Vem tar notan? : Lokala och regionala externa effekter av elproduktion och snålskjutsåkande mellan länder

Sammanfattning

The cross-zonal energy trade market within Europe enables efficient energy allocation. Countries coveredby the EU-regulations are obligated to keep at least 70 percent of their energy transmission capacity openfor trade, for example to enable even price levels on the market. The EU emissions trading system limitscountries’fossil-based energy production, which increases the need for fossil-free production. Externalitiesarise as a result of fossil-free energy production, which causes costs for the local and regional populationand hence a market failure. The trading system for emission allowances in combination with the 70-percentrule enables countries to reduce or eliminate their own energy production by importing energy from othercountries. Hence, there is a risk that the market participants exploit others’fossil-free energy productionthrough free-riding. The diminishing quantity of fossil energy production in combination with potentialfree-riding could lead to energy shortages and uncertainty on the European energy market. This study examines and quantifies the local and regional externalities caused by the energy productionfrom wind, solar, hydro, nuclear power and bioenergy. Furthermore we analyze whether incentives exist forfree-riding between countries covered by the European trading agreement. This was investigated through aliterature review, semi-structured interviews and a survey. The interviews were conducted with field expertsfrom various Swedish government institutions. The survey was based on a double bounded dichotomouschoice contingent valuation method, DBDC CVM, where the respondents’willingness to pay, WTP, andwillingness to accept, WTA, were individually estimated for each energy source. Furthermore theperceived level of information and distance preferences were analyzed. The result shows that theexternalities from wind and nuclear power are valued the highest, while those of solar power are valued thelowest. According to previous literature, the interviews, and the survey, information seems to be essentialin order to attain acceptance for the energy sources among the population. Finally we present a propositionto introduce a joint compensation system for the countries within the trade agreement to adjust for themarket failure.