Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: International Journal of Energy Sector Management, Volume 4, Issue 1

We are very happy to present the first issue of IJESM of 2010. This issue marks a major development in the journey of this journal. As you may be aware, the online paper submission and processing system for the journal was launched in August 2009. This is the first issue which is entirely prepared using the online paper processing system. Over the past few months, the editorial team, the authors and the reviewers have familiarised themselves with the new system and we now are in a position to process the submissions more efficiently and in many cases quickly. Consequently, the submission rate has also improved in this short period. We hope that more authors will experience the new environment and contribute to further development of the journal.

This issue contains six research papers. The first paper deals with frequency regulation of the electricity system in India. In this paper, S.K. Parida, S.N. Singh and S.C. Srivastava present the existing system of frequency regulation in the country and suggest ways of incentivising the system so that adequate frequency support is available and the system operates efficiently.

In the second paper, Tugrul U. Daim, Willy Schweinfort, Gulgun Kayakutlu and Noah Third analyse and contrast the energy policy priorities of Germany and France using hierarchical decision model and goal programming. They developed a model considering alternative technologies and analysed the importance attached by each nation to different factors in arriving at their energy policies. The results indicate the differences in the policy priorities of two countries.

Saurabh Chanana and Ashwani Kumar analysed the issue of demand response using frequency-linked real-time price mechanisms. They claim that this is a novel idea that can be implemented at a low cost. Such demand response can have wider applications in different electricity markets.

K. Muralidhar focuses on the enterprise risk management (ERM) in the oil industry of the Middle East. It reviews the current status of ERM in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries and provides an improved understanding of the ERM in the strategic industry.

Sriram Siddhartha Potluri and Thillai A. Rajan analysed the risks involved in the investment of merchant power plants being promoted in India. In order to address the electricity supply issues in the future, the country has started a new initiative on merchant power plants. The paper uses financial analysis and simulation techniques to understand the risk-return relationships for such plants. They find that the risk-return profile varies significantly compared to a conventional power plant.

Finally, Clara Inés Pardo Martínez analyses and compares the energy efficiency developments in the food industries of Germany and Columbia. Using a three-digit level disaggregation, she analysed the changes in the energy intensity using a decomposition analysis. She also used production functions to analyse the energy performance improvements. She finds that energy prices positively influenced energy efficiency in Germany while the enterprise size and the concentration processes have influenced the Colombian food industry.

We hope our readers will enjoy the issue.

Subhes C. Bhattacharyya, Prasanta K. Dey