Analysing the effects of cross-border electricity trade on power production from different energy sources

Abstract

This thesis provides empirical evidence to emphasize the crucial role of cross-border electricity trade for decreasing the use of fossil fuels in power industries and attaining higher electricity supply from solar and wind energy sources. We collected data for 48 countries across three continents (the Americas, Europe and Asia) from 1991 to 2018 to create a world sample that would reflect the diversity of various energy mixes in different electricity markets. We showed the existence of long-term relationships between power production from natural gas, solar, wind and the level of cross-border electricity trade through panel unit root and panel cointegration tests. Later on, we conducted panel data analyses that utilize the fixed-effect approach with interactive variables. The empirical evidence reveals that when electricity production from solar and wind energy sources interacts with cross border electricity trade, power production from natural gas decreases statistically significantly. Furthermore, we created efficiency indices for solar and wind energy sources and provide evidence for the increased utilization of solar and wind electricity production in the presence of cross-border electricity trade.