UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Kelly Neill, an assistant professor in the School of Economics at the University of Sydney, will lead a seminar at Penn State on the valuation of water that’s used to create electricity.
Her free talk — “Estimating the Value of Stored Water for Hydroelectric Generation” — is scheduled for noon on Wednesday, Oct. 1, in 157 Hosler Building on the University Park campus. It’s part of the fall seminar series hosted by the Initiative for Energy and Environmental Economics and Policy (EEEPI).
Neill will discuss a study of how a major hydroelectricity operator values its stored water. With bidding data from the wholesale electricity market, researchers explored the opportunity cost of hydrogeneration, she said.
A descriptive function of that opportunity cost “remained stable even when the value of alternative water uses was high,” Neill said. The findings can influence some water pricing linked to electricity futures.
“We aim to inform policymakers who allocate water between hydroelectric and competing uses,” Neill said.
Neill also is a nonresident scholar at the Center for Energy Studies in Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy. Neill’s research interests include industrial organization and energy economics with a focus on natural gas and electricity markets. She has studied the interactions of electricity and gas markets, as well as the consequences of restricting gas exports.
About EEEPI
Established in 2011, EEEPI operates as a University-wide initiative at Penn State with support from the Earth and Environmental Systems Institute and the Institute of Energy and the Environment. EEEPI seeks to catalyze research in energy and environmental systems economics across the University and to build a world-class group of economists with interests in interdisciplinary collaboration.