The ongoing energy transition is mainly driven by reductions in the cost of wind and solar energy, and political efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Although substantial deployment of variable renewable energy (VRE) is an important part of the overall transformation, rapid changes in the energy mix may pose challenges to the resilience of the electricity grid, particularly in times of weather-related stress. As fossil generation capacity is being retired and replaced by VRE generation, it raises the important question of how to maintain the stability and reliability of future energy supply.
Although climate and energy policies are still largely focussed on electricity, most of the energy is used for heating, cooling, and transport. These sectors have remained deeply reliant on fossil fuels and significant decarbonisation efforts are needed to ensure that the overall emission pledges of the Paris Accord can be met. In addition to sector-specific measures, it is essential to recognise the links between electricity, heat and transport and exploit synergies so that these sectors will support each other’s in the effort to decarbonise.
News and Highlights
IEA Bioenergy News Volume 34(2) – December 2022
This issue covers the ExCo90 meeting held on 17-19 October 2022 in Vienna. It also features an overview of Bioenergy in Austria by Hannes Bauer (Federal Ministry for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology of Austria), a Task Focus by...
Online seminar on Smart and flexible thermal power production, 14 December 2022, 12-15 CET
The seminar summarizes the results of the 3-year SmartFlex project that developed new methods and tools for thermal power production, targeting the future volatile energy markets, with challenging fuels and operation environment. Seminar is free of charge, but...
Recent Events
IEA-Cross-TCP Workshop: Towards a flexible, cross-sectoral energy supply with a special focus on the flexibility provision via the heating sector
A sustainable energy supply can only be achieved by a flexible, cross-sectoral energy system utilizing the specific advantages of the various renewable technologies. In this workshop possible roles of different technologies will be discussed based on a previous...
IEA Bioenergy Task 44 Workshop on Flexibility provision from biogenic gases
Increasing shares of variable renewable energy (VRE) in the energy supply system create a demand for measures to provide flexibility at different time scales on a sustainable manner. At the same time, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has strengthened the demand for...
Latest Publications and Reports
Status of and expectations for flexible bioenergy to support resource efficiency and to accelerate the energy transition
Open access article in the Journal Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, based on work performed within IEA Bioenergy Task 44. https://authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S1364-0321(22)00024-7 We can expect a remarkable expansion and cross-sectoral deployment of PV...
Five cornerstones to unlock the potential of flexible bioenergy, 2021
The discussion paper is a summary of IEA Bioenergy Technology Collaboration Programme Task 44 to encourage collaboration and knowledge sharing, to raise awareness for the important potential of flexible bioenergy in sustainable energy system integration, and to...
The IEA Bioenergy Technology Collaboration Programme (TCP) is organised under the auspices of the International Energy Agency (IEA) but is functionally and legally autonomous. Views, findings and publications of the IEA Bioenergy TCP do not necessarily represent the views or policies of the IEA Secretariat or its individual member countries.