100% Renewable Europe study

The project demonstrates the lowest feasible costenergy mix with the transitioning of the power, heat, and transport sectors, towards an integrated energy system across Europe up to 2050. To do so, the energy transition across Europe is explored in the modelling of three distinct scenarios:  laggard, moderate, and leadership scenarios reaching different levels of renewable share, reduction of GHG emission, and compliance toward the Paris Agreement.

Aristotelis Chantavas, President of SolarPower Europe, said: “A 100% renewable energy system enables the EU to become climate neutral before 2050, complying with the ambitious 1.5°C Paris Agreement target, and without resorting to carbon sinks. This Leadership scenario will also trigger the sharpest decline in GHG emissions, down to zero in 2040. It also highlights the pivotal role of electrification to achieve a 100% renewable-based energy system, which will generate significant system efficiency gains and facilitate sectoral integration. With this cutting-edge report, we aim to contribute a new perspective to the discussion on how to enable a true European Green Deal.”

All scenarios demonstrate that a high rate of electrification is essential to achieving a 100% renewable and integrated energy system. 
Among this electricity, the model shows that a 100% renewable European energy system is a solar story. Indeed, due to its cost competitiveness, solar PV will become the dominant source of electricity generation across all three scenarios.
 

Heat pumps emerge as a core part of a 100% renewable energy system, with over 60% share of heat generation by 2050.

Transport: A 100% renewable transport sector requires significant synthetic fuels for marine and aviation.

In April 2020, SolarPower Europe hosted a webinar focusing on the findings of the report. Listen to the webinar here, download the webinar slides here.