Search results

The paper aims to analyse whether experiencing a supply interruption affects the valuation of security of electricity supply.

A blackout in Munich, Germany, in November 2012 is utilised as a natural experiment by conducting a contingent valuation survey around two months after the event. The characteristics of the supply interruption allow for distinguishing between households that were affected by the blackout and those who were not. This provides the opportunity to compare the willingness to pay (WTP) for avoiding and the willingness to accept (WTA) for enduring a supply interruption between affected and non-affected Munich households.

The results show that households who were affected by the outage had a higher WTP for avoiding a hypothetical supply interruption. Although affected households also had a higher WTA for enduring an outage, the WTA-differences between the two groups are not statistically significant. Furthermore, the results indicate that experience with power outages can increase the perceived relevance of the policy objective “security” at the expense of the objective “environmental sustainability”.

The paper contributes to the literature in three general respects. First, the assessment of the relationship between outage experience and the valuation of supply security is based on a natural experiment which avoids most of the shortcomings of previous studies. Second, the paper uses both the WTP and the WTA measure to approximate the valuation of supply security and discusses the differences in their outcomes. Third, these monetary valuations are complemented and compared with general attitudes towards a reliable electricity system.

This paper is aimed to evaluate recently privatized 18 electricity distribution and retail companies, using the data and conditions at the time they were privatized. The main hypothesis of the study is that most of the privatized companies in this research are underpriced similar to previous experiences in developed and emerging economies.

Values of the companies are calculated considering the formal procedures of Turkish energy authorities. These companies are valued under the base, moderate and extreme scenarios created from different sets of assumptions considering conditions and existing data at the time they were privatized. Discounted cash flows (DCF) methodology is used in the estimations. The market prices obtained in their privatization tenders are compared with those theoretically calculated values (intrinsic prices).

The findings reject the hypothesis and indicate an overpricing in general in the privatizations of Turkey. Even the extreme scenario which gives the highest intrinsic values supports the findings.

Research is limited with 18 regional electricity distribution company in Turkey.

The paper is one of the initial empirical studies on the valuation of energy companies using DCF methodology in an emerging market.

The purpose of this article is to analyse electricity supply in the Solomon Islands face extraordinarily expensive electricity tariffs – currently set at 96 c/kWh – making them amongst the highest in the world. Power is supplied by a fleet of diesel generators reliant on imported liquid fuels. In this article, the authors model the 14,100 kW power system on the island of Guadalcanal and demonstrate that by investing in a combination of hydroelectric and solar photovoltaic generating capacity, power system costs and reliability can be improved marginally. However, when the authors model a 3-Party Covenant (3PC) Financing structure involving a credit wrap by the Commonwealth of Australia, electricity production costs fall by 50 per cent, thus resulting in meaningful increases in consumer welfare.

This study’s approach uses an integrated levelised cost of electricity model and dynamic partial equilibrium power system model. Doing so enables the authors to quickly analyse the rich blend of fixed, variable and sunk costs of generating technology options. The authors also focus on the cost of capital that is likely to be achieved under various policy settings.

The authors find that a 3PC Financing policy can substantially reduce the production costs associated with capital-intensive power projects in an unrated sovereign nation. Such a policy and associated prescriptions are not specific to the Solomon Islands or power generation. The conceptual framework and associated financial logic that underpins the initiative can be generalised to other “user pays” infrastructure projects and to other developing nations. The broad applicability of 3PC financing means that it is not country specific, project specific or asset class specific.

It is important to note that the analysis in this paper has a number of limitations in that the authors do not deal with rural electrification or distribution network costs. The focus of this paper is to identify policy interventions that are capable of making profound changes to the cost and the reliability of wholesale electricity production.

The focus of this paper is to identify a policy intervention capable of making profound changes to the cost and the reliability of wholesale electricity production. While there is nothing novel associated with a 3PC Financing per se, the authors are unaware of its direct use as a form of delivering foreign aid. A 3PC Financing has the effect of shifting the source of aid funding from fiscal account surplus/deficit (i.e. cash outlays) to balance sheet (i.e. credit wrap). However, this is not a “magic pudding” – 3PC Financing creates an asset-backed contingent liability and will have the effect of reducing the donor country’s own debt capacity by a commensurate amount, holding the nation’s credit rating constant.

