@article{OllierMetzNunezJimenezetal.2022, author = {Ollier, Lana and Metz, Florence and Nu{\~n}ez-Jimenez, Alejandro and Sp{\"a}th, Leonhard and Lilliestam, Johan}, title = {The European 2030 climate and energy package}, series = {Policy sciences}, volume = {55}, journal = {Policy sciences}, number = {1}, publisher = {Springer Science+Business Media LLC}, address = {New York}, issn = {0032-2687}, doi = {10.1007/s11077-022-09447-5}, pages = {161 -- 184}, year = {2022}, abstract = {The European Union's 2030 climate and energy package introduced fundamental changes compared to its 2020 predecessor. These changes included a stronger focus on the internal market and an increased emphasis on technology-neutral decarbonization while simultaneously de-emphasizing the renewables target. This article investigates whether changes in domestic policy strategies of leading member states in European climate policy preceded the observed changes in EU policy. Disaggregating strategic change into changes in different elements (goals, objectives, instrumental logic), allows us to go beyond analyzing the relative prioritization of different goals, and to analyze how policy requirements for reaching those goals were dynamically redefined over time. To this end, we introduce a new method, which based on insights from social network analysis, enables us to systematically trace those strategic chances. We find that shifts in national strategies of the investigated member states preceded the shift in EU policy. In particular, countries reframed their understanding of supply security, and pushed for the internal electricity market also as a security measure to balance fluctuating renewables. Hence, the increasing focus on markets and market integration in the European 2030 package echoed the increasingly central role of the internal market for electricity supply security in national strategies. These findings also highlight that countries dynamically redefined their goals relative to the different phases of the energy transition.}, language = {en} } @misc{KuehnLiNakatenetal.2017, author = {K{\"u}hn, Michael and Li, Qi and Nakaten, Natalie Christine and Kempka, Thomas}, title = {Integrated subsurface gas storage of CO2 and CH4 offers capacity and state-of-the-art technology for energy storage in China}, series = {Energy procedia}, volume = {125}, journal = {Energy procedia}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Amsterdam}, issn = {1876-6102}, doi = {10.1016/j.egypro.2017.08.039}, pages = {14 -- 18}, year = {2017}, abstract = {Integration and development of the energy supply in China and worldwide is a challenge for the years to come. The innovative idea presented here is based on an extension of the "power-to-gas-to-power" technology by establishing a closed carbon cycle. It is an implementation of a low-carbon energy system based on carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) to store and reuse wind and solar energy. The Chenjiacun storage project in China compares well with the German case study for the towns Potsdam and Brandenburg/Havel in the Federal State of Brandenburg based on the Ketzin pilot site for CCS.}, language = {en} } @article{HarmsenKrieglervanVuurenetal.2021, author = {Harmsen, Mathijs and Kriegler, Elmar and van Vuuren, Detlef P. and van der Wijst, Kaj-Ivar and Luderer, Gunnar and Cui, Ryna and Dessens, Olivier and Drouet, Laurent and Emmerling, Johannes and Morris, Jennifer Faye and Fosse, Florian and Fragkiadakis, Dimitris and Fragkiadakis, Kostas and Fragkos, Panagiotis and Fricko, Oliver and Fujimori, Shinichiro and Gernaat, David and Guivarch, C{\´e}line and Iyer, Gokul and Karkatsoulis, Panagiotis and Keppo, Ilkka and Keramidas, Kimon and K{\"o}berle, Alexandre and Kolp, Peter and Krey, Volker and Kr{\"u}ger, Christoph and Leblanc, Florian and Mittal, Shivika and Paltsev, Sergey and Rochedo, Pedro and van Ruijven, Bas J. and Sands, Ronald D. and Sano, Fuminori and Strefler, Jessica and Arroyo, Eveline Vasquez and Wada, Kenichi and Zakeri, Behnam}, title = {Integrated assessment model diagnostics}, series = {Environmental research letters}, volume = {16}, journal = {Environmental research letters}, number = {5}, publisher = {IOP Publishing}, address = {Bristol}, issn = {1748-9326}, doi = {10.1088/1748-9326/abf964}, pages = {13}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Integrated assessment models (IAMs) form a prime tool in informing about climate mitigation strategies. Diagnostic indicators that allow comparison across these models can help describe and explain differences in model projections. This increases