ESPON, 2010
This project focuses on opportunities to support competitive and clean energy supplies for regions in Europe and to generate and strengthen sustainable energy sources. It delivers future-oriented territorial evidence on the impact of rising energy prices on the competitiveness of European regions as well as on cohesion in Europe in a long-term perspective.
- Green High Tech. This scenario assumes a quick development of renewable energy sources, both large and small-scale, in which the regions gain greater influence on energy policy. In this scenario, regions can specialize on certain types of renewable energy production and will win from cooperation and shared networks.
- Energy-efficient Europe. This scenario assumes a greater use of natural gas by 2030, while trying to keep Europe’s energy dependency within limits through important efficiency gains in all sectors and a move towards more regionalized economies. In this situation, regions that depend on gas supplies from one producer region only, will have to deal with a higher risk of supply interruptions, but economic development will probably follow a fairly balanced and more sustainable path.
- Nuclear Energy for Big Regions. This scenario assumes that the power sector will remain highly centralized, since few players are able to carry out the needed investment. The logical consequence would be to “go electric” both in industry and transport, but these decisions will be little influenced by local and regional policy makers.
- Business as usual? In this scenario, only a moderate transition to renewable energy sources has taken place. Energy systems are dominated by centralised solutions and coal use for electricity generation has increased. Central Asian, Russian and Arctic gas deposits have become increasingly important for Europe’s energy supply. This has meant major capital investments in natural gas pipelines and storage. The construction and operating costs associated with nuclear power, the public concerns about waste storage, insecure uranium supply, and security concerns have all contributed to the phase-out of nuclear energy programmes.
