InvestExL: Investment under Uncertainty in the Future Energy Systems - A Real Options Analysis

September 28, 2021

To reduce greenhouse gas emissions and limit climate change, it is inevitable that the share of renewable energy production must increase. Countries all over the world have introduced support schemes in order to accelerate investment in renewable energy. Many of these support schemes have been retracted or revised unexpectedly over the last years, affecting firms and investors negatively. It is, therefore, interesting to study how the investment strategy of a firm in renewable energy projects is affected by subsidy availability and withdrawal. Another challenge for practice is the question of how regulators can design sustainable and effective policies. Photos from Unsplash Roel Nagy‘s...

Active vs. passive learning explained

March 19, 2021

How can firms use signals from policy makers more efficiently to make better decisions? In standard real options models, learning is viewed as a passive consequence of observing the evolution of expected profits over time. In the InvestExL project, we take a new approach that encourages active information acquisition. Firms receive signals that they use to update their beliefs about the future profitability of a project. The opportunity to learn gives rise to an additional trade-off between investing now and waiting. Compared to standard real options literature, this allows for a more realistic treatment of the investment scenario in which information...

Phd Winter School on Real Options and Commodity Markets

May 7, 2018

On March 18-23 the PhD Winter School on Real Options and Commodity Markets was held in Tauplitz, Austria. The school was organized by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and CenSES. 30 participants spent the week attending morning and afternoon sessions in which international lecturers conveyed both state-of-the art knowledge and recent advances on real options analysis and commodity finance with a special focus on energy markets. During a generous lunch break, the participants had the possibility to enjoy downhill and cross-country skiing in the ski area Die Tauplitz, winter walks in the picturesque village Tauplitz or some relaxing...

PhD Winter School on Real Options and Commodity Markets, Tauplitz (Austria), March 18-23

December 8, 2017

We are organizing a Winter School on Real Options and Commodity Markets in Tauplitz, Austria, 18-23 March 2018. The winter school aims to bring together 30 PhD students with international experts in the field of real options and/or commodity finance. The lecturers will convey state-of-the art knowledge as well as recent advances on real options analysis and commodity finance with a special focus on energy markets. All lecturers will be available for discussion throughout the week. For more information see: https://www.ntnu.edu/web/winterschoolrocm2018/. Register fast – places are allocated at a first come basis!

New Knowledge-building Project for Industry received funding from the ENERGIX program of the Norwegian Research Council

January 20, 2017

Investment under uncertainty in the future energy system: The role of expectations and learning EU’s and Norway’s ambitious climate and energy targets need to be fulfilled by making many small and large investment decisions. Each of these need to balance organizational objectives, profitability, and sustainability concerns, and will be made under considerable uncertainty regarding the future energy system. InvestExL will develop knowledge that assists decision makers and policy makers, using active learning to support investment processes in the Norwegian energy system, while at the same time delivering scientific contributions at the forefront of real options theory in the direction of...

1st YARO Workshop

November 17, 2016

The YARO workshop is a 2 day event and provides an opportunity for PhD students, post-doctoral researchers and other young academics to share their research and debate approaches as well as network with like-minded fellow researchers. We welcome real options papers from any field, e.g., competition and strategy, R&D, entrepreneurship and innovation, new product development, capabilities, infrastructure and network investments, valuation of natural resources, commodities and power investments, growth options, corporate valuation and IPOs, investments involving learning, agency issues and incentives, environmental protection and public policy.