TY - JOUR A1 - Lilliestam, Johan A1 - Ollier, Lana A1 - Labordena Mir, Mercè A1 - Pfenninger, Stefan A1 - Thonig, Richard T1 - The near- to mid-term outlook for concentrating solar power BT - mostly cloudy, chance of sun JF - Energy sources. B, Economics, planning and policy N2 - The history of concentrating solar power (CSP) is characterized by a boom-bust pattern caused by policy support changes. Following the 2014-2016 bust phase, the combination of Chinese support and several low-cost projects triggered a new boom phase. We investigate the near- to mid-term cost, industry, market and policy outlook for the global CSP sector and show that CSP costs have decreased strongly and approach cost-competitiveness with new conventional generation. Industry has been strengthened through the entry of numerous new companies. However, the project pipeline is thin: no project broke ground in 2019 and only four projects are under construction in 2020. The only remaining large support scheme, in China, has been canceled. Without additional support soon creating a new market, the value chain may collapse and recent cost and technological advances may be undone. If policy support is renewed, however, the global CSP sector is prepared for a bright future. KW - concentrating solar power KW - technological learning KW - value chain analysis KW - energy policy KW - industry development Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1080/15567249.2020.1773580 SN - 1556-7249 SN - 1556-7257 VL - 16 IS - 1 SP - 23 EP - 41 PB - Taylor & Francis CY - London [u.a.] ER - TY - GEN A1 - Thonig, Richard A1 - Del Rio, Pablo A1 - Kiefer, Christoph A1 - Lazaro Touza, Lara A1 - Escribano, Gonzalo A1 - Lechon, Yolanda A1 - Spaeth, Leonhard A1 - Wolf, Ingo A1 - Lilliestam, Johan T1 - Does ideology influence the ambition level of climate and renewable energy policy? BT - Insights from four European countries T2 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaftliche Reihe N2 - 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. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaftliche Reihe - 161 KW - political ideology KW - climate policy KW - energy policy KW - europe KW - european KW - Union KW - renewable energy KW - flexibility Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-577981 SN - 1867-5808 IS - 1 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Thonig, Richard A1 - Del Rio, Pablo A1 - Kiefer, Christoph A1 - Lazaro Touza, Lara A1 - Escribano, Gonzalo A1 - Lechon, Yolanda A1 - Spaeth, Leonhard A1 - Wolf, Ingo A1 - Lilliestam, Johan T1 - Does ideology influence the ambition level of climate and renewable energy policy? BT - Insights from four European countries JF - Energy sources, part B: economics, planning, and policy N2 - 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. KW - political ideology KW - climate policy KW - energy policy KW - europe KW - european KW - Union KW - renewable energy KW - flexibility Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1080/15567249.2020.1811806 SN - 1556-7249 SN - 1556-7257 VL - 16 IS - 1 SP - 4 EP - 22 PB - Taylor & Francis Group CY - Philadelphia ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Tröndle, Tim A1 - Lilliestam, Johan A1 - Marelli, Stefano A1 - Pfenninger, Stefan T1 - Trade-offs between geographic scale, cost, and infrastructure requirements for fully renewable electricity in Europe JF - Joule N2 - The European potential for renewable electricity is sufficient to enable fully renewable supply on different scales, from self-sufficient, subnational regions to an interconnected continent. We not only show that a continental-scale system is the cheapest, but also that systems on the national scale and below are possible at cost penalties of 20% or less. Transmission is key to low cost, but it is not necessary to vastly expand the transmission system. When electricity is transmitted only to balance fluctuations, the transmission grid size is comparable to today's, albeit with expanded cross-border capacities. The largest differences across scales concern land use and thus social acceptance: in the continental system, generation capacity is concentrated on the European periphery, where the best resources are. Regional systems, in contrast, have more dispersed generation. The key trade-off is therefore not between geographic scale and cost, but between scale and the spatial distribution of required generation and transmission infrastructure. KW - energy decarbonization KW - self-sufficiency KW - cooperation KW - trade KW - transmission KW - regional equity KW - land use KW - acceptance KW - flexibility Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joule.2020.07.018 SN - 2542-4351 VL - 4 IS - 9 SP - 1929 EP - 1948 PB - Cell Press CY - Cambridge , Mass. ER - TY - GEN A1 - Tröndle, Tim A1 - Lilliestam, Johan A1 - Marelli, Stefano A1 - Pfenninger, Stefan T1 - Trade-offs between geographic scale, cost, and infrastructure requirements for fully renewable electricity in Europe T2 - Postprints der Universität Potsdam Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaftliche Reihe N2 - The European potential for renewable electricity is sufficient to enable fully renewable supply on different scales, from self-sufficient, subnational regions to an interconnected continent. We not only show that a continental-scale system is the cheapest, but also that systems on the national scale and below are possible at cost penalties of 20% or less. Transmission is key to low cost, but it is not necessary to vastly expand the transmission system. When electricity is transmitted only to balance fluctuations, the transmission grid size is comparable to today's, albeit with expanded cross-border capacities. The largest differences across scales concern land use and thus social acceptance: in the continental system, generation capacity is concentrated on the European periphery, where the best resources are. Regional systems, in contrast, have more dispersed generation. The key trade-off is therefore not between geographic scale and cost, but between scale and the spatial distribution of required generation and transmission infrastructure. