Researchers conclude 100 per cent renewable electricity supply is feasible

Europe could generate all the electricity it needs from renewable sources by the middle of the century, according to a major new report from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) that rejects concerns about the intermittent nature of renewable energy sources.

The report – which was contributed to by researchers from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis and the European Climate Forum – concludes it is technically feasible to produce a pan-continental supersmart grid powered by solar farms in North Africa, hydro electric plants in Scandinavia and the European Alps, onshore and offshore wind farms in the Baltic and North Sea, marine energy, and biomass power facilities.

Richard Gledhill, partner for sustainability and climate change at PwC, said the report "debunks some of the conventional criticisms of large-scale renewables" by demonstrating how "geographic and technological diversification can help address cost and security of supply concerns".

Significantly, the report predicts that the rapid deployment of renewable energy capacity at scale will bring down the cost of low-carbon technologies, resulting in energy that is cost competitive and can provide affordable electricity across the region.

The report accepts that nuclear power and carbon capture and storage are also likely to play a central role in decarbonising Europe's electricity supply, but argues that renewable energy could meet all the continent's electricity requirements if need be. "The technological capability for developing renewable forms of power generation is already in place, or emerging and envisaged, and the economics of the key technologies is improving, albeit in a difficult financing environment," it states.

The study includes a policy road map which outlines how Europe's leaders could transition away from fossil fuel-based power over the next four decades.

The road map argues that greater pan-European and North African co-operation is central to the successful development of a renewable-based super grid, and calls for the development of a Europe-wide business case by 2015 for renewable and grid infrastructure projects at a pan-national level, that includes long-term renewable and climate targets.

The road map envisages that all fossil fuel subsidies will have been phased out by 2020, a strategic timeline will be in place to phase out renewable energy subsidies, North Africa will have adopted renewable energy targets and a single European energy market will have been been created. The decommissioning of fossil fuel power plants could then begin from 2030, the report says.

Antonella Battaglini of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research accepted that the policy proposals are ambitious, but argued that they provide a feasible framework for decarbonising the continent's electricity supplies.

"Climate change requires an ambitious vision and collaboration across borders and boundaries we have not previously envisaged," he said. "If we don’t examine the art of the possible, we will never inform critical policy decisions that need to be made sooner rather than later. This study represents a major milestone in the effort of unravelling the Gordian knot of policy, and finding workable solutions to the EU’s power supply, security and carbon challenges."