years are presented, respectively. Energy and exergy efficiencies of the public and private sector are compared for its six sub-sectors, namely commercial, governmental, streets, Mosques, hospitals and charity associations, particularly illustrated for the year 2000. Hospital sub-sector appears to be the most energy efficient sector and government sub-sector the most exergy efficient one. The results presented here provide insights into the sectoral energy use that may assist energy policy makers for the country. It is believed that the present techniques are useful for analyzing sectoral energy and exergy utilization, and that they provide Saudi Arabia with energy savings through energy efficiency and/or energy conservation measures. It is also be helpful to establish standards to facilitate application in industry and in other planning processes such as energy planning.

Abstract The Saudi National Renewable Energy Program aims to substantially increase the share of renewable energy in the Kingdom's power generation mix. This study explores the extent to which solar rooftop deployment at the residential scale in Riyadh, could be cost-efficient and could accelerate decarbonization of in Saudi Arabia. This study found that the maximum aggregate solar power capacity in Riyadh at the residential level would be around 400 MW. Also, the current residential electricity tariff does not incentivize photovoltaic (PV) solar rooftop deployment. Despite an increase in Saudi residential electricity prices in January 2018, rooftop solar PV cannot compete with electricity from the grid, even assuming aggressive reductions in the investment cost of solar technology.

Abstract Saudi Arabia has been implementing the domestic energy price reform (EPR) and fiscal reform since the end of 2015 under the Fiscal Balance Program (FBP), one of the key realization programs of Saudi Vision 2030 (SV2030). The EPR aims to increase the rational consumption of energy and budget revenues by gradually removing energy incentives across the economy by 2025 (FBP, 2019). This study assesses the impact of electricity incentives that the government provided for the development of the agricultural sector in the pre-reform period to find out how large its magnitude was and to determine whether removal of them in the sector is a relevant measure to take. We found that while these incentives had both short and long-run positive impacts on the agriculture growth, the magnitude of these impacts was quite small (the long-run elasticity is between 0.04 and 0.07 and the short-run elasticity is around 0.09–0.11). We also found that investing in capital stock and technological progress would lead to more and sustained development than a continuation of the government's electricity incentives in the sector. Additionally, we found that increases in temperature, primarily resulting from carbon emissions of fossil fuel consumption, is harmful to the sector's development. These empirical findings support the ongoing policy for the implementation of gradual removal of electricity incentives and suggest that some mitigation measures should be considered for the sector. In policy implementations, decision-makers should consider that the sector is capable of absorbing shocks, including policy interventions within two years.

Abstract The Saudi electricity sector currently buys fuel and sells electricity at prices administered by the government. In this analysis, we illustratively explore combining the reform of the fuel prices used in power plants with the implementation of alternative electricity pricing schemes for the households. Compared to the scenario replicating the year 2015, we find: • The aggregate gain to the energy system could reach nearly $12 billion per year by raising both electricity prices to households and industrial fuels to reflect the cost of supply or international markets. • Households would pay an additional $3 billion in electricity costs without any mitigation for the low-income households. However, Lifeline prices would halve this burden, while maintaining greater gains than deregulating fuel prices alone. • The average electricity price paid under the lifeline scenario would be a more manageable 4.0 cents/kWh, versus an average marginal-cost price of 7.1 cents/kWh. In the alternative electricity pricing scenarios we study, natural gas usage by the power utilities falls, allowing gas to flow to other industries, which would consume it to reduce their costs. We find the marginal values of natural gas falling at higher electricity prices, indicating that the supply of gas is becoming less constraining.

This paper extensively concentrates on energy and environmental impacts only. Energy utilization and its major environmental impacts are discussed from the standpoint of sustainable development, including anticipated patterns of future energy use and subsequent environmental issues. Renewable energy technologies and efficient energy utilization are identified as the most effective potential solutions to current environmental issues, along with some practical examples. Several aspects relating to energy utilization, renewable energy, energy efficiency, environment and sustainable development are examined from both current and future perspectives. It may be concluded that the conclusions and recommendations presented here will be beneficial to energy scientists and engineers, and energy policy makers.

In early 2016, China introduced additional capacity cut policies to rebalance supply in the coal market to match demand that had been reduced by slow economic growth and strict environmental regulation. Ensuing disruptions to the coal market caused these policies to be revised and, subsequently, discarded as decision makers tried to find a balance between efficient supply, economic and social stability and environmental sustainability. This paper explores the causes of these unintended consequences using an extended version of the KEM-China model. The results reveal that full and partial compliance with the capacity cut policies results in a significant gap between supply and demand. This suggests that implementation of the policy was technically infeasible, even allowing for a significant increase in coal prices and economic costs. Besides, significant differences in coal prices and output profiles are registered across the country. We argue that the heterogeneous nature of the Chinese coal market and policy compliance was a major factor leading to the unintended consequences rendering a single national price benchmark inappropriate as a policy gauge. We propose that the capacity cut policy should be differentiated across regions and even types of coalmines, market approaches would be preferable to the command-and-control instruments, and policy distortions that cause excess capacity should be removed.

Abstract This paper deals with the utilization of exergy as an efficient tool for energy policy making applications since exergy is a measure of quantity and quality of the energy sources unlike energy which is only about the quantity. In addition, energy and exergy concepts are evaluated for various actual processes, and the role of exergy is discussed for energy and environment policy making activities from several key perspectives, e.g., quality, energy conservation, environment, economy, and sustainable development. The results of this study exhibit that the potential usefulness exergy in addressing and solving environmental problems as well as attaining sustainable development is crucial.