Cost-minimal investments into conventional generation capacities under a Europe-wide renewables policy

For the future development of the European electricity system, renewable generation is assigned a dominant role with the underlying aim to reduce the carbon intensity. This has direct implications for conventional, dispatchable generation capacities and their future development. The objective of this paper is to investigate the investments in conventional generation technologies for a given renewable development path. We develop an integrated dynamic investment model that endogenously determines cost-minimal investments into generation and network infrastructure. Our results show that the overall level of investment is comparable to other studies, but the underlying investment cost assumptions determine the choice of technology.