A Policy Roadmap to 2050
A 100% renewable electricity supply for Europe and North Africa is possible

Linking Renewables with a SuperSmart Grid in Europe and North Africa

The SuperSmart Grid team at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), together with scientists from the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) and industry experts, has collaborated with PricewaterhouseCoopers to investigate what will be required at a policy level to fully decarbonise the power sector in Europe and North Africa.

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.

The final report will be published in March 2010 and will be a practical guide for policy makers and the business community to feasibly achieve a 100% renewable electricity supply underpinned by a SuperSmart Grid.

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Key messages:
- A largely renewable power sector is technically and economically feasible. Achieving this is a political issue.
- Integrating the solar resources of North Africa with the wind resources of Europe is an efficient way to produce cheap and dispatchable renewable electricity for both regions.
- The majority of the changes required to achieve this by 2050 need to be initiated in the next decade. We need to increase the use of existing policy tools to aid the initial growth in renewable generation. These can be phased out overtime as renewables become the cheapest option.
- Proven policy mechanisms to overcome public and political resistance to new power transmission lines do not currently exist and will limit renewable generation. This is the most pressing issue to address when seeking to decarbonise the power system.