transparency and comparability. Earlier, the IAM community has developed an approach to diagnose models (Kriegler (2015 Technol. Forecast. Soc. Change 90 45-61)). Here we build on this, by proposing a selected set of well-defined indicators as a community standard, to systematically and routinely assess IAM behaviour, similar to metrics used for other modeling communities such as climate models. These indicators are the relative abatement index, emission reduction type index, inertia timescale, fossil fuel reduction, transformation index and cost per abatement value. We apply the approach to 17 IAMs, assessing both older as well as their latest versions, as applied in the IPCC 6th Assessment Report. The study shows that the approach can be easily applied and used to indentify key differences between models and model versions. Moreover, we demonstrate that this comparison helps to link model behavior to model characteristics and assumptions. We show that together, the set of six indicators can provide useful indication of the main traits of the model and can roughly indicate the general model behavior. The results also show that there is often a considerable spread across the models. Interestingly, the diagnostic values often change for different model versions, but there does not seem to be a distinct trend.}, language = {en} } @article{LudererMadedduMerfortetal.2021, author = {Luderer, Gunnar and Madeddu, Silvia and Merfort, Leon and Ueckerdt, Falko and Pehl, Michaja and Pietzcker, Robert C. and Rottoli, Marianna and Schreyer, Felix and Bauer, Nico and Baumstark, Lavinia and Bertram, Christoph and Dirnaichner, Alois and Humpen{\"o}der, Florian and Levesque, Antoine and Popp, Alexander and Rodrigues, Renato and Strefler, Jessica and Kriegler, Elmar}, title = {Impact of declining renewable energy costs on electrification in low-emission scenarios}, series = {Nature energy}, volume = {7}, journal = {Nature energy}, number = {1}, publisher = {Nature Publishing Group}, address = {London}, issn = {2058-7546}, doi = {10.1038/s41560-021-00937-z}, pages = {32 -- 42}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Cost degression in photovoltaics, wind-power and battery storage has been faster than previously anticipated. In the future, climate policy to limit global warming to 1.5-2 °C will make carbon-based fuels increasingly scarce and expensive. Here we show that further progress in solar- and wind-power technology along with carbon pricing to reach the Paris Climate targets could make electricity cheaper than carbon-based fuels. In combination with demand-side innovation, for instance in e-mobility and heat pumps, this is likely to induce a fundamental transformation of energy systems towards a dominance of electricity-based end uses. In a 1.5 °C scenario with limited availability of bioenergy and carbon dioxide removal, electricity could account for 66\% of final energy by mid-century, three times the current levels and substantially higher than in previous climate policy scenarios assessed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The lower production of bioenergy in our high-electrification scenarios markedly reduces energy-related land and water requirements.}, language = {en} } @article{OllierMelligerLilliestam2020, author = {Ollier, Lana and Melliger, Marc Andr{\´e} and Lilliestam, Johan}, title = {Friends or foes?}, series = {Energies : open-access journal of related scientific research, technology development and studies in policy and management}, volume = {13}, journal = {Energies : open-access journal of related scientific research, technology development and studies in policy and management}, number = {23}, publisher = {MDPI}, address = {Basel}, issn = {1996-1073}, doi = {10.3390/en13236339}, pages = {23}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Energy efficiency measures and the deployment of renewable energy are commonly presented as two sides of the same coin-as necessary and synergistic measures to decarbonize energy systems and reach the temperature goals of the Paris Agreement. Here, we quantitatively investigate the policies and performances of the EU Member States to see whether renewables and energy efficiency policies are politically synergistic or if they rather compete for political attention and resources. We find that Member States, especially the ones perceived as climate leaders, tend to prioritize renewables over energy efficiency in target setting. Further, almost every country performs well in either renewable energy or energy efficiency, but rarely performs well in both. We find no support for the assertion that the policies are synergistic, but some evidence that they compete. However, multi-linear regression models for performance show that performance, especially in energy efficiency, is also strongly associated with general economic growth cycles, and not only efficiency policy as such. We conclude that renewable energy and energy efficiency are not synergistic policies, and that there is some competition between them.