Challenges and Opportunities in Renewable Energy Developments

Europe has long spearheaded the global fight against climate change. The decarbonisation of the electricity sector with renewables has been one of the most transformative changes in Europe’s economy. Europe is now set to become carbon neutral by 2050, thereby contributing to the 1.5 ℃ goal of the Climate Paris Agreement. It will face formidable challenges to do so. Particularly in the decarbonisation of other energy uses beyond electricity. This chapter argues that the best approach to achieve this is through the renewables-based electrification of most sectors in the economy. However, the deployment of renewable energy still faces many challenges such as increasing the flexibility of the power system, facilitating the permitting of projects, and plugging the financing gap that an electricity market dominated by renewables poses for investment signals.