The energy transition is a major challenge for both Germany and France. This Weekly Report provides an overview of the short- and long-term goals as well as current developments and trends in France’s energy and climate policy. It reveals that France is largely on track with its greenhouse...

Vor dem kommenden UN-Klimagipfel in Kopenhagen blickt die Welt vor allem auf die USA. Sie sind neben China mit Abstand der größte Emittent von Treibhausgasen. Spürbare Fortschritte beim globalen Klimaschutz setzen einen erheblichen Beitrag der Amerikaner voraus. Spielraum für eine deutliche...

Using electricity for heating can contribute to decarbonization and provide flexibility to integrate variable renewable energy. We analyze the case of electric storage heaters in German 2030 scenarios with an open-source electricity sector model. Making customary night-time storage heaters...

We develop a dispatch and investment model to study the role of power storage and other flexibility options in a greenfield setting with high shares of renewables. The model captures multiple system values of power storage related to arbitrage, dispatchable capacity, and reserves. In a baseline...

Flexibly coupling power and heat sectors may contribute to both renewable energy integration and decarbonization. We present a literature review of modelbased analyses in this field, focusing on residential heating. We compare geographical and temporal research scopes and identify...

We analyze future scenarios of integrating electric vehicles (EV) into the German power system, drawing on different assumptions on the charging mode. We use a numerical dispatch model with a unit-commitment formulation which minimizes dispatch costs over a full year. While the overall energy...

In Germany and beyond, various capacity mechanisms are currently being discussed with a view to improving the security of electricity supply. One of these mechanisms is a strategic reserve that retains generation capacity for use in times of critical supply shortage. We argue that strategic...

The so-called traffic light coalition is facing a challenge: it has set ambitious energy policy targets, but can only achieve them if the pace of the energy transition is increased significantly. To contribute to the current energy policy debate, the Ampel-Monitor Energiewende (Monitor of the...

The emerging literature on power markets with high shares of fluctuating renewables suggests that more frequent start-up procedures of thermal power plants may become an increasing concern, both for costs and possibly also for market design. Based on official scenario assumptions, we investigate...