In spring 2010, European and international climate experts at PwC, the European Climate Forum, the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and the International Institute for Applied System Analysis published 100% Renewable Electricity – A roadmap to 2050 for Europe and North Africa. The report examined the potential for powering Europe and North Africa with renewable electricity exclusively by 2050. It set out a series of financial, market, infrastructure and government policy steps that would need to occur if such a ‘what if’ vision was to be achieved.

Now, a year on, this latest report provides a complementary analysis to the original roadmap. PwC, the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and the International Institute for Applied System Analysis, look at whether the vision of 100% renewable electricity has moved closer or further away as a result of current and recent developments over the last 12 months. The report, intended to support the wider debate  in this area, examines five areas that are most critical to achieving progress and, through the lens of these five areas, looks at the impact of recent and current events.

The report can be downloaded at

http://www.pwc.com/en_GX/gx/sustainability/research-insights/assets/renewable-electricity-2050.pdf

A Global Renewable Investment Plan - Scaling up investments in renewable energy technologies

The SSG team has contributed to this piece of work presented at the “Delhi International Renewable Energy Conference”, New Delhi, 26th to 29th October 2010

Renewable energy is increasingly seen as an important part of the global energy economy. The proposed Global Renewables Investment Plan (GRIP) is intended to strengthen this perception and to emphasize renewables as a promising investment opportunity. The GRIP aims to provide a common vision for international coordination to scale up renewable energy investments globally.

The document can be downloaded at
http://www.direc2010.gov.in/pdf/2209-10_GTZ_GRIP-Studie_RZ_SCREEN.pdf

Linking Renewables with a SuperSmart Grid in Europe and North Africa

The opportunity exists to harness all forms of renewable power at scale across Europe if this is supported by a single European power market united with a similar market in North Africa. This is the result of a new report released this week examining the potential for powering Europe and North Africa with renewable electricity exclusively by 2050. International energy and climate experts from PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP in collaboration with researchers of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) and the European Climate Forum (ECF) report that the transformation of the power sector would address energy security and supply concerns while decarbonising electricity generation and at the same time contribute to a substantial reduction in energy poverty.

For the first time this study has formulated a policy roadmap towards a 2050 goal of achieving a 100% renewable power sector in Europe and North Africa. The researchers studied the market in terms of financial, infrastructure and government policy milestones for policy makers and business to answer the “what if” question.

The roadmap addresses four critical areas of intervention: Policy, Markets, Investments and Infrastructure. Political leadership is the key element for achieving the vision. It has the ability to foster a stable, long term and transparent regulatory framework that will promote confidence with investors and enable the build-up of the required supply chain and grid infrastructure.

Download the complete report here 100-renewable_electricity-roadmap

An overview of the method used to develop the policy roadmap and details of the key messages that have emerged to date are provided here.

Key messages:

• The development of Europe wide business cases by 2015 for renewables and grid infrastructure projects at a European level, that include long term renewable (REN) and climate targets
• The build-up of significant renewable energy generation capacity by 2015 to harvest wind and solar potentials
• Phasing out of fossil fuel subsidies by 2020 and the development of a strategic timeline for phasing out financial support for renewable technologies
• Setting up of REN targets for North Africa by 2020
• The creation of a single European power market by 2020
• Strategic decommissioning of fossil fuel plants in the EU and North Africa beginning in 2030, leading to their wholesale replacement by large scale renewable power generation by 2040.“

The European Climate Forum (ECF) and the Climate Parliament in cooperation with the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and the Renewables Grid Initiative (RGI) will present on Thursday, 17th December 2009 the following side-event at the COP 15:

“SuperSmart Grids - Pathways to a decarbonised power system”

Europe and other regions need to accelerate the delivery of SuperSmart Grids and renewables to reach a fully decarbonised power system by 2050 and meet the 2°C target. The integration of large amount of renewable energy sources in the grid is possible with current technologies, but policy makers need to lead the transformation by securing the necessary legislation on support mechanisms and regulatory reform.

Inputs from:

Ruth Davis, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB)
Nick Dunlop, Climate Parliament
Satu Hassi, European Parliament
Peter Höppe, Munich RE and DESERTEC Industrial Initiative (DII)
Ben Voorhorst, TenneT TSO/Transpower

A discussion chaired and moderated by Antonella Battaglini (PIK, ECF, RGI) will follow.

Click here to download the flyer.

Concentrating solar thermal power (CSTP) is increasingly discussed as a key low carbon electricity supply technology.

Click here to know more about it.