}, language = {en} } @article{ThonigDelRioKieferetal.2020, author = {Thonig, Richard and Del Rio, Pablo and Kiefer, Christoph and Lazaro Touza, Lara and Escribano, Gonzalo and Lechon, Yolanda and Spaeth, Leonhard and Wolf, Ingo and Lilliestam, Johan}, title = {Does ideology influence the ambition level of climate and renewable energy policy?}, series = {Energy sources, part B: economics, planning, and policy}, volume = {16}, journal = {Energy sources, part B: economics, planning, and policy}, number = {1}, publisher = {Taylor \& Francis Group}, address = {Philadelphia}, issn = {1556-7249}, doi = {10.1080/15567249.2020.1811806}, pages = {4 -- 22}, year = {2020}, abstract = {We investigate whether political ideology has an observable effect on decarbonization ambition, renewable power aims, and preferences for power system balancing technologies in four European countries. Based on the Energy Logics framework, we identify ideologically different transition strategies (state-centered, market-centered, grassroots-centered) contained in government policies and opposition party programs valid in 2019. We compare these policies and programs with citizen poll data. We find that ideology has a small effect: governments and political parties across the spectrum have similar, and relatively ambitious, decarbonization and renewables targets. This mirrors citizens' strong support for ambitious action regardless of their ideological self-description. However, whereas political positions on phasing out fossil fuel power are clear across the policy space, positions on phasing in new flexibility options to balance intermittent renewables are vague or non-existent. As parties and citizens agree on strong climate and renewable power aims, the policy ambition is likely to remain high, even if governments change.}, language = {en} } @article{ScholzVoigt2022, author = {Scholz, Carolin and Voigt, Christian C.}, title = {Diet analysis of bats killed at wind turbines suggests large-scale losses of trophic interactions}, series = {Conservation science and practice}, volume = {4}, journal = {Conservation science and practice}, number = {7}, publisher = {Wiley}, address = {Hoboken}, issn = {2578-4854}, doi = {10.1111/csp2.12744}, pages = {12}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Agricultural practice has led to landscape simplification and biodiversity decline, yet recently, energy-producing infrastructures, such as wind turbines, have been added to these simplified agroecosystems, turning them into multi-functional energy-agroecosystems. Here, we studied the trophic interactions of bats killed at wind turbines using a DNA metabarcoding approach to shed light on how turbine-related bat fatalities may possibly affect local habitats. Specifically, we identified insect DNA in the stomachs of common noctule bats (Nyctalus noctula) killed by wind turbines in Germany to infer in which habitats these bats hunted. Common noctule bats consumed a wide variety of insects from different habitats, ranging from aquatic to terrestrial ecosystems (e.g., wetlands, farmland, forests, and grasslands). Agricultural and silvicultural pest insects made up about 20\% of insect species consumed by the studied bats. Our study suggests that the potential damage of wind energy production goes beyond the loss of bats and the decline of bat populations. Bat fatalities at wind turbines may lead to the loss of trophic interactions and ecosystem services provided by bats, which may add to the functional simplification and impaired crop production, respectively, in multi-functional ecosystems.}, language = {en} } @article{SchaubKlaassenBoutenetal.2020, author = {Schaub, Tonio and Klaassen, Raymond H. G. and Bouten, Willem and Schlaich, Almut E. and Koks, Ben J.