Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/333618 
Year of Publication: 
2025
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 18179
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
We examine EU and UK plans for achieving a fossil-free energy system by 2050, centered on massive electrification and large-scale deployment of wind and solar power. Using empirical trends, cost analyses, and system-function assessments, we argue that current strategies underestimate real economic, technical, and social challenges. Three scenarios for meeting 2050 electricity demand are compared: full reliance on renewables; a 50/50 split between wind-solar and nuclear; predominantly nuclear. Evidence shows that higher shares of weather-dependent generation correlate with higher electricity pric-es, greater volatility, and increased system integration costs. High renewable shares require extensive backup, storage, and grid reinforcement, raising complexity and environmental impacts. Overlooked costs are highlighted: reduced capacity value, transmission expansion, balancing services, and so-cial externalities. Sustainability must encompass environmental, economic, and social dimensions. A technologically diverse, dispatchable-power-based strategy—especially with expanded nuclear power— offers a more robust, cost-effective, and socially acceptable pathway to climate neutrality than a predominant reliance on intermittent renewables.
Subjects: 
climate change
cispatchable electricity
green transition
mission-oriented policy
renewable electricity
rent-seeking
JEL: 
L26
L52
L70
O38
P11
Q48
Q58
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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