Pricing and technology options: An analysis of ontario electricity capacity requirements and GHG emissions

Abstract

Many jurisdictions face the problem of having to reduce GHG emissions and new electricity capacity requirements. Ontario has the additional commitment of phasing out its coal power plants. Time of use (TOU) pricing is seldom considered as an option in the analysis of these problems, even if its impacts on capacity requirements and emissions can be substantial. We analyze to what extent TOU pricing can reduce capacity requirements and we evaluate its impacts on total energy use and CO2, SO2 and NOx emissions under different technologies. We also introduce "transfer of demand" between peak and off-peak periods to account for cross-price elasticity between time periods. © 2005 Springer Science+Business Media, Inc.