A new report released by the European Commission shows that a scenario in which 97% of the European Union's (EU) electricity consumption is met by renewable energy – including 49% wind power in 2050 – would have the same overall energy system costs as any other decarbonization or business-as-usual scenario.
The report – Energy Roadmap 2050 – is based on five scenarios from the European Commission's PRIMES energy model, all achieving a 85% decline in energy-related carbon dioxide emissions by 2050 on the basis of different mixes of renewable energy, nuclear power and fossil fuels with carbon capture and storage and energy efficiency.
Energy Commissioner Gunther Oettinger says he expects binding renewable energy targets for 2030 to be proposed and in place by 2014.
‘With our road map, we want to ensure that, for all participants, there should be an interesting discussion on binding targets for renewables by 2030," he says. "This should begin now and lead to a decision in two years' time."
All five decarbonization scenarios in the report, as well as the business-as-usual scenario, show that wind energy will produce more electricity than any other power generating technology by 2050 – between 32% and 49% of EU power production in the decarbonization scenarios.
