By 2030: EU elec demand will only rise by 9-11%. Major electrification in transport+industry+heating is partly offset by major efficiency.
BUT by 2050 elec demand will more than double!
(this graph is derived from Commission graphs from figure 46!)
BIOENERGY?
Reassuringly, there's little growth, except for power.
Power grows a little to 2030, then LOADS from 2050.
In figure 46 above, “other renewables” electricity increases by 100TWh by 2030 which might be bioenergy? I wonder what type that is?
RENEWABLE ELECTRICITY?
It means that renewable electricity needs to accelerate from 29% of the mix in 2015 to 61-69% in 2030…
So much to say on this one graph, i won't even try!
FOSSIL ELECTRICITY?
Fossil generation will more than halve, from about 1300TWh in 2019 to 480-629TWh in 2030… This means not only coal generation is falling, but gas generation will fall as well…
In 2050 (not in graph), it's negliable.
Does that mean a 2030 COAL PHASEOUT?
No, they expect some coal running in 2030.
They say “Coal consumption would need to be reduced by 70%” from 2015 to 2030. Since c.80% in 2015 was used in power plants, some coal generation will exist in 2030.
NEW: Cheaper batteries mean near-24/365 solar is now economic☀️
We analysed 18 years of hourly insolation data at 12 places, to see how close to 24/365 electricity it was possible to get.
The sunniest places get over 90% - and up to 99% - of the way... from just $100/MWh. 🧵
We launched it today (on a Saturday!) because today is the Summer Solstice in the northern hemisphere, and you could theoretically generate 24-hour solar in the Arctic tonight without battery!
(tenuous rating: 8/10)
Getting to 24-hour solar is easy tho: just add battery!
Getting to 24/365 solar is hard cos of pesky clouds - and batteries aren't economic to store electricity between days.
Fortunately though, even on "cloudy" days, you often still get more solar power than you might think..
This is how it was calculated... let's get geeky🤓...
It's based on this table in today's IEA report.
Solar is x100 coal because...
- SOLAR: 2GW x 17% utilisation x 40 years = 120TWh
- COAL: 150kt x 8MWh/t = 1.2TWh (note this *energy* content of coal; you'd need x300 as many ships for the same *electricity* content as a ship of solar panels)
Notes on solar:
- The "40 years" and "17% utilisation" is what i've used to backcalculate their x100 calculation and show they are reasonable calculations.
- A container ship is assumed as 15000TEU, far short of the largest container ship at 25000TEU.
- 2GW across 15,000TEU means there's 133KW of solar panels in a container. Useful to know:)