Thomas Pregger

Resources, capacities and corridors for energy imports to Europe

Purpose – Two main activities of the EC FP7 Risk of Energy Availability: Common Corridors for Europe Supply Security (REACCESS) project applied a systematic approach to collect the main characteristics of energy supply corridors starting from mining activities in exporting regions up to the import infrastructures and capacities of EU27+countries. The aim of the present paper is to summarise identified information on import potentials and the possible corridors for the EU27+energy supply of the future. This information is used as new starting point for the energy system modelling in the REACCESS project.Design/methodology/approach – Detailed information on existing, planned or potential developments derived from literature reviews and expert surveys, as well as from our own calculations, was compiled in a consistent database. By using suitable geographic information system (GIS) tools, all the identified energy supply routes were represented graphically and analysed with reference to their spatial characte...

Impacts on the National Energy System

A scenario analysis helps to determine the impact of an ageing and shrinking population on the energy sector in the context of pathways to sustainability. The scenario analysis in InfraDem follows the German “Lead Scenario” for the implementation of official targets for renewable energies and efficiency measures. This scenario points out an ambitious but realistic development towards a far more sustainable energy supply system by 2030 with long-term perspectives for a low-carbon energy system by 2050. The analysis takes into account the InfraDem population, GDP and household projections. The results show that demographic change will have a rather small impact on the national energy system compared to expected changes caused by political targets and strategies and the implementation of new energy technologies. The difference between the InfraDem high and low variant is between 3 and 4% for energy consumption and emissions. Although total population will decrease significantly until 2030, demographic change will tend to increase the residential power and heat demand due to an increasing floor space per capita and total household number as well as the higher specific energy demand of older people.