This paper aims to present a multi-period dynamic power project financing model to produce pragmatic estimates of benchmark wholesale power prices based on the principles of normal profit. This, in turn, can guide policymakers as to whether price spikes or bidding above marginal cost in wholesale electricity markets warrants any investigation at all. One of the seemingly complex areas associated with energy-only wholesale electricity pools is at what point market power abuse is present on the supply side. It should not be this way. If a theoretically robust measure of normal profit exists, identification of potential market power abuse is straightforward. Such a definition readily exists and can be traced back to the ground-breaking work of financial economists in the 1960s.

Using a multi-period dynamic power project model, the authors produce pragmatic and theoretically robust measures of normal profit for project financed plant and plant financed on balance sheet. These model results are then integrated into a static partial equilibrium model of a power system. The model results are in turn used to guide policymaking on generator bidding in energy-only power markets.

Under conditions of perfect plant availability and divisibility with no transmission constraints, energy-only markets result in clearing prices which are not economically viable in the long run. Bidding must, therefore, deviate from strict short-run marginal cost at some stage. To distinguish between quasi-contributions to substantial sunk costs and market power abuse, a pragmatic and robust measure of normal profit is required.

This article finds policymakers can be guided by an ex-post analysis of base energy prices against pragmatic estimates for the long-run marginal cost of the base plant, and an ex-ante analysis of call option prices along the forward curve against pragmatic estimates of the carrying cost of the peaking plant.

IT is unfortunate that the date of the 17th Salon de l'Aeronautique made it impossible to include a review of it in the December issue of AIRCRAFT ENGINEERING, although perhaps its consideration in retrospect may be of rather greater value.

The purpose of the study was to provide an example of instructional coaching for inservice teachers within the context of community-engaged scholarship (CEP), involving professional learning communities (PLCs). This study seeks to encourage policymakers to allocate budgets for instructional coaches, as well as resources for schools.

An exploratory case study design was used to examine the factors that contributed to the partnership and how the PLC sessions impacted the inservice teachers' practices. Data sources included interviews, focus groups, written reflections, observations of grade-level teachers' meetings and administrative meetings.

The study uncovered important factors that impacted the community-engaged partnership (CEP) positively, such as partners having a unified agenda, a common focus on the school's needs and an understanding of the culture of the school. Principals are the gatekeepers in such partnerships.

This study yielded the description of a model of instructional coaching within a CEP that other universities around the world could replicate. The limitations of this study include the length of the study and the time frame in which the PLC content was planned. The study was conducted over 1 year to limited funding. The instructional coach developed the PLC content during the ongoing academic year and that impacted the teachers' initial perceptions and their commitment to the PLCs.

This study offers a new coaching model for CEPs that focuses on closing the gap between theory and practice by integrating PLCs, content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge and face-to-face visual support.

Competency frameworks can support public procurement capacity development and performance. However, literature on connecting professionalisation with national procurement contexts is limited. This paper aims to explain and conceptualise recent Romanian experience with developing bespoke competency frameworks at national level for public procurement that reflect the features of the Romanian public procurement system. The approach used could guide in broad-brush, mutatis mutandis, other (national) public procurement systems with comparable features, mainly those seeking a shift from a rather administrative function of public procurement towards a strategic function.

This case study reflects on the methodology used for analysing the Romanian public procurement environment in EU context to develop bespoke professionalisation instruments, and on ways to integrate competency management approaches in Romanian public procurement culture. That methodological mix has been mainly qualitative and constructionist, within an applied research approach. It combined desk research with empirical research and included legal research in this context.

A principled, methodological and pragmatic approach tailored to the procurement environment in question is essential for developing competency frameworks capable to resonate to and address the specific practical needs of that procurement system.

Competency frameworks can uphold societal objectives through public procurement.

