×

We are excited to announce that as of February 1, Wood Mackenzie is a portfolio company of Veritas Capital, a leading investor at the intersection of technology and government. Our focus remains on providing you with the best intelligence, analytics, data and tools to ensure you are making the best data-driven business decisions with confidence.  

Read more in our news release here. 

Insight

Deep decarbonization requires deep pockets – trillions required to make the transition

Get this report

$950

You can pay by card or invoice

For details on how your data is used and stored, see our Privacy Notice.
 

- FAQs about online orders
- Find out more about subscriptions

11 June 2019

Deep decarbonization requires deep pockets – trillions required to make the transition

Report summary

Momentum is building for the energy transition as policymakers are pushing the “RE100” discourse to center stage. Achieving a fully decarbonized grid will require trillions in renewable power generation investment, step changes in storage technology and a more aggressive approach to high voltage transmission deployment. The goal is attainable, but aggressive timelines risk public backlash and market disruption that could derail the effort.

Table of contents

  • Executive summary
  • Introduction
    • Feast or famine – coping with intermittency
    • Tallying the price of transition – a US example
    • Buildout of wind and solar capacity to meet RE100
    • Storage investments to backstop intermittency
    • Transmission costs
    • Cost inflation given supply chain requirements
    • Crafting compromises – charting a path forward
    • 1. Allow time for new technologies to be commercialized
    • 2. Extend time horizons to 2040 or 2050
    • 3. Allow for inclusion of zero-carbon technologies
    • 4. Reduce mandates from ZC100 to ZC80
  • Conclusions

Tables and charts

This report includes 3 images and tables including:

  • Figure 1: Hourly wind and solar generation share for select LCPS
  • Figure 2: Hourly power prices at varying levels of W+S market penetration
  • Figure 3: Transitions costs vs levelized costs of renewables

What's included

This report contains:

  • Document

    Deep decarbonization requires deep pockets – trillions required to make the transition

    PDF 815.76 KB