A new report by Fraunhofer ISI examines the diminished benefits of V2G for Europe’s electricity system if the EU weakens its car CO2 targets.
A new study by Fraunhofer ISI for T&E finds that severely weakening the EU’s CO₂ standards will not only undermine the future of Europe’s automotive industry. It will also negatively impact the decarbonisation of the electricity system. If the car industry’s demands are followed, the flexibility potential of EVs and V2G in particular will be reduced. This T&E briefing summarises the study’s findings.
- Weakened CO₂ standards hinders more solar PV deployment and increases curtailment. Additional solar deployment is 37% lower. And the decrease in curtailment is 25% lower compared to a situation with more EVs under intact CO₂ standards.
- Fewer EVs for V2G result in more back-up capacity needed. With fewer EVs, the additional generation capacity needed in 2040 is 13 GW compared to a situation with intact CO₂ standards and more EVs. That is equivalent to 150 extra peaker plants.
- Weakened CO₂ standards reduce EVs as a major distributed storage resource, by 35%. If the standards are maintained, EVs could provide additional storage nearly equivalent to Belgium’s current annual electricity demand.
- Fewer EVs results in higher electricity system costs / 34% fewer savings due to lower V2G potential. Under intact CO₂ standards, the annual savings due to the higher flexibility by V2G reach €11.7 billion in 2040, compared to €7.7 billion under weakened CO₂ standards.
- €25 billion of additional system costs by 2040 due to weakened CO₂ standards: Higher fuel costs far outweigh V2G savings for the power supply system. Higher expenditure on liquid fuels (approximately €27.9 billion) far outweighs the savings for the power supply system generated by V2G.
Source: Transport and Environment