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The increasing share of intermittent Renewable Energy Sources (iRES) in the energy mix leads to a growing need for their accurate representation in energy system models. In this paper, we analyze how the results of generation planning models are impacted by the spatial representation used to model intermittent renewable technologies. It is shown that the spatial resolution, and to a lesser extent the spatial aggregation method used in a planning model, have a significant influence on the obtained system cost. The effect is quantified in a case study of European geographical scale, by varying the spatial resolution from highly resolved (hundreds of sites) to highly aggregated (1 site). A resolution-dependency of the system cost is observed under multiple renewable generation targets, and different renewable capacity restrictions. In doing so, we highlight the importance of implementing an appropriate capacity limit, especially when a high spatial resolution is used. Additionally, basic spatial aggregation methods -to process high resolution input data- are compared. • Isolation of renewable representation effects in a stylized GEP model. • iRES resolution has a strong impact on GEP model results for Europe. • Capacity limits play an important role in this effect, especially in high resolution. • Spatial aggregation method only impacts models with low resolutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The EU dependence on imported gas is increasing, rising to 67% in the year 2014 with 30% of total gas consumption used for electricity generation that year. With such a dependence on imported gas, gas supply interruptions can have significant impacts on the EU energy system and economy. This points to the need for integrated electricity and gas modelling tools to fully explore the potential impacts of gas supply interruptions. This paper builds and applies a detailed publically available integrated electricity and gas model for the EU-28. We use this model to examine a number of hypothetical scenarios where gas supply routes are interrupted for yearly periods and the impacts on power system operation and gas flow in Europe observed. Model results show that interruption of Russian gas supply to the EU could lead to a rise in average gas prices of 28% and 12% in electricity prices. When supply from North Africa was removed all Southern European states were affected heavily, Spain in particular saw large increases of 30% in gas prices with a corresponding rise of 18% in electricity prices as a result. In addition to supply interruptions, all gas storages were removed from the model to examine the importance of gas storage infrastructure. This resulted in an average increase in power prices of 6% across Europe. These additional insights offer an increased understanding of the interplay between the gas and power systems and identify challenges which may arise when seeking to understand energy systems as a whole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Domestic gas prices in Russia are substantially lower than export netback prices. The Russian government aims to increase the domestic price level in the long term. The objective of this paper is to analyse the long-term effects of higher gas prices in Russia on the European gas market. The analysis is based on a modified analytical and a numerical Hotelling model. The main findings are as follows. Under a price elasticity of demand equalling −0.5, a 70% increase in the domestic gas price in Russia results in an annual average reduction in domestic gas consumption of 116 bcm. The export supply to Europe could be affected via two channels: (i) a stock effect and (ii) scarcity rents. The results show that in the presence of a stock effect with an elasticity equalling unity, the annual average increase in the export supply to Europe could account for 33.7 bcm. Although Russia may not face a resource constraint in the short and medium terms, scarcity effects could become more relevant in the future. A reduction in domestic gas consumption could reduce the future scarcity rent, implying a higher potential for exporting gas in the long term. Overall, total gas consumption in Europe could annually increase by 17.5 bcm on average. As the stock elasticity increases, so does the increase in total gas consumption. Furthermore, the results show that increasing the domestic gas price is associated with an annual average increase in the export tax revenue from gas of 38.4 billion USD and an annual average reduction in the domestic gas subsidy of 34.1 billion USD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper estimates supply cost curves for conventional oil and gas in Europe. Oil and gas volumes are distributed across five categories that are based on production costs. The resulting supply figures are intended to be long term representations of how quantities vary with production costs. Both economic and physical measures are used since each provides practical information with respect to the concerns some energy commentators have expressed about oil and gas scarcity in the near future. Supply cost curves incorporating the effect of annual technological advancement (i.e. productivity gains) on production costs to the year 2030 are also estimated. On the quantity side, the curves include volumes from geological provinces not previously assessed. Results indicate that conventional oil and gas in Europe is abundant and can likely be produced at costs below current and projected market oil and gas prices. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In this paper, per capita CO2 convergence among the EU-25 countries between 1920 and 2007 is analysed using the distribution dynamics approach. Furthermore, the analysis is complemented by investigating the asymptotic half-life of convergence, mobility indices and the continuous version of the ergodic distributions. The novel aspect of this work consists in the fact that it examines whether patterns could differ if weighted by either the population of each country or their economic sizes. The unweighted analysis indicates that the convergence patterns differ strongly before and after World War II, with more convergence being displayed after the seventies. Results of weighting both by population and by economic size show that convergence is much faster when these features are introduced into the model. Conclusions from this analysis are important for the environment policy adopted across the EU-25 countries. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The purpose of this paper is to provide a utility eye-view of the European power-sector''s CO2-compliance decision process under a tradable emissions scheme. The cost analysis indicates that, in the medium term, many utilities are likely to consider options based on traditional power technologies such as converting existing coal-fired capacity to burn gas, extending the lives of nuclear capacity, and replacing old coal-fired plants with more efficient gas- or even coal-fired units. The long-term economic potential of future options is highly uncertain, and utilities are likely to respond to this by maintaining flexibility in fuel choices and avoid large investments that lock them into a specific compliance method before more efficient and cleaner technologies have crystallized. Given the multitude of possible CO2-mitigation options, there is a strong case for emissions trading and for refraining from policies that build on mandatory fuel-requirements, higher rates of capital stock turnover and technology standards. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]