In the view of upcoming Central Europe Day of Energy conference where we will discuss the Offshore Wind potential in Europe, CEEP presents the first policy paper which discusses the transmission system costs associated with Variable RES – one of the key factors which needs to be addressed in planning an efficient energy transition towards a climate neutral economy.
In this paper we present different types of system costs, the reasons behind their occurrence, and the impact these costs have on electricity retail prices in Europe. To depict the impact of currently neglected costs on the competitiveness of energy sources, we have drawn up a comparison of total levelized costs of electricity generation (T-LCOE) for technologies available in 2020 and 2050, including system and environmental costs.