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Grid Expansion Delays Won't Derail Germany's Energy Transition, Analysis Finds
The naysayers really want you to believe that Germany's transition away from fossil and nuclear can't work - don't believe it for a minute.
Grid Expansion Delays Won't Derail Germany's Energy Transition, Analysis Finds
Tildy Bayar
August 29, 2013
LONDON -- Expanding Germany’s transmission grid in order to accommodate increasing amounts of renewable energy will be a crucial element of the nation’s effort to meet its 2020 climate targets. But new analysis suggests that even if grid updates are heavily delayed, the nation could still successfully add large amounts of renewables, albeit with slightly higher costs.
<snip>
“There are a number of reasons why there are concerns,” said Raffaele Piria, SEFEP’s programme director. “Some say grid expansion cannot or might not happen at the speed assumed by the official grid development plans, and the risk of delays has been used as a motivation to propose a slowdown in renewable energy deployment in Germany. Our study shows that even if there is a delay, it is no reason to slow down renewable deployment in general.”
<snip>
Ecofys’s research undertook to debunk what SEFEP called two persistent myths regarding the Energiewende. The first is the belief that if Germany’s grid expansion plans are delayed, a slowdown in renewable energy investment will happen in the coming years.
However, the study found that Germany can even surpass its target, drawing 72 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030 even if grid expansion is limited to projects that were already under construction by December 2012. Importantly, the costs of this limited grid expansion would be manageable: according to the study, total power system costs would only increase by 0.8 to 3 percent depending on the geographical distribution and generation profile of the nation’s renewable energy sources. ...
Tildy Bayar
August 29, 2013
LONDON -- Expanding Germany’s transmission grid in order to accommodate increasing amounts of renewable energy will be a crucial element of the nation’s effort to meet its 2020 climate targets. But new analysis suggests that even if grid updates are heavily delayed, the nation could still successfully add large amounts of renewables, albeit with slightly higher costs.
<snip>
“There are a number of reasons why there are concerns,” said Raffaele Piria, SEFEP’s programme director. “Some say grid expansion cannot or might not happen at the speed assumed by the official grid development plans, and the risk of delays has been used as a motivation to propose a slowdown in renewable energy deployment in Germany. Our study shows that even if there is a delay, it is no reason to slow down renewable deployment in general.”
<snip>
Ecofys’s research undertook to debunk what SEFEP called two persistent myths regarding the Energiewende. The first is the belief that if Germany’s grid expansion plans are delayed, a slowdown in renewable energy investment will happen in the coming years.
However, the study found that Germany can even surpass its target, drawing 72 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030 even if grid expansion is limited to projects that were already under construction by December 2012. Importantly, the costs of this limited grid expansion would be manageable: according to the study, total power system costs would only increase by 0.8 to 3 percent depending on the geographical distribution and generation profile of the nation’s renewable energy sources. ...
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2013/08/grid-expansion-delays-wont-derail-germanys-energy-transition-analysis-finds?cmpid=SolarNL-Tuesday-September3-2013
