Preface: Special issue on "managing Uncertainty in Energy Markets"

Over the last decades energy markets have been deregulated, and consumers, producers, and traders, as well as system operators and regulators must make decisions where the outcomes are heavily influences by uncertain factors. The energy industry is often characterized by large investments in assets with long life times, market prices are uncertain, and the need for climate change mitigation adds to the uncertainty both in long term and short term decisions. In 2011, awinter school on the subject “Managing Uncertainty in Energy Infrastructure Investments” was organized in Oppdal, Norway. The topics covered included: modeling uncertainty (focusing on investments, options, energy markets etc.), multistage stochastic programming, and stochastic equilibrium and capacity expansion. The winter school consisted of lectures and presentations of original research given by the winter school participants. After the winter school, the participating students were invited to submit papers to a special issue of Energy Systems. The best papers are presented here.