Levelised cost of energy (LCOE) have dropped considerably over the last couple of years for renewable energy. This specifically holds for wind and solar PV, due to the development of new and more efficient concepts (research) as well as economy of scale effects due to the rapid increase of deployment.  For all renewable options, including solar PV and wind which have already a substantial market penetration, further massive cost reductions can be achieved through development of new concepts – i.e. tandem solar cells, PV printing technologies, 15 MW turbines. With increasing deployment, cost reduction can be achieved through industry driven incremental innovation. Deployment related barriers such as integration into the energy system, ranging from electric integration to esthetical integration, are of increasing relevance. New concepts require long-term research and state-of-the-art RI and substantial synergies can be obtained in sharing them.

current status

PHOTOVOLTAICS Joint Research Programmes such as the EERA Joint Programme on Photovoltaic (EERA JP-PV) as well as the European Perovskite Initiative for solar cells aim to optimize the use of RIs and contribute to improving EU research and competitiveness of European industry. Europe’s competitive edge rests on the excellent knowledge base of its researchers and engineers along with the existing operating infrastructures. Given the increasingly competitive environment, without steady and reliable R&D funding, this advantage is at risk.

The rapid cost reduction of solar PV has continued and the deployment pace has further increased. Deployment related aspects, such as integration in the electricity system, circularity, visual integration as well as multiple use of space are becoming important barriers. The drop in LCOE offers the opportunity to develop and implement new concepts addressing these barriers that are or can become cost competitive. Mass customization, where PV products are tailored specifically to the end-use conditions, is expected to become the dominant way of application in the mid-term. This offers a huge potential to build up the full industrial value chain in Europe again, replacing the uniform mass produced modules that are yet imported. Although the LCOE for solar PV has dropped rapidly, still a substantial potential for cost reduction exist e.g. by increasing the efficiency through tandem solar cells. This requires substantial R&D efforts focusing on new concepts beyond incremental improvements.

RENEWABLE FUELS The key advantage of renewable fuels obtained from renewable resources resides in that their exploitation does not consume the available stock. Yet, they are often seen only as a way to supply decarbonised fuels. Biofuels produced directly from a biomass feedstock such as ethanol (from sugar-rich or lignocellulose-rich biomass), bio-diesel (from vegetable oil) or methane (from bio digestion of biological wastes) are nowadays a mature technology heavily used in the everyday life of European citizens (e.g. for fuelling cars). The transformation of solid raw biomass into more standard fuels such as char coal or pellets is also considered as biofuels but mainly dedicated to the production of electricity in thermal power plants or for supplying heating to dwellings. This usage has seen an increasing interest the last decades, yet operational difficulties to ensure constant supply of biofuels or to control pollutant emissions and combustion conditions has limited the development of this energy vector. Further sustainable development of renewable fuels could be achieved through gasification of biomass into a synthesis gas that can be burnt in thermal engines modified accordingly. Renewable fuels can also be obtained by hydrolysis of water through electricity generated by renewable resources. To overcome the issues related to storage and transport, hydrogen can be introduced in different liquid or gaseous fuels (e.g. to generate ammonia, bio-methane or methanol) thus benefiting from an existing distribution network. There is a strong connection between renewable fuels and Power-to-X where the energy supply from biomass and renewable production are all merged into one single standardised fuel. Renewable fuels provide a unique way to supply standard fuels supplied from renewable resources and able to replace fossil fuels. 

CONCENTRATED SOLAR POWER The Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) works by focusing incoming solar energy, producing heat, which can then be directly used to generate electricity or for some other purpose, or stored for later use. Significant concentrated solar power facilities were constructed in several European countries, propelling Europe to an early technological lead. These facilities are not only in the south but also, for example, in Germany and Denmark. CSP research and research collaboration is well established in Europe, not least through the ESFRI Landmark EU-SOLARIS. After a period of rapid European expansion of CSP production from about 2007 until 2013, generally reduced energy costs and increasing competition from photovoltaics led to lower rates of growth than had been envisaged, especially in Europe.

The possibilities for direct industrial use of heat and especially the implicit storage potential of CSP provide major advantages compared to photovoltaics, e.g. by allowing electricity production, in practice for a number of hours, when there is no incoming solar energy. As the proportion of non-dispatchable generation such as wind and photovoltaics in the grid system grows, the price premium for semi-dispatchable production will increase, possibly making CSP again more competitive. Future CSP research should therefore consider both unit costs for CSP production and CSP’s possible future roles in the electricity and industrial systems in Europe and globally.

WIND ENERGY Many initiatives coordinate the research activities in Europe: the European Wind Industrial Initiative (EWII) and EERA Joint Programme on Wind energy, European Technology and Innovation Platform on Wind Energy (ETIPWind) driven by the European wind energy industry and coordinated by the European Wind Energy Association, and the European Academy of Wind Energy. Upscaling of wind turbines is seen as one of the major pathways to reduce the LCOE of wind energy. It was expected that beyond a certain power, radical new concepts and new materials were needed. However, over the years the size and power of wind turbines have increased through incremental innovation. These innovations combined with large scale manufacturing have led to a rapid drop in LCOE and increase in deployment.

