Seminar with Dr Lukas Skoufa, UQ School of Business
ACCS Weekly Meeting - Guest Speaker
Place: Room 621/622, GP South (Building 78)
Time: Thursday 24 May 2007, 10:30 Morning Tea,
11:00am Seminar
Speaker: Dr Lukas Skoufa, School of Business, University of Queensland
Title: Strategic options facing generation firms in restructured electricity industries: Some implications from recent Australian experience
Abstract:
The research focuses on the strategic options facing
generation firms in 'deregulated'/restructured
electricity industries that had previously been
publicly-owned vertically integrated monopolies. A
strategic options framework for generation firms is
developed and includes a number of options, with
particular emphasis on technology and environmental
issues. The electricity generation sectors in
Victoria (privatised) and Queensland (corporatised)
are used as contexts for the analysis. While the
research suggests that regulation and uncertainties
because of government policy continue to have
significant influences on strategic choices in both
jurisdictions, some of the generators in privatised
Victoria seem better placed to have a competitive
advantage under the present pool-based private-cost
regime. Strategies based on technology and
operational effectiveness are acceptable within the
regulatory framework and have the potential to
provide firms with a competitive advantage; this can
involve diversification into various locations,
plant types, fuels and 'cleaner energy'. Greenhouse
emissions are likely to play an increasingly
important role in future decisions, and a
social-cost based regime is likely to give a
competitive edge to newer technologies, for example
coal seam methane CCGT technologies in Queensland,
at the expense of coal fired generation.