Greenpeace has assured, in its report 'The battle of the networks', that Europe can obtain all its electricity from renewable energy sources and that "the rigidity" of nuclear and coal plants prevents, in its opinion, from taking advantage of all the renewable energy that is available.
The study, released Wednesday in Spain, shows that nuclear and coal-fired power plants "are a major obstacle on the way to a 100 percent renewable system" and shows "the need to eliminate 90 percent of current coal and nuclear power plants to have a stable and efficient electricity supply by 2030, with 68 percent renewable sources by that date."
As indicated by the environmental organization, the work exposes "for the first time" what a smart grid would be like in Europe in the year 2050 and has specified that, based on "exhaustive models" developed by the engineering consultancy Energynautics, it reflects how intelligent grid management, control technology and a network of efficient transmission lines "can reliably balance demand with the supply from variable renewable energies through of the continent, even when there is little wind or sun."
"The report reveals how renewables will increasingly come into conflict with nuclear and coal-fired power plants. At times of maximum production, the operation of renewable generators, which produce clean energy at no additional cost, is being prevented to allow nuclear and coal plants to continue operating," he warned.
Greenpeace has claimed that this is because wind and solar PV "is variable, while nuclear and coal-fired power plants are constant but inflexible." For his part, the head of the Energy campaign of Greenpeace International, Jan Vande Putte, has assured that "European politicians should distance themselves from coal and nuclear, which are blocking progress towards the clean, modern and efficient energy system of the future".
"Last year it was decided to stop thousands of wind turbines to allow nuclear and coal plants to continue their dangerous and dirty business," he added. Likewise, the report states that, in Spain, renewables – which have experienced a "rapid growth in recent years and have provided, at times, more than two-thirds of all electricity – have supplied, in 2010, 35 percent of electricity, while nuclear has accounted for 21 percent and coal 8 percent.
"This made Spain a net exporter of electricity to France," he said. However, Greenpeace – which also points out that next Monday the Energy Ministers of the European Union will meet to specify how to fulfill the mandate to prioritize renewable energies and energy efficiency agreed by the heads of government on February 4 at the Energy Summit – recalls that, on the occasions when a low electricity demand has coincided with a high availability of wind, "the order has been given to stop wind farms, which has allowed hundreds of clean megawatts to be lost, given the impossibility of stopping nuclear power plants." (EUROPA PRESS)
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