e-Highway 2050: Europe’s Future Secure and Sustainable Electricity Infrastructure

The European Commission, together with the member states, has defined clear targets for the decarbonisation of the European economy from 2020 up to the mid of the twenty first century (2050).

Following these low carbon trends, a Modular Development Plan of the transmission network together with transmission possibilities in 2050. were developed, including the assumptions and calculations for electricity generation, demand and transmission technologies until 2050. Also, a network planning method was developed to serve as the basis for all future long-term network planning.

The key results are:            

• The five scenarios to reach long term EU decarbonisation orientations  which have been created to frame the whole research and development project;
• The advanced numerical simulations which have been performed to identify the critical issues for the power system under these scenarios;
• The major “electricity highways” which have been identified to support any of the above scenarios when deployed at pan-European level;
• The key technological and operational challenges raised.