Concentrating solar power in a sustainable future electricity mix

Trieb, Franz; Fichter, Tobias; Moser, Massimo

doi:10.1007/s11625-013-0229-1

Cited by 46 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…fluctuating resources that can provide electricity, but almost no firm power capacity on demand" [23]. Solving this fluctuation problem domestically within Europe would require storage and other expensive technical solutions, thus causing a cost problem which could make the transition to renewables infeasible [78].…”

Section: The Problem and The Villainmentioning

confidence: 99%

Shades of green: Centralisation, decentralisation and controversy among European renewable electricity visions

Lilliestam

Hanger

2016

Energy Research & Social Science

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a b s t r a c tTo decarbonise its electricity system, Europe must rapidly expand renewables. We analyse the controversy between two organisations, Eurosolar and Desertec, which seemingly pursue the same goal of 100% renewable electricity. We show that they interpret "100% renewables" differently and envision fundamentally different renewable electricity futures, to be reached through different governance pathways driven by different actors. Desertec reacts to mankind's violation of the Earth's carrying capacity and seeks secure decarbonisation through renewables, for which centrally regulated, large-scale imports of controllable concentrating solar power from the desert are necessary. Eurosolar, in contrast, seeks to decentralise the electricity supply and disempower the actors who caused the unsustainable and undemocratic energy system, for which renewables are suited as they are carbon-neutral and decentralised by nature. As the core aim of Desertec, controllable solar power imports through large-scale infrastructure, violates Eurosolar's core aim of decentralisation, a compromise is difficult: this would require one organisation to give up its primary objective. Our results show that the reason for this controversy among renewables proponents lies not in technology or cost, and can thus not be identified or resolved through techno-economic analysis or modelling, but in irreconcilable differences in normative aims and governance choices.

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Section: The Problem and The Villainmentioning

confidence: 99%

Shades of green: Centralisation, decentralisation and controversy among European renewable electricity visions

Lilliestam

Hanger

2016

Energy Research & Social Science

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“…For example, there is the Desertec vision (Desertec, 2009;Trieb, 2006;Trieb, Fichter, & Moser, 2014;Trieb et al, 2015) and several other similar ideas (see Dii, 2012Dii, , 2013Patt, Komendantova, Battaglini, & Lilliestam, 2011). Such proposals seem to be technically and economically possible and attractive, but imports from North Africa would be a highly complicated endeavour, especially in terms of intercontinental political cooperation and in some cases the need for very long power lines from the production sites in the Sahara to the consumers in the EU (Lilliestam, Bielicki, & Patt, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sharing the gains from EU–Western Balkan renewable electricity cooperation

et al. 2016

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The EU directive on renewable energy sources enables EU Member States to import renewable electricity from non-EU countries and count these imports towards their renewable energy targets. This article investigates whether such cooperation can be beneficial for selected Western Balkan countries and help them to increase their domestic renewable electricity supply: could wind power exports to the EU from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Albania and the Former Yugoslav Republic (FYR) of Macedonia enable additional investments in domestic generation, without 'selling out' the exporter countries' best generation sites? Or would exports rather conflict with the Western Balkans countries' domestic efforts to reach their renewable energy targets and increase the domestic electricity supply? For this, a model was developed in Visual Basic to optimize, from the exporters' perspective, the optimal export level to trigger investments but maximize the wind power supply for domestic use. The analysis takes into account the wind potential, support and price levels in the EU and Western Balkans, investor requirements and financing conditions in the investigated countries.The article shows that cooperation offers a way both for EU Member States and some Western Balkan countries to expand renewable electricity supply and reach their renewable energy targets in a cost-effective way. Partial exports of wind power would allow Serbia, Albania and the FYR of Macedonia to reach their 2020 wind targets. This would not be possible under their existing support schemes or electricity prices. The results indicate that Bosnia and Herzegovina lacks cost-efficient potentials and cannot achieve its wind target in the base case, with or without exports. Climate policy relevanceThe results show that wind power cooperation between the EU and Western Balkan countries may simultaneously increase the renewable electricity generation available for the domestic markets in the host countries and help EU Member States to achieve their renewable energy and decarbonization targets. Hence, wind power exports are a way for both the EU and the Western Balkans to provide more carbon-neutral electricity in a cost-effective manner and thus support the achievement of renewable energy and climate targets.

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“…It is vital that the context is not left unattended to. Environmental concerns associated with electricity generation is a reality in all instances, but the externality costs of CSP is currently still regarded lower than that of almost all other electricity generating technologies [30]. The environmental benefits from using CSP is the significant reduction of CO 2 emissions against that of conventional coal power stations whilst base-load electricity can still being generated.…”

Section: Landmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The environmental benefits from using CSP is the significant reduction of CO 2 emissions against that of conventional coal power stations whilst base-load electricity can still being generated. When comparing the life cycle emissions of various renewable energy technologies; wind power, hydro power and biogas from manure show lower emissions, but this should be considered with the fact that wind power is intermittent and does not offer options for grid stability, while hydro power (when stored in reservoirs) typically has undesirable impacts on the environment [30]. Again, the novelty of the technology invites more research and investigation into the matter.…”

Section: Landmentioning

confidence: 99%