31 May 2011
The EU must reform its infrastructure planning regime if it is to achieve 100% renewable electricity by 2050, according to a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and the International Institute for Applied System Analysis.
Richard Gledhill, head of climate change and carbon markets at PwC, told Environmental Finance the EU “made quite good progress on direct investment in renewables last year as it came out of recession and the costs of renewables came down as technology moved to scale”. He said this meant that the bloc was well on track to meet its 2020 targets. “But if the EU means to reach 100%, then we need to make some more fundamental changes,” he added.
Renewable electricity capacity increased by a record 30% in Europe last year, while global investment in renewables reached new heights, the report notes.
Antonella Battaglini, senior scientist at PIK, said: “Today it is barely possible to build a single transmission line, especially between countries, as a result of inefficient legislation and public opposition.” He warned: “Unless we start to build the infrastructure for a super-smart grid for Europe and North Africa quickly and efficiently, we can abandon the dream of reaching the 100% renewables electricity system by 2050.”
The study builds on a report published by the same organisations last year, which showed how Europe and North Africa could manage a 100% renewable electricity supply by 2050. It concluded that good progress had been made with renewable electricity power generation capacity reaching a total of 23GW in 2010 and global investment in the sector topping $243 billion.
A report published last week by the International Energy Agency came to similar conclusions, likewise urging policymakers to focus their attention on updating the EU’s energy infrastructure. It concluded that “power systems have greater capacity to handle variable, renewable electricity…than commonly believed.” But it insisted that “a robust transmission grid” is key to successful integrating them.
The report noted that the “reinforcement and extension of grids can be a complex and lengthy planning challenge, and construction subject to heavy delays caused by public antipathy”. It therefore urged policy-makers to “urgently ascertain where grid weaknesses exist, and where congestion is likely therefore to occur, and commence planning and remedial measures as soon as possible”.
Philippa Jones
