Abstract
This paper analyses in two scenarios the impacts that climate policies, especially the support of renewable energies and the price of carbon, will have on the European electricity system. A central focus is the impact that electricity generated from renewable energy sources (RES-E) on other system components such as conventional power generation technologies, transmission grids and electricity storage facilities. For the analysis in this paper detailed feed-in profiles for each hour of the year are derived for fluctuating generation from wind and solar power based on actual meteorological data from weather stations and satellites. The model PowerACE-Europe simulates all year simultaneously in hourly resolution, covering each country of the EU-27 as well as Norway and Switzerland. The model calculates the least-cost solution for meeting demand in every hour by simulating investment in power generation technologies, grids and storages by solving a large linear problem thr ough interior-point optimization.