Master in the Electric Power Industry

First semester

• Introduction to electric power systems (2 ECTS)
  Physical and operational structure of electric power systems. Time scales in system operation. Ancillary services. Interconnected systems. New generation, transmission and distribution technologies.
• Regulation of the electric power industry (6 ECTS)
  Regulation and competition. Regulation in other industries. Legislation and fair competition institutions. Issues specific to electricity industry regulation. Electricity businesses and their specific regulation. Traditional electricity industry regulation. Free market regulation. Monopoly regulation. Case studies of actual regulatory processes.
• Microeconomic and financial analysis of the electric power industry (6 ECTS)
  Supply and demand: market operation and the welfare theory. Market structure. Competitive supply. Monopoly. Oligopoly - models. Marginal analysis of the electric power industry. Introduction to economic and financial analysis. Electric company financial statements. Accounting in the electric power generation, transmission and distribution businesses. Analysis of electric companies' financial statements: ratios. Investment and costs involved in supplying electric power. Financing electric activities. Business strategy in the electricity industry.
• Managerial skills (2 ECTS)
  People, groups and organizations. From group to team. Synergies. Components of effective teams. People in teams. Team management. Effective meetings.
• Decision support models in the electric power industry (4 ECTS)
  Functions for analyzing and studying electric power systems. System characterization. Investment decision models. Operating decision models. Bid submission models. Risk and contract management models. Market price estimation. Reliability models.
• Environmental impact and renewable energy (3 ECTS)
  Photovoltaic solar power. Thermal solar power. Wind power. Biomass. Co-generation (CHP). Environmental impact of electric energy. The economics of environmental impact. Regulatory and economic implications of environmental impact.
• Business ethics (1 ECTS)
  The value of ethics in private enterprise. Keys to business ethics. The application of ethics in business environments.

Second semester

• Advanced analysis of electric power systems (4 ECTS)
  System component models. Solving sparse systems of linear equations. Load flow. Contingency analysis. Optimal load flow. Electric system stability. Frequency-power and voltage-reactive energy control. Status estimates.
• Wholesale and retail electricity markets (7 ECTS)
  Electricity markets. Economic fundamentals. The generation business. Wholesale market design. Review of international experience. Market power. The Spanish market. Regional markets. The retail business. Retail market design. The consumer perspective. Multi-service providers.
• The electric power transmission business (3 ECTS)
  Introduction to the regulation of the transmission business. The transmission grid in electricity system analysis and management models. Planning the Spanish electricity network. Nodal prices. Remuneration for transmission and the establishment of prices and economic signals. Access to the transmission grid. Grid enlargement and electric power markets. Interconnected electricity systems. The transmission grid in regional markets.
• The electric power distribution business (3 ECTS)
  Introduction to distribution. Remuneration and tariffs. Assessment of distribution costs. Losses. Reliability and continuity of supply. Voltage quality. Retailing. Energy efficiency. Review of international experience.
• The natural gas industry and fuel markets (5 ECTS)
  Technology, economic considerations and regulation in the natural gas industry: production, storage, transmission, distribution and retailing. Other non-renewable fuels used to generate electricity: coal, fuel oil, nuclear energy. Economic, technical and regulatory considerations.
• Law and energy (2 ECTS)
  Introduction to law and legal system. Law and energy. Legal regime. Territorial and institutional management. Legal and economic management. Legal aspects of the defence of competition.
• Legislation of the EU and the Spanish electricity industry (3 ECTS)
  Detailed review of the Electricity Industry Act, the Hydrocarbon Act and their respective regulations. Comparison to international legislation. European legislation on electricity. Implementation of the Internal Electricity Market: cost allocation and limited capacity of network infrastructure.

Throughout the year

• State of the art conferences and technical visits (3 ECTS)
  A total of 16 conferences, panels and roundtables of experts, and visits during the course period, delivered by professionals in electricity and related industry companies and institutions. The purpose is to provide a varied view of the activities conducted and the opportunity to become acquainted with and discuss certain topical issues of interest to the world of electricity with experts or the actors directly involved.
• Master's thesis monitoring (2 ECTS)
  Acquaintance with all the master's theses underway. Introduction to the general methodology to be followed. Presentations of theses by their supervisors and authors. Specific discussion of each and every question. Enhancement of communication techniques and presentation delivery.
• Internship and Master's thesis (2 + 12 = 14 ECTS)
  The objective of this subject is to ensure that the student has reached all the professional skills necessary to earn the Master's degree. This is achieved by the internship program in a company and by the development of the Master Thesis.