Post 2020: which technologies will deliver? 

Wind Power and Natural Gas

Simon BlakeySpecial Envoy

Wind Conference CopenhagenCopenhagen, 16 April 2012

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General Principles onEnergy and Climate Policy

1) Gas offers a fast, cost-effective route to reducing carbon in the energy mix• Substitution for higher carbon fuels, with high

efficiency equipment, in the near term• Adaptable to work with zero-carbon

technologies for a long future

2) GHG reduction should be key target

3) Subsidy-based approaches should be time limited

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Two Themes for Today

Wind needs to be liberated from system limits

We need to make friends …

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Making friends with gas ...

• There is a limit to how much wind (and solar) an electricity system can absorb– We don’t know for sure how high or low it is– In the interest of maximizing zero-carbon

output, we want it to be as high as possible

• Interconnections, electricity storage, demand-side management can all help ...

... a little bit, at a price, and in time

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Three challenges

Following load quickly

Dealing with surplus wind power when demand is low

Replacing wind on still days

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A friend today, a friend tomorrow

• Natural gas can help immediately– Fast ramp-up/ramp-down rates of OCGTs– Balance local variability– Provide manually-operated tertiary reserve

• Progressive technologies offer an even better deal:– New generation CCGTs (FlexEfficiency, KA-26)– Storing wind power as methane in the gas grid

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Two roads to one target

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The CCGT is still the bestcarbon-reducing tool we have

• Existing technology, easier permitting, smaller visible footprint all mean that the gas-fired route to carbon reduction is the quickest available

• But gas is not an alternative to wind and solar power—it can be built for base load, quick wins—and retained as flexible support for variable renewable output as the scale of renewables grows

• A ‘both/and’ solution is needed, not ‘either/or’

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There is still scope for substitution

• The EU Report to UNFCCC:

“Gas has increased very rapidly, by a factor of 3 between 1990 and 2008, and its share stands at about one third of all the fuel used for the production of heat and electricity in the EU”

“Solid fuels still represent more than half of the fuel used in public conventional thermal power plants, although its share in the fuel mix has been declining.”

• EU gas used to make electricity has increased from 54 to 149 Mtoe since 1990; coal has dropped from 286 to 229 Mtoe. There is still room for more quick wins.

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Contact details

Av. de Cortenbergh 172 1000 BrusselsBELGIUM

Phone: +32 2 894 48 28

sab@eurogas.org www.eurogas.org