Electricity Business: Economics & Management

About the Course

The Electricity Business: Economics and Management training course focuses on techno-economic, managerial, and policy aspects of the electricity business to explore and comprehend the existing structure and critical drivers of the incoming transformations. It incorporates the analysis of the electricity business, price formation, supply and demand structures and outlooks, electricity value chain, market mechanisms, leading players, renewable energy evolution/disruption, electricity industry digitalisation, and environmental/climate policies related to the power generation (from oil, natural gas, coal, nuclear, hydro, and renewable power plants), transmission and final distribution.

The electricity sector is going through many changes all over the world. These changes come mainly from environmental concerns, geological issues, supply security, and energy independence. More decarbonised and smarter electricity networks in parallel with more appropriate market architecture are currently the focus of the governmental and private players in the sector.

The delegates will gain an in-depth knowledge of techno-economic, financial, managerial, and even geopolitical aspects of the electricity business and its current and future opportunities and challenges. Primarily, the delegates will be provided with essential information about the global electricity sector. Through hands-on case studies, projects, exercises and discussions, delegates will acquire practical and immediately applicable techno-economic, financial, and business management skills needed to deal with the electric power industry.

Core Objectives

Upon completing this course, the delegate will be able to:

• Acquire an overview of the electricity chain and an understanding of power market structures and their fundamental characteristics, costs, contracts, and pricing
• Understand the digitalisation trends and techno-economic of electricity production, transmission, and distribution
• Attain general knowledge of each technology (oil, gas, coal, nuclear, hydro and renewable power plants) and their techno-economic characteristics
• Understand the electricity (both renewable and non-renewable) projects evaluation
• Apply capital budgeting and economic analysis for electricity projects
• Perform a techno-economic comparative analysis of different technologies
• Make a proper investment decision in the electricity sector

Training Approach

This training course will combine presentations with practical exercises, hands-on projects, and case studies. The delegates will be encouraged to participate actively in the questions & answers sessions. Moreover, specific expectations of each delegate will be discussed to ensure that they are treated as much as possible.

Daily Discussion

DAY ONE: GLOBAL ELECTRICITY SECTOR OUTLOOK 

• Basic Definition: Units and Sources
• Global Electricity Supply and Demand Situation
• Global Electricity Supply and Demand Evolution
• Electricity particularities compare to other energy commodities
• Decarbonisation Trends and Energy Independency
• Electricity Access

DAY TWO: ELECTRICITY INDUSTRY STRUCTURE 

• Power Generation Sources and Mixes
• Network, Distribution, Transportation Tariffs and Black Outs
• Market and Institutions: Liberalisation, Regulation, and Deregulation
• Transformative Features and Signposts
• Future of the Electricity Industry

DAY THREE: ELECTRICITY BUSINESS TECHNO-ECONOMICS

• Global Electricity Chain Structure
• Global Power Generation Means & Mixes
• Electricity Cost Structure: Variable, Fixed, Total & Levelized Costs
• Electricity Pricing and Tariffication Policy
• Electricity Market Structure and Transformation
• Electricity Projects Evaluation
  • Electricity Trading: Spreads, Margins, Profit & Loss

DAY FOUR: ELECTRICITY BUSINESS AND DIGITALISATION

• The Digitalisation of the Electricity Business
• Smart grids, Distributed Generation, and Microgrids
• Demand-side Management & Smart Metering
• Storage Business: Batteries and Hydro-pumping
• New Business Models and Opportunities

DAY FIVE: RENEWABLES BUSINESS AND ENVIRONMENT

• Renewable Technologies Overview
• Energy Transition Business Opportunities
• Costs And Profitability Analysis of Renewables
• Support Schemes & Policies: Feed-in Tariffs, Premiums, and Green Certificates
• Rare materials challenges for Electrical Vehicles and Renewables
• Efficiency analysis and CO2 cost impact on electricity projects
• Future Challenges and Opportunities