A Third electricity scenario

Abstract

The electricity systems of most European countries still largely rely on conventional base load sources (oil, coal, nuclear) as well as on other fossil fuels for covering peak loads. This is the traditional first scenario developed for decades under complete monopoly conditions More recently some EU member states such as Spain and Germany have heavily invested in Wind and photovoltaic (PV), two variable sources of electricity. They plan a huge increase supplying up to 50% of their consumption with these two sources. For balancing the grid, gas is planned as back-up. However, such an electricity system also requires additional infrastructure as well as large storage capacities. This new scenario can be seen as the second one. Geothermal electricity is completely ignored in these two scenarios. With a third scenario, EGEC aims to demonstrate that geothermal electricity is key to reducing the overall system costs of the future electricity systems. Providing a local source of electricity for the base load it will also allow the total energy bill to decrease and make energy more sustainable and affordable.