Publications

Potential Gains From Reforming Price Caps in China’s Power Sector

Bertrand Rioux, Philipp Galkin, Axel Pierru, Frederic Murphy

When energy sectors transition from government-controlled to market-driven systems, the legacy regulatory instruments can create unintended market distortions and lead to higher costs. In China, the most notable regulatory throwback is ceilings on electricity prices that generators can charge utilities,…

Rioux, Bertrand

Galkin, Philipp

Pierru, Axel

Murphy, Frederic

Evaluating the economic viability of solar-powered desalination: Saudi Arabia as a case study

International Journal of Water Resources Development

This article constructs a cost calculator to estimate the economic competitiveness of solar-powered desalination in Saudi Arabia. Solar desalination is defined as a plant that obtains solar energy from a closed system. This is done to focus the investigation on…

Christopher Napoli, Bertrand Rioux

Economic Impacts of Debottlenecking Congestion in the Chinese Coal Supply Chain

Philipp Galkin, Frederic Murphy, Axel Pierru, Bertrand Rioux

China’s coal industry grew at unprecedented rates during the first decade of the 2000s in order to support equally unprecedented economic growth. In that type of environment, it is impossible for the capacities of every link in the supply chain…

Galkin, Philipp

Murphy, Frederic

Pierru, Axel

Rioux, Bertrand

A Framework for Comparing the Viability of Different Desalination Approaches

Bertrand Rioux

Most renewable powered desalination schemes are hybrids that displace fossil fuel power when renewable power is available. Their economic viability depends only on whether the renewable power source can generate electricity more cheaply than the fuels that it displaces. The…

Rioux, Bertrand

Efficient Industrial Energy Use: The First Step in Transitioning Saudi Arabia’s Energy Mix

Walid Matar, Axel Pierru, Frederic Murphy, David Wogan, Bertrand Rioux

External observers worry about whether Saudi domestic consumption of oil will crowd out exports. This is based on simple extrapolations which suggest that in a little more than 20 years Saudi Arabia may become a net importer of hydrocarbon fuels.…

Matar, Walid

Pierru, Axel

Murphy, Frederic

Wogan, David

Rioux, Bertrand

Lowering Saudi Arabia’s fuel consumption and energy system costs without increasing end consumer prices

Energy Economics

Using a multi-sector equilibrium model of the Saudi energy system that handles administered prices in a mixed-complementarity formulation, we present results from a set of policy scenarios that lower oil consumption in the country. Some of these scenarios are the…

Walid Matar, Frederic Murphy, Axel Pierru, Bertrand Rioux

Lowering Saudi Arabia’s fuel consumption and energy system costs without increasing end consumer prices

Walid Matar, Frederic Murphy, Axel Pierru, Bertrand Rioux

Saudi Arabia aims to reduce the growth of its energy demand. This paper outlines an approach that could help the country to reduce substantively its current fuel consumption and could result in a net economic gain without increasing current end…

Matar, Walid

Murphy, Frederic

Pierru, Axel

Rioux, Bertrand