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Elizabeth Côté
Last Name
Côté
First name
Elizabeth
Email
elizabeth.cote@unisg.ch
Phone
+41712242944
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PublicationFinancial models and incentives for clean energy investmentAchieving net zero by 2050 requires considerable investment to scale up clean energy generation capacity, expand and modernise power networks, and electrify end-users. However, clean energy projects are facing growing opposition. While several policy makers have introduced measures aimed at incentivizing citizen co-ownership to foster acceptance, little is understood about how these measures influence investment decisions. Further, clean energy business models are often found to be unprofitable, and financial factors may hinder the diffusion of key technologies. This has prompted several actors to call for policy support and business model innovation. With this dissertation, I contribute to a better understanding of how the attributes of energy policies and business models influence investors risk perceptions and return expectations. This enables me to identify financial mechanisms, business models, and incentives that may promote investment. Three critical challenges pertaining to clean energy investment are considered, each addressed in a standalone research paper. In Paper 1, we investigate how auction design elements aimed at fostering citizen participation influence project developers risk perceptions and bidding decisions. We show that increasing actor diversity comes at a cost, and that policy makers unwilling to compensate developers will have to find other ways to promote participation, as this could have important implications for renewable energy investment. In Paper 2, we examine the preferences of institutional investors and utility companies for energy storage investment. We find that both investor groups have a strong aversion to non-regulated forms of revenue. We also show that hedging their exposure to electricity price risk at least partly through policy incentives or corporate power purchase agreements could decrease financing costs and promote investment. In Paper 3, I investigate homeowners preferences for heat-pump leasing. I show that flexible, all-inclusive leasing offerings could contribute to decarbonizing residential heat, especially in markets where heat pumps are at an early stage of diffusion like in Germany. Policy makers who wish to promote heat-pump diffusion may consider adapting incentives to account for these service-based offerings.Type: doctoral thesis