With the start on the new European Commission and the commitments made by its new President and in view of the recent meteorological conditions that made clear to the general public in Europe at least, that the impacts of the ongoing Climate Change may not be that far into the future but are present here and now, a window of opportunity opens to try to put together political coalitions at EU level to push for an accelerated, just and financially advantageous transition to a decarbonized electricity sector. Lignite plants contribute disproportionately to national GHG emissions as their GHG emissions are more than double that of natural gas plants (over 1.3tCO2/MWh vs. ca 0.5tCO2/MWh). It is therefore clear that their accelerated decommissioning should be of first priority.
This project will focus on Bulgaria, Romania and Greece. The three countries have 11.5 GW of lignite-based generation capacity with the age of 30 years and older (Bulgaria 3.5 GW, Greece 3.3 GW, Romania 4.6 GW). These plants of low efficiency have significant challenge to operate in an economically justified manner with the current level of EU ETS prices and to adhere to the emission limits of the Industrial Emissions Directive.
The project will prepare the framework for an exit strategy which will enable countries to minimise costs and maximise benefits of decommissioning certain lignite power plants and connected mines. The strategic plan will also assess the energy security risks including on the reliability of supply and the affordability of power generation after the phase-out. Due to the existence of a regulated subsidized market in two of the countries involved, the Plan will also analyse the effects of the phase-out on energy poverty, a key perceived political impediment for energy transition in the region.
The work within this project will be carried out by TU Wien within a large project team – i.e. in close cooperation with local partners from the focal countries as well as with REKK, a leading Hungarian Research Institute in the field of energy policy and energy modelling. TU Wien will assist REKK in the overall modelling and analysis and will act as lead partner for the analysis of the RES uptake necessary under this transition process.
