Search

The mass-scale integration of electric vehicles into the power system is a key pillar of the European energy transition agenda. Yet, the extent to which such integration would represent a burden for the power system of each member country is still an unanswered question. This is mainly due to a lack of accurate and context-specific representations of aggregate mobility and charging patterns for large electric vehicle fleets. Here, we develop and validate against empirical data an open-source model that simulates such patterns at high (1-min) temporal resolution, based on easy-to-gather, openly accessible data. We hence apply the model – which we name RAMP-mobility – to 28 European countries, showing for the first time the existence of marked differences in mobility and charging patterns across those, due to a combination of weather and socio-economic factors. We hence quantify the impact that fully-electric car fleets would have on the demand to be met by each country's power system: an uncontrolled deployment of electric vehicles would increase peak demand in the range 35–51%, whilst a plausible share of adoption of smart charging strategies could limit the increase to 30–41%. On the contrary, plausible technology (battery density) and infrastructure (charging power) developments would not provide substantial benefits. Efforts for electric vehicles integration should hence primarily focus on mechanisms to support smart vehicle-to-grid interaction. The approach is applicable generally beyond Europe and can provide policy makers with quantitatively reliable insights about electric vehicles impact on the power system. • We generate validated mobility and charging patterns for electric vehicles in Europe. • Hourly patterns vary substantially across countries due to weather and user behaviour. • Electric vehicles may increase peak power systems demand by 36–51%. • Plausible shares of smart-charging vehicles may limit such an increase to 30–41%. • Smart-charging substantially outperforms battery and infrastructure developments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Production- and Consumption-based carbon emissions taxation schemes are revised. • Carbon policies are applied to Europe, assessing economic and environmental impacts. • The World Trade Model coupled with Exiobase MRIO database is used for the analysis. • Application of Production-based carbon taxation leads to carbon leakage. • Results of Production- and Consumption-based schemes are comparatively analysed. Policy initiatives towards reduction of CO 2 emissions implemented so far are grounded on the so-called Production-Based paradigm: this approach allocates responsibility of emissions to countries that directly caused such emissions, without taking into account all the indirect contributions to CO 2 emissions caused outside country's borders, eventually leading to the so-called carbon leakage phenomenon. In this paper, the alternative Consumption-Based approach is proposed, and its effectiveness assessed: according to this approach, policy initiatives allocates responsibility for CO 2 emissions proportionally to the CO 2 emissions embedded in goods and services required by industries as inputs for production. Global environmental and economic consequences of carbon emissions reduction policies, applied at the European level based on both Production- and Consumption-Based paradigms, are comparatively assessed based on the World Trade Model with Bilateral Trades. Results of this study suggest that defining CO 2 emissions policies based on a Consumption-Based paradigm seems to be the most effective way to reduce the global carbon emissions, avoiding the carbon leakage phenomenon which may occur in economies regulated by Production-Based policies. Indeed, an imposed reduction in CO 2 emissions embedded in EU final demand through a Consumption-Based Accounting policy would result in a global CO 2 emissions reduction up to almost 1.2 Gton. On the other hand, an imposed reduction in direct EU CO 2 emissions according to a PBA approach would result in an overall increase in global carbon emissions up to almost 0.8 Gton. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Analysis of different sector-coupling options and their contributions to system flexibility. • Flexibility provided by individual sector-coupling options stacks up in fully integrated systems. • Open-source soft linking framework between the JRC-EU-TIMES and the Dispa-SET model. • Highly detailed large-scale multi-sector unit commitment and power dispatch model. • Greenhouse gas emission reduction not possible without multi-sector integration. The relevance of sector coupling is increasing when shifting from the current highly centralised and mainly fossil fuel-based energy system to a more decentralized and renewable energy system. Cross-sectoral linkages are already recognized as a cost-effective decarbonisation strategy that provides significant flexibility to the system. Modelling such cross-sectoral interconnections is thus highly relevant. In this work, these interactions are considered in a long-term perspective by uni-directional soft-linking of two models: JRC-EU-TIMES, a long term planning multisectoral model, and Dispa-SET, a unit commitment and optimal dispatch model covering multiple energy sectors such as power, heating & cooling, transportation etc. The impact of sector coupling in future Europe-wide energy systems with high shares of renewables is evaluated through five scenarios. Results show that the contributions of individual sectors are quite diverse. The transport sector provides the highest flexibility potential in terms of power curtailment, load shedding, congestion in the interconnection lines and resulting greenhouse gas emissions reduction. Nevertheless, allowing combinations of multiple flexibility options such as hydro for the long-term, electric vehicles and flexible thermal units for the short-term provides the best solution in terms of system adequacy, greenhouse gas emissions and operational costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]