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaftliche Reihe - 146 KW - levelized cost KW - energy-system KW - power-system KW - storage KW - wind KW - reanalysis KW - decarbonization KW - transmission KW - integration KW - deployment Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-539611 IS - 9 SP - 1929 EP - 1948 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Lilliestam, Johan A1 - Patt, Anthony A1 - Bersalli, Germán T1 - On the quality of emission reductions BT - observed effects of carbon pricing on investments, innovation, and operational shifts. A response to van den Bergh and Savin (2021) JF - Environmental and Resource Economics N2 - To meet the Paris Agreement targets, carbon emissions from the energy system must be eliminated by mid-century, implying vast investment and systemic change challenges ahead. In an article in WIREs Climate Change, we reviewed the empirical evidence for effects of carbon pricing systems on technological change towards full decarbonisation, finding weak or no effects. In response, van den Bergh and Savin (2021) criticised our review in an article in this journal, claiming that it is "unfair", incomplete and flawed in various ways. Here, we respond to this critique by elaborating on the conceptual roots of our argumentation based on the importance of short-term emission reductions and longer-term technological change, and by expanding the review. This verifies our original findings: existing carbon pricing schemes have sometimes reduced emissions, mainly through switching to lower-carbon fossil fuels and efficiency increases, and have triggered weak innovation increases. There is no evidence that carbon pricing systems have triggered zero-carbon investments, and scarce but consistent evidence that they have not. Our findings highlight the importance of adapting and improving climate policy assessment metrics beyond short-term emissions by also assessing the quality of emission reductions and the progress of underlying technological change. KW - Carbon pricing KW - Climate policy KW - Decarbonisation KW - Technological change KW - Energy transition Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10640-022-00708-8 SN - 0924-6460 SN - 1573-1502 VL - 83 IS - 3 SP - 733 EP - 758 PB - Springer CY - Dordrecht ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Quitzow, Rainer A1 - Bersalli, Germán A1 - Lilliestam, Johan A1 - Prontera, Andrea ED - Rayner, Tim ED - Szulecki, Kacper ED - Jordan, Andrew J. ED - Oberthür, Sebastian T1 - Green recovery BT - catalyst for an enhanced EU role in climate and energy policy? T2 - Handbook on European Union Climate Change Policy and Politics N2 - This chapter reviews how the European Union has fared in enabling a green recovery in the aftermath of the Covid-19 crisis, drawing comparisons to developments after the financial crisis. The chapter focuses on the European Commission and its evolving role in promoting decarbonisation efforts in its Member States, paying particular attention to its role in financing investments in low-carbon assets. It considers both the direct effects of green stimulus policies on decarbonisation in the EU and how these actions have shaped the capacities of the Commission as an actor in the field of climate and energy policy. The analysis reveals a significant expansion of the Commission’s role compared to the period following the financial crisis. EU-level measures have provided incentives for Member States to direct large volumes of financing towards investments in climate-friendly assets. Nevertheless, the ultimate impact will largely be shaped by implementation at the national level. KW - European Union KW - green recovery KW - climate finance KW - European Green Deal KW - just transition Y1 - 2023 SN - 978-1-78990-698-1 SN - 978-1-78990-697-4 U6 - https://doi.org/10.4337/9781789906981.00039 SP - 351 EP - 366 PB - Edward Elgar Publishing ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Krupnik, Seweryn A1 - Wagner, Aleksandra A1 - Vincent, Olga A1 - Rudek, Tadeusz J. A1 - Wade, Robert A1 - Misik, Matúš A1 - Akerboom, Sanne A1 - Foulds, Chris A1 - Smith Stegen, Karen A1 - Adem, Çiğdem A1 - Batel, Susana A1 - Rabitz, Florian A1 - Certomà, Chiara A1 - Chodkowska-Miszczuk, Justyna A1 - Dokupilová, Dušana A1 - Leiren, Merethe D. A1 - Ignatieva, Frolova M. A1 - Gabaldón-Estevan, Daniel. A1 - Horta, Ana A1 - Karnøe, Peter A1 - Lilliestam, Johan A1 - Loorbach, Derk A. A1 - Mühlemeier, Susan A1 - Némoz, Sophie A1 - Nilsson, Måns A1 - Osička, Jan A1 - Papamikrouli, Louiza A1 - Pellizioni, Luigi A1 - Sareen, Siddharth A1 - Sarrica, Mauro A1 - Seyfang, Gill A1 - Sovacool, Benjamin K. A1 - Telesiene, Audrone A1 - Zapletalova, Veronika A1 - von Wirth, Timo T1 - Beyond technology BT - a research agenda for social sciences and humanities research on renewable energy in Europe JF - Energy research & social science N2 - This article enriches the existing literature on the importance and role of the social sciences and humanities (SSH) in renewable energy sources research by providing a novel approach to instigating the future research agenda in this field. Employing a series of in-depth interviews, deliberative focus group workshops and a systematic horizon scanning process, which