Battle of the Grids

Feb 26, 2011 - greenpeace.org

As the EU considers how to overhaul its aging and inefficient power system, Battle of the Grids demonstrates how a lasting shift to a grid powered with nearly 100% clean energy can be achieved. Its centrepiece is a map that for the first time charts a supergrid for 2050. The report confirms what the recent economic crisis and accompanying fall in electricity demand has laid bare: a growing clash between flexible renewables and inflexible ‘baseload’ generators like coal and nuclear, a clash which gives the report its title. This clash will only grow and become more expensive unless coal and nuclear are phased out.

As the EU considers how to overhaul its aging and inefficient power system, Battle of the Grids demonstrates how a lasting shift to a grid powered with nearly 100% clean energy can be achieved. Its centrepiece is a map that for the first time charts a supergrid for 2050. The report confirms what the recent economic crisis and accompanying fall in electricity demand has laid bare: a growing clash between flexible renewables and inflexible ‘baseload’ generators like coal and nuclear, a clash which gives the report its title. This clash will only grow and become more expensive unless coal and nuclear are phased out.

The energy and transport systems that power the industrialised world are fuelling dangerous climate change. Extreme weather, decline in agricultural production and sea-level rise will be felt by everyone, rich and poor. We can avert the worst impacts, but only if we rethink our energy system.

Today, Europe’s electricity grid is characterised by big, polluting power stations pumping out constant energy, regardless of consumer need, along a wasteful, aging A/C (alternating current) network. The patchwork of national grids stitched together over the years is an uncomfortable, uneconomical fit. Climate policy and consumer demand are hurtling us towards a smarter, more efficient Europe-wide grid that is already opening up vast new technological, business and consumer opportunities. Such a grid could guarantee supply despite extreme weather conditions, delivering green energy around Europe via efficient, largely below ground DC (direct current) cables. However, the report’s title, Battle of the Grids, hints at the fact that we are at a political crossroads.