As holds for solar PV, deployment related aspects, such as environmental impact on marine life as well as birds and bats, circularity, visual aspects and specifically integration in the electricity grid, are now becoming important barriers. The potential for a further cost-effective decrease of the LCOE is huge, though substantial R&D efforts are required to harvest this potential. The share of offshore wind has increased rapidly over the last five years, however using specifically the potential offered by shallow waters. In order to harvest the huge potential for floating wind, substantial R&D efforts are still needed. On top of the existing RIs on wind turbine test fields, component test facilities, materials testing and wind tunnels, new facilities are required –e.g. on system integration and floating wind.

GEOTHERMAL ENERGY While high temperature geothermal energy for electricity production in magmatic geological areas is well established, possibilities that may radically enhance production, such as use of deep superheated fluids, are being actively investigated. A number of major initiatives investigating Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) are ongoing in Europe, including Finland, Germany, France, Switzerland and other countries. In EGS, the permeability of the deep subsurface is increased using hydro-fracturing and other methods, potentially allowing major geothermal production almost anywhere. Geothermal energy for heat and cold extraction and storage is an increasingly important component in the energy balance of buildings and major facilities are now in use or under construction in several countries.

A number of major challenges need to be addressed if the vast potential of geothermal energy production and storage is to be fully developed, including testing of engineering materials, drilling and stimulation (hydrofracturing) technologies including modelling and assessments of geomechanics and induced seismicity, and reservoir assessment and management, including, for example, co-use for geothermal and other purposes of space beneath large cities. Many relevant major research institutions are involved in the ongoing EERA Joint Program on Geothermal Energy.

OCEAN ENERGY The recently launched EU StrategyAn EU Strategy to harness the potential of offshore renewable energy for a climate neutral future –Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the regions (2020)
https://ec.europa.eu/energy/sites/ener/files/offshore_renewable_energy_strategy.pdf to harness the potential of offshore renewable energy for a climate neutral future provides a clear signal of commitment to the sector and a realisation that there is a need to use new renewable technologies including Ocean (Wave, Tidal and Floating wind) as well as grow offshore wind. The most relevant EU initiatives are: Clean Energy Transition SET Plan (including Ocean Energy) and European Technology and Innovation Platform and EERA Joint Programme on Ocean Energy (10 institutions from 8 EU countries); EU-OEA (80 members); OCEANERA-NET with EU research organizations from 9 countries; MARINET2 network with 57 testing facilities at 38 research organisations from 13 countries and the intergovernmental collaboration Ocean Energy Systems Technology Collaboration Programme OES with 21 countries.

The EU Strategy goal is to install 60 GW of offshore wind and at least 1 GW of ocean energy by 2030 and to reach 300 GW of offshore wind and 40 GW of ocean energy by 2050. However, many systems have not been tested yet under real operation conditions and need to undergo final long-term reliability testing before being commercially deployed at scale in harsh environments. There is widespread international interest in ocean energy and it is particularly high in Australia, Asia, US and South America. Currently there are a small number of ocean energy systems installed on the global level. Europe has global leadership in ocean energy technologies and industrial knowhowTechnology Market Report Ocean Energy, JRC117349 JRC (2019) Facts and figures on Offshore Renewable Energy Sources in Europe, JRC121366 JRC (2020).

GAPS, CHALLENGES AND FUTURE NEEDS

In PHOTOVOLTAIC SOLAR ENERGY, it is important to establish a long-term European cooperation in the PV R&D sector, by sharing knowledge, organizing workshops, exchange and training researchers to accelerate the implementation of innovative technologies in the European PV industry. Furthermore, it will be needed to install relevant pilot production lines to demonstrate these novel technologies and to bring back commercial manufacturing in Europe.

RI is needed for advancements in production of BIOFUELS, biomass upgrading as part of optimized logistics concepts, hydrogen production based on gasification with reforming, efficient cultivation systems for third generation biofuels sources and system integration schemes between different sources and with the grid.

The challenge of maintaining a stable grid system including a large volume of non-dispatchable renewables (largely wind and solar) is very large, in a future scenario without fossil fuels, and CONCENTRATED SOLAR POWER can in principle contribute to here, even on longer time scales – given sufficient economies of scale in the thermal storage. Lack of standardization is seen as an obstacle to rapid cost reduction and definitive deployment of the Concentrated Solar Power sector

Concerning WIND ENERGY, better coordination of EU RIs should create the conditions for the long-term development. On top of the existing RIs, there is a need for new multi-actor facilities – especially in the field of integration of wind energy into
the energy system as well as for floating offshore wind, which is expected to play a dominant role in harvesting the world wide potential of wind energy.

The development of new GEOTHERMAL ENERGY technologies can be expensive and projects may be high-risk in the sense that commercial success is not guaranteed. Therefore, society cannot rely only on commercial initiatives, and public R&D support is often necessary. A coordinated trans-European initiative to co-exploit existing and new geothermal test sites would appear to be strongly motivated. Such an initiative would naturally link to and significantly enhance existing ESFRI initiatives such as the ESFRI Landmark EPOS ERIC (ENV).

In OCEAN ENERGY, the establishment of an integrated network of testing facilities is very important, including full scale sites for testing of single units under real operation conditions, as well as up-scaling to the array level (MARINET2, Foresea). There is a need for technical de-risking through the development and implementation of best practices, quality metrics and standards (MaRINET2, Marinerg-i). Increased joint development activity across the test infrastructure community is required to address the technical barriers and deliver viable devices to the market (see for example the ESFRI Project MARINERG-i).