ENSPRESO - an open, EU-28 wide, transparent and coherent database of wind, solar and biomass energy potentials

Ruiz, Pablo A.; Nijs, Wouter; Tarvydas, Dalius; Sgobbi, Alessandra; Zucker, Andreas; Pilli, Roberto; Jónsson, Ragnar Ingi; Camia, Andrea; Thiel, Christian; Hoyer-Klick, Carsten; Longa, F. Dalla; Kober, Tom; Badger, Jake; Volker, Patrick; Elbersen, B.S.; Brosowski, André; Thrän, Daniela

doi:10.1016/j.esr.2019.100379

Cited by 137 publications

(142 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…For this, future electricity supply will be based largely, or entirely, on renewable sources. 1 Although ambitious, this is possible because solar and wind generation technologies are mature, 2,3 their generation potential is sufficient, [4][5][6][7][8] various options are available to balance variable renewable generation on time scales ranging from hours to years, [9][10][11] and systems relying on them can have similar cost as today's system. 2,[12][13][14] As renewables are abundantly available across the continent, very different kinds of future electricity system designs are possible, from a Europe-wide electricity grid sharing generation resources among all countries, to myriads of locally self-sufficient units, either disconnected or with limited interconnection, as well as combinations of these two extremes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trade-Offs between Geographic Scale, Cost, and Infrastructure Requirements for Fully Renewable Electricity in Europe

Tröndle

Lilliestam

Marelli

et al. 2020

Joule

149

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The European potential for renewable electricity is sufficient to enable fully renewable supply on different scales, from self-sufficient, subnational regions to an interconnected continent. We not only show that a continental-scale system is the cheapest, but also that systems on the national scale and below are possible at cost penalties of 20% or less. Transmission is key to low cost, but it is not necessary to vastly expand the transmission system. When electricity is transmitted only to balance fluctuations, the transmission grid size is comparable to today's, albeit with expanded crossborder capacities. The largest differences across scales concern land use and thus social acceptance: in the continental system, generation capacity is concentrated on the European periphery, where the best resources are. Regional systems, in contrast, have more dispersed generation. The key trade-off is therefore not between geographic scale and cost, but between scale and the spatial distribution of required generation and transmission infrastructure.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trade-Offs between Geographic Scale, Cost, and Infrastructure Requirements for Fully Renewable Electricity in Europe

Tröndle

Lilliestam

Marelli

et al. 2020

Joule

149

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“…First, rooftop PV generates up to 1,800 TWh/yr in this study. Other estimations for the potential of photovoltaics on roofs and facades are lower: 680 TWh/yr for only rooftop PV [54] and 1200-2100 TWh for rooftop PV and PV on façades [2]. Should the lower estimations be correct, very high shares of rooftop PV as considered in this study may not be possible.…”

Section: Comparison To Previous Studiesmentioning

confidence: 76%

“…Second, up to 1,800 TWh/yr are generated by utility-scale PV when its capacity share is the highest. While this does not exceed potential estimations in the literature [2,28], there are conflicting estimations about how much land utility-scale requires (see also Methods). While this study uses measurements from ref.…”

Section: Comparison To Previous Studiesmentioning

confidence: 84%

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Supply-side options to reduce land requirements of fully renewable electricity in Europe

Tröndle

2020

PLoS ONE

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Renewable electricity can fully decarbonise the European electricity supply, but large land requirements may cause land-use conflicts. Using a dynamic model that captures renewable fluctuations, I explore the relationship between land requirements and total system cost of different supply-side options in the future. Cost-minimal fully renewable electricity requires some 97,000 km 2 (2% of total) land for solar and wind power installations, roughly the size of Portugal, and includes large shares of onshore wind. Replacing onshore wind with offshore wind, utility-scale PV, or rooftop PV reduces land requirements drastically with only small cost penalties. Moving wind power offshore is most cost-effective and reduces land requirements by 50% for a cost penalty of only 5%. Wind power can alternatively be replaced by photovoltaics, leading to a cost penalty of 10% for the same effect. My research shows that fully renewable electricity supply can be designed with very different physical appearances and impacts on landscapes and the population, but at similar cost.

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“…The full decarbonization objective can be achieved due to the development of renewable energies, i.e., biomass, solar, and wind energy. The potential of these resources was assessed on the basis of information from Ruis et al [30], leading to a total biomass potential of 1790 TWh, a solar potential of 2200 TWh, and a wind potential of 3200 TWh (including offshore and onshore) for the geographical scope. For biomass, this potential was further divided into solid biomass, bioliquid, and biogas.…”

Section: Resource Evaluationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Role of Electrification in the Decarbonization of Central-Western Europe

d'Aertrycke¹,

Smeers

Peufeilhoux³

et al. 2020

Energies

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Scenario studies of energy transition generally point to the central role of electricity. This notion is ambiguous as its interpretation can range from an electricity-only policy to portfolios of different energy vectors with a dominance of electricity. This ambiguity adds to the uncertainty that already pervades today’s investment environment. This paper examines the centrality of electricity through a so-called “variational scenario” analysis with policies obtained by a mix of electricity-only and green gas penetration while maintaining constant decarbonization objectives. Electricity is a complex product that can only be further complicated by the high penetration of renewables and its interaction with the production and use of synthetic fuels. The variational scenario analysis is conducted with sufficiently fine (hourly) granularity to produce an adequate representation of these phenomena. It shows that tilting the central role of electricity to a mix of electricity and green gas offers several advantages in terms of efficiency, flexibility of investment strategies, and robustness with respect to major uncertainties. It shows that the variational scenario analysis can be extended to more complex mixes of policies.

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ENSPRESO - an open, EU-28 wide, transparent and coherent database of wind, solar and biomass energy potentials

Cited by 137 publications

References 37 publications

Trade-Offs between Geographic Scale, Cost, and Infrastructure Requirements for Fully Renewable Electricity in Europe

Trade-Offs between Geographic Scale, Cost, and Infrastructure Requirements for Fully Renewable Electricity in Europe

Supply-side options to reduce land requirements of fully renewable electricity in Europe

The Role of Electrification in the Decarbonization of Central-Western Europe

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