Sixth Mannheim Energy Conference at ZEW Focuses on Energy Economics

Conferences

In her keynote speech, Professor Catherine Waddams talked about the irrationality of consumers\' switching behaviour on the electricity market.

On 11 and 12 May 2017, the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) organised the sixth Mannheim Energy Conference in collaboration with the Mannheim Centre for Competition and Innovation (MaCCI). Over the course of two days, around 60 national and international participants discussed various topics in the fields of energy economics. At this year’s conference, special emphasis was placed on energy efficiency, energy innovation as well as electricity market design.

The conference opened with an address by ZEW President Professor Achim Wambach. This year, a total of three keynote speeches from high-profile speakers marked the highlights of the conference. In his speech, Professor Stefan Reichelstein from Stanford University in California, USA, addressed the topic of future profitability development of electricity generation by means of photovoltaic systems. The second keynote speech was delivered by Professor James Bushnell from the University of California, Davis, USA, who discussed possible ways of making emissions trading more efficient. The second conference day featured a keynote speech by Catherine Waddams from the University of East Anglia in Norwich, UK. In her speech, Professor Waddams discussed the irrationality of consumers’ switching behaviour on the electricity market. The conference provided a great opportunity for participating researchers as well as experts from the realms of politics, business and other institutions to gain a comprehensive insight into international research findings in the field of energy economics.

Internationally renowned energy economists discuss sustainability

In addition to the three keynote speeches, the conference featured a total of 36 cutting-edge contributions, which had been selected from more than 80 submissions by a scientific committee. While one third of the speakers were from Germany, the vast majority of them came from other European countries and the United States. Thanks to the conference's success in the previous years, with its scientific contributions steadily increasing in quality, the Mannheim Energy Conference is considered one of the most renowned energy economics conferences in the world. What contributes further to the continuing popularity of the conference – apart from the quality of the contributions – are the numerous discussions and networking opportunities in a friendly atmosphere at ZEW after the event. With the aim of providing a platform for in-depth discussions on key aspects of the energy economy and its transformation, ZEW will again host the 2018 Mannheim Energy Conference in the upcoming year.

Leibniz ScienceCampus Mannheim Centre for Competition and Innovation

The Mannheim Centre for Competition and Innovation (MaCCI), funded by the State of Baden-Württemberg and the Leibniz Association, promotes the exchange between researchers from the fields of law and economy and thus provides fresh impetus in terms of competition policy, regulation, and innovation. MaCCI is a joint project of ZEW and the School of Law and Economics at the University of Mannheim. Core topics analysed by MaCCI include vertical competition restraints, abuse of market power, merger control, public and private enforcement of competition law, regulations in the telecommunications and energy market, as well as competition in the health sector.