The European Union (EU) has just published its Strategy for Energy System Integration, including pledges to support renewables and energy storage as the continent targets carbon neutrality by 2050.
Published through the European Commission, the strategy provides the “framework for the green energy transition,” with a particular emphasis on bringing together the disparate energy supply and demand scenarios in transportation, industry, gas and buildings – also known as ’sector coupling’.
This includes a recognition that behind-the-meter resources such as household energy storage batteries and electric vehicles (EVs) could help manage distribution grids better. EVs for example could provide 20% of Europe’s required electricity system flexibility by 2050, the Commission said, according to a new study.
Meanwhile larger-scale energy storage resources including pumped hydropower, grid battery storage as well as hydrogen (H2) electrolysers could also provide a great deal of flexibility, to help manage the system. Thermal storage at industrial facilities, closely integrating heat with power, could also be a big provider of flexibility, allowing for demand response that takes advantage of electricity price changes in real-time.
In addition to adding increased flexibility, energy system integration – planning the whole energy sector holistically – will have multiple benefits from reducing greenhouse gas emissions in difficult-to-decarbonise sectors, to increasing energy efficiency and reducing demand, to supporting European economic competitiveness, the Commission argued. It will also mean “greater consumer empowerment, improved resilience and security of supply”.
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