Center for Global Affairs
Global Electricity Markets and Policy
This course will train students to think like policy and financial analysts. Students will apply
fundamental concepts from economics, finance and policy to the power sector, while learning
the specifics of how the industry operates. The course is wide ranging and varied and should
appeal to any student with an interest in how this industry will decarbonize while continuing to
deliver reliable, affordable electricity.
Students will work together in teams to make decisions in a simulated power market as they try
to make money while decarbonizing the power system. The simulation will allow students to
apply the lessons they learn in class in a semi real-world environment, provide thought provoking
decision points and make the class environment interactive and ¿ hopefully ¿ fun.
Reliable, reasonably priced electricity is essential to human development and progress. It heats
and cools our living spaces, lights our communal spaces and homes and powers our technology
and the industry that sustains our lifestyles. However, in doing this the industry directly produces
one quarter of the world¿s CO2 emissions.
The power business is one of the largest and most important on the planet and is the key to our
ability to move to a net zero emissions world. It is undergoing a revolution driven by intermittent
solar and wind energy, batteries and a rapid transition away from incumbent fossil fuel
generation. The grid itself is transforming as new technologies empower consumers to generate
electricity closer to home.