TY - JOUR

T1 - Flexible electricity generation, grid exchange and storage for the transition to a 100% renewable energy system in Europe

AU - Child, Michael

AU - Kemfert, Claudia

AU - Bogdanov, Dmitrii

AU - Breyer, Christian

N1 - Funding Information: The authors gratefully acknowledge the public financing of Tekes, the Finnish Funding Agency for Innovation, for the ‘Neo-Carbon Energy’ project under the number 40101/14, and Stiftung Mercator GmbH and Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt supporting the Energy Watch Group, which helped to realise parts of this study. The authors thank Arman Aghahosseini for support in diagram creation. Appendix A Publisher Copyright: © 2019 The Authors

PY - 2019/8/1

Y1 - 2019/8/1

N2 - Two transition pathways towards a 100% renewable energy (RE) power sector by 2050 are simulated for Europe using the LUT Energy System Transition model. The first is a Regions scenario, whereby regions are modelled independently, and the second is an Area scenario, which has transmission interconnections between regions. Modelling is performed in hourly resolution for 5-year time intervals, from 2015 to 2050, and considers current capacities and ages of power plants, as well as projected increases in future electricity demands. Results of the optimisation suggest that the levelised cost of electricity could fall from the current 69 €/MWh to 56 €/MWh in the Regions scenario and 51 €/MWh in the Area scenario through the adoption of low cost, flexible RE generation and energy storage. Further savings can result from increasing transmission interconnections by a factor of approximately four. This suggests that there is merit in further development of a European Energy Union, one that provides clear governance at a European level, but allows for development that is appropriate for regional contexts. This is the essence of a SuperSmart approach. A 100% RE energy system for Europe is economically competitive, technologically feasible, and consistent with targets of the Paris Agreement.

AB - Two transition pathways towards a 100% renewable energy (RE) power sector by 2050 are simulated for Europe using the LUT Energy System Transition model. The first is a Regions scenario, whereby regions are modelled independently, and the second is an Area scenario, which has transmission interconnections between regions. Modelling is performed in hourly resolution for 5-year time intervals, from 2015 to 2050, and considers current capacities and ages of power plants, as well as projected increases in future electricity demands. Results of the optimisation suggest that the levelised cost of electricity could fall from the current 69 €/MWh to 56 €/MWh in the Regions scenario and 51 €/MWh in the Area scenario through the adoption of low cost, flexible RE generation and energy storage. Further savings can result from increasing transmission interconnections by a factor of approximately four. This suggests that there is merit in further development of a European Energy Union, one that provides clear governance at a European level, but allows for development that is appropriate for regional contexts. This is the essence of a SuperSmart approach. A 100% RE energy system for Europe is economically competitive, technologically feasible, and consistent with targets of the Paris Agreement.

KW - 100% Renewable energy

KW - Energy policy

KW - Energy transition

KW - Europe

KW - Storage technologies

KW - Economics

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85062289383&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.renene.2019.02.077

DO - 10.1016/j.renene.2019.02.077

M3 - Journal articles

AN - SCOPUS:85062289383

VL - 139

SP - 80

EP - 101

JO - Renewable Energy

JF - Renewable Energy

SN - 0960-1481

ER -