}, title = {Collision risk of Montagu's Harriers Circus pygargus with wind turbines derived from high-resolution GPS tracking}, series = {Ibis : the international journal of avian science ; the journal of the British Ornithologists' Union}, volume = {162}, journal = {Ibis : the international journal of avian science ; the journal of the British Ornithologists' Union}, number = {2}, publisher = {Wiley}, address = {Hoboken}, issn = {0019-1019}, doi = {10.1111/ibi.12788}, pages = {520 -- 534}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Flight behaviour characteristics such as flight altitude and avoidance behaviour determine the species-specific collision risk of birds with wind turbines. However, traditional observational methods exhibit limited positional accuracy. High-resolution GPS telemetry represents a promising method to overcome this drawback. In this study, we used three-dimensional GPS tracking data including high-accuracy tracks recorded at 3-s intervals to investigate the collision risk of breeding male Montagu's Harriers Circus pygargus in the Dutch-German border region. Avoidance of wind turbines was quantified by a novel approach comparing observed flights to a null model of random flight behaviour. On average, Montagu's Harriers spent as much as 8.2 h per day in flight. Most flights were at low altitude, with only 7.1\% within the average rotor height range (RHR; 45-125 m). Montagu's Harriers showed significant avoidance behaviour, approaching turbines less often than expected, particularly when flying within the RHR (avoidance rate of 93.5\%). For the present state, with wind farms situated on the fringes of the regional nesting range, collision risk models based on our new insights on flight behaviour indicated 0.6-2.0 yearly collisions of adult males (as compared with a population size of c. 40 pairs). However, the erection of a new wind farm inside the core breeding area could markedly increase mortality (up to 9.7 yearly collisions). If repowering of the wind farms was carried out using low-reaching modern turbines (RHR 36-150 m), mortality would more than double, whereas it would stay approximately constant if higher turbines (RHR 86-200 m) were used. Our study demonstrates the great potential of high-resolution GPS tracking for collision risk assessments. The resulting information on collision-related flight behaviour allows for performing detailed scenario analyses on wind farm siting and turbine design, in contrast to current environmental assessment practices. With regard to Montagu's Harriers, we conclude that although the deployment of higher wind turbines represents an opportunity to reduce collision risk for this species, precluding wind energy developments in core breeding areas remains the most important mitigation measure.}, language = {en} } @techreport{HuđekŽganecPusch2020, author = {Huđek, Helena and Žganec, Krešimir and Pusch, Martin T.}, title = {A review of hydropower dams in Southeast Europe}, series = {Renewable \& sustainable energy reviews}, volume = {117}, journal = {Renewable \& sustainable energy reviews}, publisher = {Elsevier Science}, address = {Amsterdam [u.a.]}, issn = {1364-0321}, doi = {10.1016/j.rser.2019.109434}, pages = {11}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Currently, Southeast Europe (SEE) is witnessing a boom in hydropower plant (HPP) construction, which has not even spared protected areas. As SEE includes global hotspots of aquatic biodiversity, it is expected that this boom will result in a more severe impact on biodiversity than that of other regions. A more detailed assessment of the environmental risks resulting from HPP construction would have to rely on the existence of nearby hydrological and biological monitoring stations. For this reason, we review the distribution and trends of HPPs in the area, as well as the availability of hydrological and biological monitoring data from national institutions useable for environmental impact assessment. Our analysis samples tributary rivers of the Danube in Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, and Montenegro, referred to hereafter as TRD rivers. Currently, 636 HPPs are operating along the course of TRD rivers, most of which are small (<1 MW). An additional 1315 HPPs are currently planned to be built, mostly in Serbia and in Bosnia and Herzegovina. As official monitoring stations near HPPs are rare, the impact of those HPPs on river flow, fish and macro-invertebrates is difficult to assess. This manuscript represents the first regional review of hydropower use and of available data sources on its environmental impact for an area outside of the Alps. We conclude that current hydrological and biological monitoring in TRD rivers is insufficient for an assessment of the ecological impacts of HPPs. This data gap also prevents an adequate assessment of the ecological impacts of planned HP projects, as well as the identification of appropriate measures to mitigate the environmental effects of existing HPPs.}, language = {en} }