Solar Photovoltaic Electricity Generation: A Lifeline for the European Coal Regions in Transition †
European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), Via E. Fermi 2749, I-21027 Ispra (VA), Italy
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
†
The scientific output expressed is based on the current information available to the authors, and does not imply a policy position of the European Commission.
Sustainability 2019, 11(13), 3703; https://doi.org/10.3390/su11133703
Received: 21 May 2019 / Revised: 19 June 2019 / Accepted: 2 July 2019 / Published: 5 July 2019
(This article belongs to the Section Environmental Sustainability and Applications)
The use of coal for electricity generation is the main emitter of Greenhous Gas Emissions worldwide. According to the International Energy Agency, these emissions have to be reduced by more than 70% by 2040 to stay on track for the 1.5–2 °C scenario suggested by the Paris Agreement. To ensure a socially fair transition towards the phase-out of coal, the European Commission introduced the Coal Regions in Transition initiative in late 2017. The present paper analyses to what extent the use of photovoltaic electricity generation systems can help with this transition in the coal regions of the European Union (EU). A spatially explicit methodology was developed to assess the solar photovoltaic (PV) potential in selected regions where open-cast coal mines are planned to cease operation in the near future. Different types of solar PV systems were considered including ground-mounted systems developed either on mining land or its surroundings. Furthermore, the installation of rooftop solar PV systems on the existing building stock was also analysed. The obtained results show that the available area in those regions is abundant and that solar PV systems could fully substitute the current electricity generation of coal-fired power plants in the analysed regions.
View Full-Text
Keywords:
solar photovoltaics; PV potential; coal power plant; Paris Agreement
▼
Show Figures
Figure 1
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
MDPI and ACS Style
Bódis, K.; Kougias, I.; Taylor, N.; Jäger-Waldau, A. Solar Photovoltaic Electricity Generation: A Lifeline for the European Coal Regions in Transition. Sustainability 2019, 11, 3703. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11133703
AMA Style
Bódis K, Kougias I, Taylor N, Jäger-Waldau A. Solar Photovoltaic Electricity Generation: A Lifeline for the European Coal Regions in Transition. Sustainability. 2019; 11(13):3703. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11133703
Chicago/Turabian StyleBódis, Katalin, Ioannis Kougias, Nigel Taylor, and Arnulf Jäger-Waldau. 2019. "Solar Photovoltaic Electricity Generation: A Lifeline for the European Coal Regions in Transition" Sustainability 11, no. 13: 3703. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11133703
Find Other Styles
Note that from the first issue of 2016, MDPI journals use article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.
