Public Power Underground

professor Frank Wolak took the time to talk about electric market design, explain his concept for standardized fixed price forward contracts, and pitch his energy market game

Show Notes

Professor Frank Wolak, the Holbrook Working Professor of Commodity Price Studies in the Department of Economics at Stanford University who also works as the Director of the Program on Energy and Sustainable Development, joins Paul Dockery for the third installation of our Electric Market Enthusiasm series. 

04:13 - my lede for Professor Wolak’s working paper

Wolak, Frank A. "Long-term resource adequacy in wholesale electricity markets with significant intermittent renewables." Environmental and Energy Policy and the Economy 3.1 (2022): 155-220.

10:22 - the Reliability Externality and it’s relation to the Missing Money problem

16:48 - suspending exports in scarcity events

20:27 - Standardized Fixed Price Forward Contract market auctions

34:50 - the Energy Market Game

48:28 - The Future of Electricity Retailing and How We Get There

52:43 - developing market depth on the demand side

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What is Public Power Underground?

Public Power Underground is more than a discussion about public ownership of electric infrastructure, the infotaining episodes cover the energy enthusiast trifecta of electrification, markets, and people. The hosts interview industry experts on a broad range of energy industry and energy-industry-adjacent topics at the nexus of electric utilities and the energy transition. The podcast doesn’t take itself too seriously and frequently plays energy inspired games like “energy enthusiasm distilled,” “draw an analogy,” and “say something nice about electric utilities."