• Energy Research

AbstractThe National Renewable Energy Action Plans (NREAPs), as submitted to the European Commission by the 27 European Union member states (EU27), show ambitious development paths for the deployment of biomass in the heat, electricity, and transport sectors up to 2020. This study analyzes the distribution of different biomass feedstocks over these sectors for various biomass scenarios, examining the fixed development paths described in the NREAPs, while also presenting a possible change in biomass demand for these scenarios. The analysis also reaches beyond the scope of the NREAPs up to 2030. The allocation of biomass for heating (H), electricity (E) and transport (T) applications in the EU27 has been modeled using the RESolve toolkit. RESolve can work both in a static mode and in a dynamic mode. In the static mode the demand for biomass based energy per sector (H, E, and T) is constrained to a fixed amount, whereas in the dynamic mode this constraint is relaxed: the interaction with other renewable (and partially also fossil) energy sources may result in a change in bioenergy demand. From the analysis it can be concluded that in most EU countries the NREAP figures for bioenergy deployment will not be reached under the present regional and national policy/support schemes and market developments. When applying stricter sustainability criteria, the bioenergy developments in the EU27 decrease even further. These effects are strongest for the use of biofuels in transport and biogas for electricity. © 2013 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

In this paper we analyse how in Europe large-scale deployment of CO2 capture and storage (CCS) technology may be hindered by limited public acceptance. We develop scenarios for how public acceptance may constrain the diffusion of CCS, either by reducing the overall amount of installable CCS capacity or by delaying its introduction, and show with an integrated assessment model how the type of limitation in CCS acceptance can critically impact the development of all sectors in the overall energy system over time. We also demonstrate that a reduction or delay in CCS diffusion as a result of critical public opinion can have substantial energy system impacts that differ across not only the nature of acceptance profile but also the sector(s) in which limited public acceptance materializes. Applying a constraint to CCS deployment in both industry and the power sector simultaneously leads to an energy system that is fundamentally different from the one that emerges if the constraint is only applied to the power sector. Depending on how and where CCS diffusion is constrained, net additional annual energy system costs in 2050 can vary between -50 billion up to nearly 800 billon $/yr.

Abstract Research and development (R&D) investments foster green innovation, which is key to decarbonize the energy system and attain long-term climate goals. In this paper, we link three integrated assessment models that possess a macroeconomic framework – WITCH, MERGE-ETL and GEM-E3 – with the bottom-up technology-rich energy system model TIAM-ECN, in order to quantitatively explore how investments in R&D can support deep decarbonization pathways. We take advantage of the endogenous technological learning feature of the first three models to derive R&D-induced capital cost reductions for strategic clusters of low-carbon technologies: solar energy, on- and offshore wind energy, carbon capture and storage, advanced fuels, and batteries for electric vehicles. We examine scenarios with different assumptions on CO2 mitigation and R&D policy. These assumptions are harmonized among our four models, and capital cost reductions driven by R&D are exogenously incorporated in TIAM-ECN, which enables a detailed assessment of the required energy transition. Our results show that the stringency of climate change mitigation policy remains the key factor influencing the diffusion of low-carbon technologies, while R&D can support mitigation goals and influence the contribution of different types of technologies. If implemented effectively and without worldwide barriers to knowledge spill-overs, R&D facilitates the deployment of mature technologies such as solar, wind, and electric vehicles, and enables lower overall energy system costs.

In this paper, we analyze the cost-optimality of transporting eight liquid or gaseous green energy carriers, including H2, via pipelines and shipping, over distances from 250 to 3000 km.

The strong increase in energy prices since 2021 has led to a turning point in thinking about energy poverty in the Netherlands, where the concept of energy poverty was thus far neglected in national policy making. Against this background we present the first multifaceted spatial analysis of energy poverty in the Netherlands, which will serve as the analytical foundation to set up a national energy poverty monitor. In doing so, we make a novel contribution to the literature by estimating and systematically comparing a new set of energy poverty indicators for the Netherlands, taking into account the spatial dimension of the energy poverty problem by using georeferenced microdata at the household level, covering nearly 80 % of Dutch households. We measure three dimensions of the energy poverty problem: (i) the affordability of energy, (ii) the energetic quality of houses and (iii) households' ability to participate in the energy transition. Our analysis shows that at 2019 energy prices, approximately 7 % of Dutch households face a combination of high energy costs, inadequate insulation and low income. However, almost half of all Dutch households (48 %) cannot participate in the energy transition in the built environment on their own, because they live in a poorly or moderately insulated house that they are unable to upgrade because they are either tenants, or owners with insufficient financial wealth. About 75 % of energy-poor households live in a dwelling owned by a social housing association. These observations challenge the dominant policy perspective that greening of the housing stock mainly requires providing home-owners limited financial incentives in the form of subsidies. As regards the geography of energy poverty, we find that severe energy poverty is much more spatially concentrated than income poverty, and mainly occurs in peripheral regions of the Netherlands plus some densely populated urban districts. We argue that energy poverty is a symptom of slow diffusion of energy-saving technologies due to a combination of investment barriers, which should be addressed with a balanced mix of additional financial resources, price incentives and home insulation standards.

For Europe to meet its climate targets, large financial investments in the energy sector are required. Cost reductions for low-carbon power generation are critical to achieve these targets. Particularly pertinent are decreases in financing costs as measured by the WACC. The cost of capital has a bigger impact on the LCOE for renewable energy than for fossil fuel-based power production. It is therefore essential that policy makers and project developers increase their understanding of what drives the cost of capital, including (perceived) investment risks. We believe two areas deserve special attention: (1) the use of competitive bidding for renewable energy projects, which can put downward pressure on their financing costs, and (2) the divestment from fossil fuel projects, which can drive up their financing costs. Using the integrated assessment model TIAM-ECN we demonstrate that Europe's future energy system is highly sensitive to the level of financing costs.

Data on the potential generation of energy from wind, solar and biomass is crucial for analysing their development, as it sets the limits on how much additional capacity it is feasible to install. This paper presents the methodologies used for the development of ENSPRESO, ENergy System Potentials for Renewable Energy SOurces, an EU-28 wide, open dataset for energy models on renewable energy potentials, at national and regional levels for the 2010–2050 period. In ENSPRESO, coherent GIS-based land-restriction scenarios are developed. For wind, resource evaluation also considers setback distances, as well as high resolution geo-spatial wind speed data. For solar, potentials are derived from irradiation data and available area for solar applications. Both wind and solar have separately a potential electricity production which is equivalent to three times the EU's 2016 electricity demand, with wind onshore and solar requiring 16% and 1.4% of total land, respectively. For biomass, agriculture, forestry and waste sectors are considered. Their respective sustainable potentials are equivalent to a minimum 10%, 1.5% and 1% of the total EU primary energy use. ENSPRESO can enrich the results of any energy model (e.g. JRC-EU-TIMES) by improving its analyses of the competition and complementarity of energy technologies. © 2019 The Authors