Green 'supergrid' could plug Europe into renewable power by 2030, say scientists

By David Strahan

Sunday, 14 June 2009

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Europe could build an electricity supply based entirely on renewable energy by 2030, according to scientists making a presentation at the House of Commons this week.

MPs will hear that an electricity "supergrid" across Europe and North Africa could solve the problem of the intermittency of wind turbines and solar power and dispense with the need for nuclear and "clean coal" power stations altogether.

The supergrid would stretch from Britain to Kazakhstan, and Scandinavia to Morocco, and transport huge amounts of renewable power back and forth to marry supply with demand.

MPs will hear from Dr Gregor Czisch, a German energy consultant who has devised a computer model which is based on historical weather and demand data. It is designed to find the cheapest electricity supply based wholly on renewables.

The supergrid would require tens of thousands of kilometres of overhead lines and undersea cables, and the entire system would cost more than €€1.5trn (£1.3trn) over 20 years.

Comments

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dnmurphy wrote:

Sunday, 14 June 2009 at 11:47 pm (UTC)

I enjoy fantasies almost as much as conspiracy theories.

Could we have some information about this idea? has anyone thought of the political problems that make this a fantasy, such as the instability of many of the countries mentioned? 1.5 trillion when we are all bankrupt? Exactly what is the renewable source?

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transitionnc wrote:

Wednesday, 17 June 2009 at 12:11 pm (UTC)

This is a remarkedly poor piece of reporting. Where are the basics of the proposed system? Where is the reference to original source? How can anyone possibly takes this seriously from the five sentences as published?

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nuergy wrote:

Wednesday, 24 June 2009 at 06:50 pm (UTC)

The UK goverment has already identified that future power generation will come from a mix of locally produced renewables ie energy crops and our natural resources. The only real way of reducing carbon is using wind, tidal & the most readily available form of stored solar energy from the sun is in wood form sustainable forest, also of course by saving and reducing.

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