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PublicationIntegrating district heating potentials into European energy system modelling: An assessment of cost advantages of renewable and excess heat( 2024)
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PublicationAssessment of policy pathways for reaching the EU target of (at least) 27% renewable energies by 2030( 2019)As an important first step in defining the framework for renewable energies (RE) within the European Union post 2020, a binding EU-wide target to achieve a renewables share of at least 27% of gross final energy demand by 2030 was adopted by the European Council and Parliament in October 2014. On 30 November 2016, the next step was taken: The European Commission published a package of proposed legislative measures for the time horizon from 2020 to 2030 called ""Clean Energy for all Europeans"", commonly referred to as the ""Winter Package"". It is aimed at facilitating the clean energy transition while developing the internal market for electricity, thus fostering the Energy Union. Within the scope of the Intelligent Energy Europe project ""towards2030-dialogue"" we have facilitated and guided the RE policy dialogue for the period up to 2030 over the past number of years. The dialogue process was coupled with in-depth and continuous analysis of relevant topics that included renewable energies in all energy sectors, but with more detailed analyses for renewable electricity. The analytical works included, for example, a first critical reflection on the Winter Package as well as a model-based analysis of distinct renewable electricity policy pathways up to 2030, including options for coordinating and aligning national support schemes as well as the clustering of regional support schemes. This chapter describes the approach taken and presents some of our key results together with recommendations on the way forward.
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PublicationDo almost mature renewable energy technologies still need dedicated support towards 2030?( 2019)The discussion on whether and how to continue support for almost mature renewable electricity (RES-E) technologies, such as onshore wind and PV, has recently intensified. In this paper we analyze arguments in the literature in favor and against the phase-out of renewables support in the context of increasingly competitive RES-E technologies. We conclude that there are good reasons to continue dedicated RES-E policies beyond 2020 for those technologies. Dedicated RES-E support can provide a predictable, secure investment framework that lowers the risk premiums required by investors and therefore reduces the capital costs of RES-E. In addition, there are still significant cost reduction potentials for these technologies. The increased use of renewables has multiple socio-economic benefits in addition to climate change mitigation. These arguments are still valid when looking at the current market situation characterized by oversupply and low prices on both the CO2 market and some power markets in Europe. Since renewables are not the main reason for the current oversupply, it would not be effective to take actions towards restoring market equilibrium in the form of radical or overall phase-out of RES-E support.
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PublicationHow can the renewables targets be reached cost-effectively? Policy options for the development of renewables and the transmission grid( 2018)Increasing the share of renewable energy sources in the electricity sector (RES-E) contributes to achieving the European energy and climate targets including a 27% share of renewables in final energy consumption by 2030. We assess the future costs of the power sector for different RES-target levels and support schemes including generation costs, system operation costs and transmission grid development costs based on three power sector models. The results show similar power system costs for different target levels. RES-E shares below 70% involve limited infrastructure costs that are below 2.6% of the overall system costs. The impacts of the modelled RES-E policies, an EU quota and national feed-in premiums on transmission costs are ambiguous: Contrary to expectations, the costs of transmission network development under quota obligations are lower than under technology-specific feed-in premiums for RES-E penetration levels up to 50%. The drivers of transmission costs include not only a concentration of renewable capacity, but also the exact location of RES-E capacity with respect to existing power plants and the strength of the existing infrastructure. Quota obligations lead to higher grid costs than feed-in premiums if the RES-E share amounts to 70% due to the stronger regional concentration of RES power plants.
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