Using valuable insights into the development of the Romanian public procurement competency frameworks, the paper provides a conceptual framework for instilling competency management approaches to public procurement professional development where the latter is governed by a rather distinct, public administration, paradigm. This conceptual framework can guide other public procurement systems and stimulate further research.

Competency frameworks can support public procurement capacity development and performance. However, literature on connecting professionalisation with national procurement contexts is limited. This paper aims to explain and conceptualise recent Romanian experience with developing bespoke competency frameworks at national level for public procurement that reflect the features of the Romanian public procurement system. The approach used could guide in broad-brush, mutatis mutandis, other (national) public procurement systems with comparable features, mainly those seeking a shift from a rather administrative function of public procurement towards a strategic function.

This case study reflects on the methodology used for analysing the Romanian public procurement environment in EU context to develop bespoke professionalisation instruments, and on ways to integrate competency management approaches in Romanian public procurement culture. That methodological mix has been mainly qualitative and constructionist, within an applied research approach. It combined desk research with empirical research and included legal research in this context.

A principled, methodological and pragmatic approach tailored to the procurement environment in question is essential for developing competency frameworks capable to resonate to and address the specific practical needs of that procurement system.

Competency frameworks can uphold societal objectives through public procurement.

Using valuable insights into the development of the Romanian public procurement competency frameworks, the paper provides a conceptual framework for instilling competency management approaches to public procurement professional development where the latter is governed by a rather distinct, public administration, paradigm. This conceptual framework can guide other public procurement systems and stimulate further research.

Suicide and suicide-related incidents have increased within women’s prisons in the UK. This paper aims to synthesise the findings of qualitative literature, to gain a deeper understanding of the how women and staff in English prisons experience and explain the causes of their suicidal behaviours.

A systematic search of five electronic databases, namely, MEDLINE, APA Psychological Information Database (Psycinfo), Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (with full text – CINAHL), Psychology and Behavioural Sciences Collection and APA PsycArticles, was completed in January 2023. This study’s search strategy returned 1,714 articles, 7 of which were included for review. To identify relevant themes within the data, Thomas and Harden’s (2008) framework was applied. Quality appraisal was conducted by using Joanna Briggs’ Institute Checklist for Qualitative Research (Joanna Briggs Institute, 2021).

Four themes were determined, which describe the causes of suicidal behaviours in women’s prisons in England; mental health and trauma, lack of support from services and staff, contact with family and self-harm as a coping strategy. Important sub-themes were also identified including the prison environment and poor relationships with staff.

Further qualitative research is needed, however, the findings suggest greater support is required to aid positive mental health, including the provision of trauma informed coping strategies and improved staff training.

To the best of the authors knowledge, this is the first systematic review conducted on the factors contributing to women’s suicide in English prisons using qualitative literature.

With the development of economic globalization and the growth of cross-border technology flow, the internationalization of innovation has become an important strategy for enterprises in global competition for both investment optimization and technological advancement. The purpose of this paper is to reveal the research evolution in internationalization of innovation, investigate the hot spot transformation, and predict the future research trends.

The main research approaches in this study are literature co-citation analysis and keyword co-occurrence analysis. Co-citation is applied as a semantic similarity measure for related papers that makes use of citation relationships. Co-occurrence frequency analysis of keywords is also carried out to reveal the hot spots in research of internationalization of innovation. With the data downloaded from Web of Science, Citespace was used as a tool of scientometrics to visualize the node papers, knowledge mapping and keyword co-occurrence ranking in different stages of research evolution. The literature being analyzed in this study come from paper collection by searching the titles, abstracts and keywords, for terms that include “international innovation”, “international R&D”, “international technology”, “globalizational innovation”, “globalizational R&D”, “globalizational technology”, “multinational innovation”, “multinational R&D” and “multinational technology”.

The investigation reveals that there are two distinct stages in research evolution of the internationalization of innovation. The direction of innovation diffusion has turned from “one-way trickle down from developed countries” to “two-way interaction between developed countries and emerging countries”. Meanwhile, the research hotspots have been transformed since 2000 from “detail and operation-focused” to “profound and strategy-focused”.

The paper gives an insight into the internationalization of innovation field using literature from the Web of Science as an illustration.