Smart Energy Systems for coherent 100% renewable energy and transport solutions

This study presents one scenario for a 100% renewable energy system in Europe by the year 2050. The transition from a business-as-usual situation in 2050, to a 100% renewable energy Europe is analysed in a series of steps. Each step reflects one major technological change. For each step, the impact is presented in terms of energy (primary energy supply), environment (carbon dioxide emissions), and economy (total annual socio-economic cost). The steps are ordered in terms of their scientific and political certainty as follows: decommissioning nuclear power, implementing a large amount of heat savings, converting the private car fleet to electricity, providing heat in rural areas with heat pumps, providing heat in urban areas with district heating, converting fuel in heavy-duty vehicles to a renewable electrofuel, and replacing natural gas with methane. The results indicate that by using the Smart Energy System approach, a 100% renewable energy system in Europe is technically possible without consuming an unsustainable amount of bioenergy. This is due to the additional flexibility that is created by connecting the electricity, heating, cooling, and transport sectors together, which enables an intermittent renewable penetration of over 80% in the electricity sector. The cost of the Smart Energy Europe scenario is approximately 10–15% higher than a business-as-usual scenario, but since the final scenario is based on local investments instead of imported fuels, it will create approximately 10 million additional direct jobs within the EU.

Smart Energy Europe: The technical and economic impact of one potential 100% renewable energy scenario for the European Union

Status and perspectives on 100% renewable energy systems

Integration of decentralized energy systems in neighbourhoods using the energy hub approach

Germany has set ambitious policies for increasing renewable energy shares and decommissioning nuclear energy, but there are certain scientific gaps on how this transition should occur, especially when considering all energy sectors. The purpose of this study is to advance the knowledge of transitioning the German energy system to 100% renewable energy towards 2050. Taking into consideration renewable resource potentials, energy system costs and primary energy supply this study develops a path for transitioning the German energy system within the heating, industrial, transport and electricity sectors. The analysis demonstrates that it is possible to carry out this transition from a technical and economic perspective with some measures being vital for achieving this ambition in a cost-effective manner. The most significant challenge in this transition is regarding resource potentials where especially biomass resources are constrained and under pressure. Finally, the most influential measures for achieving the renewable transition are discussed.

Zlatko Zmijarević

Papers

Planning for a 100% independent energy system based on smart energy storage for integration of renewables and CO2 emissions reduction