Comprehensive study concludes 100 per cent renewable energy supplies are technically feasible and economically attractive.

Europe can switch to low carbon sources of energy without jeopardising
reliability or forcing up energy bills to punitive levels, according to a major
new study that claims to be the most comprehensive assessment to date of the
viability of zero carbon power supplies.

Roadmap 2050: a practical guide to a prosperous, low-carbon Europe
will be released later today and will demonstrate how transitioning to a
low or zero carbon power supply based on high levels of renewable energy would
have no impact on reliability, and would have little impact on the cost of
producing electricity in the period up to 2050.

The report was developed by think tank the European Climate Foundation (ECF)
in collaboration with a number of leading economists and energy industry
experts, and includes contributions from McKinsey, KEMA, Imperial College London
and Oxford Economics.

Its analysis argues that cost effective zero carbon power is not reliant on
technology breakthroughs, although it warns that they would help to further
reduce the cost of decarbonisation.

Matt Phillips, a senior associate with the ECF, said many of assumptions made
at the outset of the research project had been proved wrong.

"When the Roadmap 2050 project began it was assumed that high-renewable
energy scenarios would be too unstable to provide sufficient reliability, that
high-renewable scenarios would be uneconomic and more costly, and that
technology breakthroughs would be required to move Europe to a zero-carbon power
sector," he said. "Roadmap 2050 has found all of these assertions to be untrue.
"

ECF said the report shows that the widely held assumption that renewable
energy is always more costly than fossil fuels is increasingly outdated, arguing
that while capital investment in low carbon energy infrastructure is more
expensive than high carbon infrastructure, the long term operating costs for low
carbon energy will be lower than for high carbon supplies.

The report also stresses that a move to zero carbon power supplies will have
a dramatic impact on improving energy security and will bolster European
economic prosperity.

The report presents a range of options for de-carbonising the power supply.
It takes 40, 60, 80 and 100 per cent renewables scenarios with the remainder
being made up by nuclear and fossil fuel power plants with carbon capture and
storage capabilities.

It examines the economic, infrastructure and energy security impacts and the
technical feasibility of each scenario and applies detailed modeling and
conservative assumptions to reaching conclusions about the viability of each
approach.

The report concluded that each of the scenarios are feasible, but warned
there are a number of barriers to them being realised. In particular, it
concluded that a successful transition to zero carbon power will depend on the
UK and other EU member states prioritising energy efficiency measures and
supporting the rapid development of a European electricity "supergrid".

It also calls on a massive and sustained mobilisation of investment in low
carbon technologies and the firming up of commitments to phase out high carbon
assets.

Nick Mabey, chief executive of consultancy E3G, which also contributed to the
report, said that the study revealed that "the benefits of the low-carbon
pathway far outweigh the challenges".

"A commitment now to a low-carbon transformation of the energy sector is the
winning strategy for competitiveness, jobs and prosperity in the UK and Europe,
" he said. "Achieving a minimum 80 per cent CO2e reductions in 2050 based on
zero carbon power generation in Europe is technically feasible and makes
compelling economic sense."

The report comes just weeks after a
similar
study from PricewaterhouseCoopers also concluded that generating 100 per
cent of Europe’s energy from renewable sources is technically viable.