Margarita Ortega-Izquierdo; Pablo del Río, 2016
Summary
The European Union is committed to the deployment of electricity from renewable energy sources (RES-E). However, the large and recent increase in the RES-E penetration has raised the concern of policy makers in the EU Member States about the costs of public promotion of RES-E. Nevertheless, an economic analysis of the RES-E contribution should include the policy costs of RES-E deployment, but also its benefits. This would contribute to support the debate on renewable energy policy targets in the EU and its MS. The aim of this paper is to close this gap in the literature with a novel methodology and put those policy costs into perspective by evaluating some of the most relevant benefits of RES-E deployment. The results show that RES deployment due to RES-E support has led to two main benefits (lower CO2 emissions and fossil fuel savings), which are slightly below those costs. Behind this broader picture, significant country and technology differences emerge. The benefits are above policy costs for hydro and wind, and below those costs for bioenergy, solar photovolatics and other RES-E.
Klessmann, Corinna et al., 2011
Summary
This article evaluates the status of current RES deployment, policies and barriers in the EU-27 member states and compares it to the required to meet the 2020 targets. The evaluation relies strongly on the quantitative deployment status and policy effectiveness indicators. European RES deployment and policy has progressed strongly in recent years, but the growth here has been mainly driven by effective policies in a small or medium number of top runner countries. Across Europe, the highest average policy effectiveness over six years was reached for onshore wind (4.2%), biofuels (3.6%) and biomass electricity (2.7%), while in the heat sector, all technologies score below 2%. Comparing the recent progress to the required growth for meeting the 2020 target, it appears that some countries largely exceed the interim targets of the RES Directive 2009/28/EC. Despite this, Europe will need additional policy effort to reach the 2020 target. Critical success factors include implementing effective and efficient policies that attract sufficient investments, reducing administrative and grid related barriers, especially in currently less advanced countries, upgrading the power grid infrastructure, dismantling financial barriers in the heat sector, realising sustainability standards for biomass, and lowering energy demand through increased energy efficiency efforts.
Fais, Birgit; Neil Strachan, Nagore Sabio, 2016
Summary
The paper evaluates the critical contribution of the industry sector to long-term decarbonisation, efficiency and renewable energy policy targets. Its methodological novelty is the incorporation of a process-oriented modelling approach based on a comprehensive technology database for the industry sector in a national energy system model for the UK (UKTM), allowing quantification of the role of both decarbonisation of upstream energy vectors and of mitigation options in the industrial sub-categories. This enhanced model is then applied in a comparative policy scenario analysis that explores various target dimensions on emission mitigation, renewable energy and energy efficiency at both national and European level. The results show that ambitious emission cuts in the industry sector of up to 77% until 2050 compared to 2010 can be achieved. Moreover, with a reduction in industrial energy demand of up to 31% between 2010 and 2050, the sector is essential for achieving the overall efficiency commitments. The industry sector also makes a moderate contribution to the expansion of renewable energies mostly through the use of biomass for low-temperature heating services. However, additional sub-targets on renewable sources and energy efficiency need to be assessed critically, as they can significantly distort the cost-efficiency of the long-term mitigation pathway.