Print Email Facebook Twitter Wind-solar technological, spatial and temporal complementarities in Europe Title Wind-solar technological, spatial and temporal complementarities in Europe: A portfolio approach Author López Prol, Javier (Yonsei University) de Llano Paz, Fernando (Universidade da Coruña) Calvo-Silvosa, Anxo (Universidade da Coruña) Pfenninger, Stefan (TU Delft Energie and Industrie) Staffell, Iain (Imperial College London) Date 2024 Abstract Climate change and geopolitical risks call for the rapid transformation of electricity systems worldwide, with Europe at the forefront. Wind and solar are the lowest cost, lowest risk, and cleanest energy sources, but their variability poses integration challenges. Combining both technologies and integrating regions with dissimilar generation patterns optimizes the trade-off between maximizing energy output and minimizing its variability, which respectively give the lowest levelized cost and lowest integration cost. We apply the Markowitz mean-variance framework to a rich multi-decade dataset of wind and solar productivity to quantify the potential benefits of spatially integration of renewables across European countries at hourly, daily and monthly timescales. We find that optimal cross-country coordination of wind and solar capacities across Europe's integrated electricity system increases capacity factor by 22% while reducing hourly variability by 26%. We show limited benefits to solar integration due to consistent output profiles across Europe. Greater wind integration yields larger benefits due to the diversity of regional weather patterns. This framework shows the importance of considering renewable projects not in isolation, but as interconnected parts of a pan-continental system. Our results can guide policymakers towards strategic energy plans that reduce system-wide costs of renewable electricity, accelerating the clean energy transition. Subject DecarbonizationEnergy transitionIntegration costsIntegration of electricity marketsInttermitencyLCOESolarVariabilityVariable renewable energyWind To reference this document use: http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:828b2425-e579-4ebd-b83a-b283f2d2342a DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2024.130348 ISSN 0360-5442 Source Energy, 292 Part of collection Institutional Repository Document type journal article Rights © 2024 Javier López Prol, Fernando de Llano Paz, Anxo Calvo-Silvosa, Stefan Pfenninger, Iain Staffell Files PDF 1-s2.0-S0360544224001191-main.pdf 9.67 MB Close viewer /islandora/object/uuid:828b2425-e579-4ebd-b83a-b283f2d2342a/datastream/OBJ/view