Essays on the Integration of Renewables in Electricity Markets

The thesis sheds light onto the integration of renewable energy generation into electricity markets based on five articles. The first article is concerned with the optimal strategies of renewable producers selling electricity in sequential markets. A model is developed in which renewable generators trade their production in two sequential markets, which can be regarded as the day-ahead and intraday markets. Trading in the first market takes place under uncertainty about the final production level of renewable generation. The results show that it might be optimal for renewable producers to sell less than the expected quantity in the day-ahead market. The second article focuses on the high variability in production from renewable electricity and its effect on prices. A model for the allocation of hourly and quarter-hourly electricity generation is developed, assuming that the participation in the market for quarter-hourly products is restricted. Restricted participation in the market for quarter-hourly products may have caused welfare losses of about EUR 96 million in 2015. In the third article, the hourly price elasticity of demand for electricity in the German day-ahead market is empirically estimated. The results indicate a high level of variation of price elasticity of demand throughout the day ranging from -0.02 to -0.13 depending on the time of the day in the German day-ahead market in 2015. The fourth article is concerned with the tariff design in retail markets for electricity. It focuses on the inefficiency from time-invariant pricing in combination with an increasing share of renewable energies. The last article finally takes a closer look at the balancing power market and the impact of different market designs on efficiency and competition. Based on a developed model, it shows that shorter tender frequencies could lower the costs of balancing power procurement by up to 15 %. While market concentration decreases in many markets with shorter provision duration, there are also cases in the model where shorter time spans lead to higher concentration