Investing and Pricing with Supply Uncertainty in Electricity Market:A General View Combining Wholesale and Retail Market

Renewable energy,such as wind and solar energy,may vary signifi cantly over time and locations depending on the weather and the climate conditions.This leads to the supply uncertainty in the electricity(power) market with renewable energy integrated to power grid.In this paper,electricity in the market is classified into two types:stablesupply electricity(SSE) and unstablesupply electricity(USE).We investigate the investment and pricing strategies under the electricity supply uncertainty in wholesale and retail electricity market.In particular,our model combines the wholesale and retail market and capture the dominant players,i.e.,consumers,power plant(power operator),and electricity supplier.To derive the market behaviors of these players,we formulate the market decision problems as a multistage Stackelberg game.By solving the game model,we obtain the optimal,with closedform,wholesale investment and retail pricing strategy for the operator.We also obtain the energy supplier's best price mechanism numerically under certain assumption.We fi nd the price of SSE being about 1.4 times higher than that of USE will benefi t energy supplieroptimally,under which power plant's optimal strategy of investing is to purchase USE about 4.5 times much more than SSE.

Strategy for Entering the US Retail Market

China has set aggressive goals to increase the production of branded textile and clothing goods. According to a circular published by the Ministry of Commerce and six other government industries in June, China is determined to foster a number of internationally recognized name brands by 2010. The

Sentiment Analysis as a Source of Gaining Competitive Advantage on the Electricity Markets

The electricity retail markets are evolving toward more competitive and customer-oriented. The deployment of smart meters and a wealth of new technologies create customers＇ eagerness for taking control of their electricity consumption. By being better-informed about the energy usage, people are encouraged to switch deals among existing suppliers or move to a new energy provider. Moreover, as customers are more socially interconnected, the Internet portals and social media become a place for discussion, comparison, and evaluation of the available offers. Unfortunately, in case of the energy sector there is a lack of understanding that such information, when taken into account and properly analyzed, can be a completely new and a powerful source of competitive advantage. In the paper, we introduce a solution that the use of quasi real-time automated sentiment analysis on the energy suppliers and the relevant aspects of their offers may enable energy companies to adapt quickly to changing circumstances, prevent potential customer churn, and harness new business opportunities.

On Some Short Comings of the Transmission of Monetary Policy in the Euro Area

The great expansionary policies undertaken by the main central banks of the world since the outbreak of the world financial and economic crisis in 2008 did not produce a satisfying recovery of the real economy especially in Europe. In order to identify the causes of this failure, it became necessary to deepen the analysis of the transmission mechanism of monetary policy, and to investigate if there are some obstacles hampering the functioning of this mechanism. The scope of the present papers to analyze some short comings of the transmission mechanism of the monetary policy is conducted by the European Central Bank （ECB） in the euro area. After a close examination of the relationship between the monetary base and the supply of money, transmission through the credit channel and through the interestrate channel will be taken into consideration. The analysis shows that loans to nonfinancial corporations were not affected by the huge amount of liquidity created by the ECB, while a very slow growth is shown by loans to private households during the whole period.