UPTAKE (Unconventional perspectives on transmission grid expansion for climate neutrality & energy transition). Grid expansion under the sign of accelerated climate neutrality policies and the new complexity

A team of researchers involving Fraunhofer IEE, Oeko-Institut and RWTH Aachen University, together with transmission system operator 50Hertz, has developed a new approach to estimate future electricity transport needs quickly and specifically. This approach makes it possible to make the entire range of options and development corridors more tangible, to use this as a basis for setting the political course and regulatory planning instruments in a much more targeted manner, and thus to enable the rapid transition to climate neutrality. With an interdisciplinary view, the researchers oriented themselves to several so-called storylines, which are driven by technical-economic, social and political-regulatory factors. These storylines (or narratives) describe important and, in particular, politically addressable or controllable path decisions with considerable influence on the need for grid expansion: the effects of acceptance issues, the availability of areas on land and at sea, the regulatory framework conditions of the European electricity market, the characteristics of the consumption and transport requirements of electricity (electrons) versus hydrogen (molecules), and the capacities and spatial distribution patterns of domestic electrolysis plants.

https://www.oeko.de/presse/archiv-pressemeldungen/presse-detailseite/2022/neuer-ansatz-zur-abschaetzung-des-zukuenftigen-stromtransportbedarfs