Study suggests Europe could be powered by renewable energy by 2050

[jpak]

http://www.greenclippings.co.za/gc_main/article.php?story=2006111521450436

A Study commissioned by Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety in Germany has shown that a mix of local renewable energy sources combined with imports of solar from the Middle East and North Africa could largely power Europe by the next few decades.

The Trans-Mediterranean Interconnection for Concentrating Solar Power (TRANS-CSP) study analysed a total of 30 countries in Europe, and evaluates an interconnection of the electricity grids of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa (EUMENA).

According to the study, a well-balanced mix of renewable energy sources backed by fossil fuels can provide sustainable, competitive and secure electricity for Europe by 2050. An efficient backup infrastructure will be necessary to complement the renewable electricity mix, providing firm capacity on demand by quickly reacting, natural gas fired peaking plants, and by an efficient grid infrastructure to distribute renewable electricity from the best centres of production to the main centres of demand.

The study suggests that if initiated now, the change to a sustainable energy mix could lead to less expensive power generation than a business as usual strategy in a time span of about 15 years. Imported fuels with escalating cost will be increasingly substituted by renewable, mostly domestic energy sources and the negative socio-economic impacts of fossil fuel price escalation can be reversed by 2020 if an adequate political and legal framework is established at time.

<not much more>