Europe power system flexibility: The essential ingredient for decarbonisation (Part 1)

About the report

Part 1: Flexibility resource outlook to 2040 Europe's big-5 power markets (France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy and Spain) are in the process of decarbonisation. We expect variable renewable energy (VRE; wind and solar PV generation) to lead this process, making up the largest proportion of power supply by 2023. This brings about a power supply-demand balancing challenge that most existing assets were not designed for. Therefore, we expect a flexibility market for new, more capable assets to flourish. In this two-part study we provide an outlook for energy storage and flexibility resource to 2040. In this Part 1, using our European power dispatch model, we assess the market need and provide our market outlook for flexibility resources. These are namely interconnectors and flexible plant defined as pumped hydro, gas peakers and energy storage.

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