The phase-out of fossil fuels, and a growing use of variable renewable energy sources, increase the flexibility needs of the power sector. In this context, different energy storage technologies become more relevant. Yet the role and use of electricity storage depends on many factors, for example technology costs and availabilities, as well as the level and flexibility of sector coupling strategies...
Natural gas could play an increasing role in the German energy system following the coal exit decided in July 2020 by the German parliament. However, natural gas has no climate benefit compared to coal. What is more, Europe risks to become a battleground for the conflict between Russia and the United States. The construction of the Baltic Sea pipeline Nordstream 2 has set in motion a downward...
The European Commission currently revises its regulation of selection of and support to so-called Trans-European Networks in the energy sector (TEN-E). Currently, the European Union still provides support to fossil natural gas infrastructure that were selected as so-called Projects of Common Interest (PCI) without sufficiently taking into account the long-term climate targets. In the research project ...
The aim of this policy session is to discuss whether or not the EU ETS needs to be complemented by other sector specific policies for the decarbonization of the industrial sector that go beyond recent reforms. Together with our panelists we would also like to reflect the recent developments in the policy debate on the implications of the COVID-19 crisis and the recovery strategy for the topic. The...
Political decisions and trends regarding coal use for electricity generation developed differently in the UK and Germany, despite being subject to relatively similar climate protection targets and general political and economic conditions. The UK agreed on a coal phase-out by 2024. In Germany, a law schedules a coal phase-out by 2038 at the latest. This paper investigates reasons for the different ...
All 193 UN member states have pledged to achieve 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), following the guiding principle to leave no one behind. At the same time, rising populist movements increasingly influence the political debate in many countries by challenging multilateral cooperation and liberal democracy. This paper contains the first empirical study of the relationship between the SDGs and ...
Poland is the largest hard coal and second largest lignite producer in the EU, generating around 80 percent of its electricity from coal. Resistance to a reduction in coal production and consumption comes from various actors, namely, coal corporations, unions, parts of civil society and the government – as well as their coalitions. Their opposition centres around the prospect of losing their business, ...
We fit CES and VES production functions to data from a numerical bottom-up optimization model of electricity supply with clean and dirty inputs. This approach allows for studying high shares of clean energy not observable today and for isolating mechanisms that impact the elasticity of substitution between clean and dirty energy. Central results show that (i) dirty inputs are not essential for production. ...
When analyzing potential ways to counter climate change, standard models of green growth abstract from investment in substitutability between “clean” and “dirty” energy inputs. Instead, they rely on the assumption that efficiency with respect to fossil fuels can be increased perpetually. However, this is not in line with observed firm investment behavior and the limits to efficiency imposed by thermodynamic ...
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