The seminar seeks to provide participants with the analytical tools used to make tactical and strategic decisions in an uncertain context. Participants will learn to model uncertain decision problems, apply decision-making theory and risk analysis, and use Monte-Carlo simulations and decision trees, with the help of specialized computer tools. Case studies provide illustrations.

Companies working in the energy markets are exposed to significant fluctuations in the price of energy commodities (oil, gas and electricity), which have a determining impact on their financial performance. This seminar’s contents integrate basic concepts and applications for the management (hedging) of energy price risks and using financial products such as futures/forwards, options and swaps on energy commodities. The objectives of this seminar are:

• to present financial tools used in the energy sector;
• to outline the main concepts behind hedging strategies; and
• to illustrate the application of financial tools and possible hedging strategies in practical situations using energy derivatives in NYMEX (New York Mercantile Exchange).

All around the world, many governments have introduced new laws promoting the integration of renewable energy.  Notably, a lot of effort has focused on the supply side of the electricity market with the integration of electric production capacity from renewable sources like wind or hydro.  Without neglecting that fossil fuel electricity production is still needed to satisfy the demand in many countries, governments are imposing renewable energy sources to electric grid companies while they have to find ways to meet the future demand growth.

These government obligations of integrating renewable electricity production in the supply mix, and then finding ways to transport and distribute this renewable energy towards the different consumptions markets, won’t come without challenges.  Many of these challenges are around economics issues to make sure the market can work while adapting quickly to demand variations in different sub markets.  Many other issues are more technical in nature as they try to find ways to connect the different renewable supply side production to the demand side at the right time, to the right consumers, and with maximum reliability of the grid.

The main objectives of this seminar are; understanding the many economic and technical challenges Chinese grid companies will be facing in integrating renewable energy; knowing some different option they could consider while integrating renewable option in the Chinese electricity market and learning from real case study around the world in trying to integrate renewable energy in their electricity market.

This seminar is quite unique in the way both instructors work together to combine economic and technical issues with the participant.  After setting the tone during the first two days on basic knowledge and understanding the key concepts, the third day is entirely dedicated towards real case studies around the world.  Both instructors will first share their knowledge and understanding of the many economic and technical challenges governments are imposing on grid companies to promote renewable integration.  Then they will share knowledge through real case studies around the world energy market and propose comparisons to the existing market in China.

The introductory session first outlines the general presentation of the electrical network modernization project called “Smart Grid”. The project’s origins, its finality, the issues, and a review of several initiatives in this area will be presented. The second session will be focused on the impact of the Smart Grid on business processes of electrical distribution and on transmission utilities.  Special detail will be provided on planning, network operation, and maintenance. Measurement, procurement and implementation of energy efficiency programs will also be addressed. A review of the different components of the Smart Grid will be presented during the third session.  Demand and peak management, advanced metering, network automation, monitoring of on-line equipments, Volt and var controls, among other technologies, will be presented.  Some technical notions will be explained allowing Managers and Technical leaders to understand the outcome of new applications, to choose and prioritize the components to be deployed on the network or on the customer premises.  Case studies will allow participants to assess cost and benefits of these components.  The forth session will cover the technical challenges raised by the Smart Grid, as well as standards, knowledge gaps, new equipment and software being developed to ensure network operability, and harvesting benefits from these new applications. The fifth session will be focused on new market trends and orders being set to enable Smart Grid development, as well as on the emerging new actors, on the evolution of the regulatory framework and the companies’ business model. The last session will be centered on current best practice studies in this area and to answer questions from participants.

Particularly, this seminar presents specific decision support models pertaining to concrete management situations arising in production and other segments of the energy sector. Cases are from two levels: on the one hand the energy firm, looking at issues such as energy procurement, production and trading by the firm; and on the other hand the whole energy sector, looking at issues such as planning and regulation.

The hydro sector is at a cross roads. On the one hand, hydro, as a cleaner / carbon low impact source of energy, will be in demand to meet increasing energy needs in the 21st century. There is a wide consensus on the relevance and potential for hydro in the 21st century. On the other hand, several studies and reviews have highlighted the economic, social and environmental limitations of several hydro projects. This questioning has increased the challenges to build new dams; the social license to design, build and operate hydro power has become a central issue for many companies. Several key industry players have developed new standards, procedures and practices to address these issues.  Therefore, there is an increasing recognition that “getting it right” in the integration of social, economic and environmental dimensions of dams is a necessary condition for hydro power operations.

This seminar will focus on current social and environmental issues in the Hydro sector. It does so by building on an understanding of the diversity of various settings; it aims at learning from relevant experiences of hydro power design, construction and exploitation so as to reflect on current practices and envision possibilities. Through this seminar, participants will (1) develop an awareness of key social and environmental issues related to hydro development and exploitation in a global context; (2) gain a deeper understanding of work and processes related to successful management of social, environmental, and economic issues; (3) be exposed to existing global social and environmental standards and frameworks; and (4) become more aware of the relevance of their own skills in addressing these challenges. 

The pedagogy is based on in-depth / documented case studies on the degrees and forms of integration of social, environmental and economic dimensions in hydro power design, construction and exploitation. The seminar is based on the active involvement from the participants and during in-class discussions. Participants are exposed to relevant frameworks and are invited to apply these frameworks to the case studies and discussions.

• Law and regulation (legal aspects of regulation under restructured energy systems)
• Economic and Financial Principles of Regulation (Why and how to regulate under restructured energy systems)
• Economic Models of Regulation – Incentive mechanisms (Economic regulation in practice – evaluation tools of the impact of regulation on industry, consumers, government and other stakeholders, presentation of case studies and practical international examples demonstrating the real effects of reforms ),
• Financial Models of Regulation (Use of Models to determine the « just rate of return » and the links between cost of capital and electricity prices, functioning of the wholesale markets and pricing mechanisms, competition issues in restructured markets).