Distinguished Energy Lecturer Series - California’s Market Price Referent: Setting the Bar for Renewable Energy

Featuring Lori Smith Schell, Ph.D.

President

Empowered Energy



Please join us at the National Fuel Cell Research Center (Building 323, UC Irvine Campus) for a light reception immediately following the lecture.



Free and open to the public

Parking is available in the Anteater Parking Structure at Anteater Drive and East Peltason



Please R.S.V.P. to Jana Santiago at js@apep.uci.edu no later than 5 p.m. on Tuesday, May 18.



Abstract:     

California's leadership role in promoting renewable electricity generation raises the question of how to incentivize renewable generation in a fossil fuel-dominated market.  As a first step toward resolving that question, California's Market Price Referent ("MPR") establishes a proxy price for electricity generated by a new, state-of-the-art natural gas combined cycle generating plant.  Determined annually by the California Public Utilities Commission, the MPR was designed as a threshold to identify any "excess" procurement costs related to utility procurement of renewable generation under California's Renewables Portfolio Standard.  The MPR has subsequently become an important component in the design of renewable generation and combined heat and power ("CHP") feed-in tariffs.  The purpose of such tariffs is to encourage increased deployment of renewable and CHP generation.  This presentation will provide an overview of the historical development of the MPR and its components, and will discuss the significance of the expanded use of the MPR in California energy policy making.



About the Speaker:

Lori Smith Schell, Ph.D., is president of Empowered Energy, an independent energy consulting firm based in Durango, Colorado.  Empowered Energy specializes in economic analysis of the inter-related fields of renewable energy, natural gas, electricity, and emissions.  Empowered Energy has provided in-depth economic analysis of distributed energy technologies in California, including large and small fuel cells, large-scale solar electric technologies, solar photovoltaics and solar hot water.  Prior to founding Empowered Energy, Dr. Schell directed energy risk management activities for combined heat and power company Trigen Energy Corporation and served on the Board of Directors of the Independent Power Producers of New York, Inc.  Dr. Schell also managed natural gas regulatory and market analysis for Air Products and Chemicals, Inc., and was active in cogeneration due diligence at Benjamin Schlesinger and Associates, Inc.  Dr. Schell serves as a vice-president for the U.S. Association for Energy Economics.  She earned a Ph.D. in Mineral Economics and Operations Research from The Pennsylvania State University and a B.A. in Economics from the University of Washington.  During her graduate studies, Dr. Schell conducted policy analysis work at both the U.S. Department of Energy and Los Alamos National Laboratory.