(Image credit: Solstice)
Renewable energy think tank, Ember, have released a report titled ‘Putting the Mission in Transmission: Grids for Europe’s Energy Transition.’ The research focused on 35 national grid development plans from European TSOs in the United Kingdom (UK), European Union (EU) and the Balkans to asses if their plans for solar match their government targets.
The report concluded that many countries in Europe are ‘out of step with reality’ regarding the energy transition with 19 countries underestimating the deployment of solar technologies by 205GW (by 2030). Underestimating the amount of solar being deployed to a region could increase the congestion within its electricity grid and slow down deployment of solar projects.
Only the TSOs in Croatia, Denmark, Finland and the Netherlands anticipated for an increase in available solar capacity. Grid plans for these 4 countries anticipated an additional 81GW of solar (and wind) capacity in excess of each countries targets.
Solar technologies are more likely to be affected by misalignments in solar capacity and targets. France has the highest difference between solar capacity (35GW) and solar targets (54GW). Across Europe, the average difference between capacity and targets stands at 60GW. The main reason for this difference is the time disparity between the publishing of national targets and TSO grid plans. These plans must be aligned.
If solar capacity and electricity grid planning are not completed in collaboration, net zero targets will not be met. There will be no transition to renewable energy without an appropriate transmission network that supports new technologies. Upgrades in the European grid network are being planned to combat these challenges with 25,000km of new transmission lines being planned between now and 2026.
More and more advancements in electricity grids are being placed into political discourse to ensure an
efficient transition to net zero.
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