utilised the expert knowledge of 85 researchers from the field with diverse disciplinary backgrounds and expertise, the paper develops a set of 100 priority questions for future research within SSH scholarship on renewable energy sources. These questions were aggregated into four main directions: (i) deep transformations and connections to the broader economic system (i.e. radical ways of (re)arranging socio-technical, political and economic relations), (ii) cultural and geographical diversity (i.e. contextual cultural, historical, political and socio-economic factors influencing citizen support for energy transitions), (iii) complexifying energy governance (i.e. understanding energy systems from a systems dynamics perspective) and (iv) shifting from instrumental acceptance to value-based objectives (i.e. public support for energy transitions as a normative notion linked to trust-building and citizen engagement). While this agenda is not intended to be—and cannot be—exhaustive or exclusive, we argue that it advances the understanding of SSH research on renewable energy sources and may have important value in the prioritisation of SSH themes needed to enrich dialogues between policymakers, funding institutions and researchers. SSH scholarship should not be treated as instrumental to other research on renewable energy but as intrinsic and of the same hierarchical importance. KW - horizon scanning KW - research priorities KW - funding directions KW - EU Horizon Europe KW - research-policy interface Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2022.102536 SN - 22146296 VL - 89 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schäppi, Remo A1 - Rutz, David A1 - Dähler, Fabian A1 - Muroyama, Alexander A1 - Haueter, Philipp A1 - Lilliestam, Johan A1 - Patt, Anthony A1 - Furler, Philipp A1 - Steinfeld, Aldo T1 - Drop-in fuels from sunlight and air JF - Nature : the international weekly journal of science N2 - Aviation and shipping currently contribute approximately 8% of total anthropogenic CO2 emissions, with growth in tourism and global trade projected to increase this contribution further(1-3). Carbon-neutral transportation is feasible with electric motors powered by rechargeable batteries, but is challenging, if not impossible, for long-haul commercial travel, particularly airtravel(4). A promising solution are drop-in fuels (synthetic alternatives for petroleum-derived liquid hydrocarbon fuels such as kerosene, gasoline or diesel) made from H2O and CO2 by solar-driven processes(5-7).Among the many possible approaches, the thermochemical path using concentrated solar radiation as the source of high-temperature process heat offers potentially high production rates and efficiencies(8), and can deliver truly carbon-neutral fuels if the required CO2 is obtained directly from atmospheric air(9) . If H2O is also extracted from air(10), feedstock sourcing and fuel production can be colocated in desert regions with high solar irradiation and limited accessto water resources. While individual steps of such a scheme have been implemented, here we demonstrate the operation of the entire thermochemical solar fuel production chain, from H2O and CO2 captured directly from ambient air to the synthesis of drop-in transportation fuels (for example, methanol and kerosene), with a modular 5 kW(thermal) pilot-scale solar system operated under field conditions. We further identify the research and development efforts and discuss the economic viability and policies required to bring these solar fuels to market. KW - chemical engineering KW - hydrogen energy KW - mechanical engineering KW - solar fuels KW - solar thermal energy Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-04174-y SN - 0028-0836 SN - 1476-4687 VL - 601 IS - 7891 SP - 63 EP - 80 PB - Macmillan Publishers Limited, part of Springer Nature CY - Berlin ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kleanthis, Nikos A1 - Stavrakas, Vassilis A1 - Ceglarz, Andrzej A1 - Süsser, Diana A1 - Schibline, Amanda A1 - Lilliestam, Johan A1 - Flamos, Alexandros T1 - Eliciting knowledge from stakeholders to identify critical issues of the transition to climate neutrality in Greece, the Nordic Region, and the European Union JF - Energy research & social ccience N2 - There are considerable differences in the pace and underlying motivations of the energy transition in the different geographical contexts across Europe. The European Union's commitment to climate neutrality by 2050 requires a better understanding of the energy transition in different contexts and scales to improve cooperation of involved actors. In this article, we identify critical issues and challenges of the European energy transition as perceived by stakeholders and investigate how these perceptions vary across geographical contexts. To do so, we couple a policy document analysis with research based on stakeholder engagement activities in three different scales, national (Greece), regional (Nordic Region) and continental scale (European Union). Our findings show that stakeholder perspectives on the energy transition depend on contextual factors underlying the need for policies sensitive to the different transition issues and challenges in European regions. They also reveal cross-cutting issues and challenges among the three case studies, which could lead to further improvement of the cross-country collaboration to foster the European energy transition. KW - challenges KW - case studies KW - energy policy KW - energy transition KW - climate neutrality KW - stakeholder engagement Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2022.102836 SN - 2214-6296 VL - 93 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER -