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nanotimes EU-Projects

Renewable Electricity in Europe – Current State, Drivers, and Scenarios for 2020

Maija Ruska & Juha Kiviluoma ISBN Nummer: 978-951-38-7712-5

The European Union has the target to increase the share of renewable energy sources (RES) in its gross final consumption of energy to 20% by 2020 (9.2% in 2006). Besides electricity, primary energy con- sumption includes heating, cooling, and transporta- tion. Increasing RES in transportation is more costly than in electricity generation, and hence the share of renewable energy sources in electricity generation is likely to be significantly higher than 20%. It has been estimated, that the RES share in electricity sector could be around 35% in 2020.

A significant part of the new renewable electricity (RES-E) capacity will be wind power and photovol- taics (PV). The output from these is variable, and not dispatchable in the traditional sense. Increasing wind and PV generation presents vast challenges to the po- wer market and electricity grid. The keys to integrate variable generation to the grid are adequately inter- connected electricity markets and smarter grids with more flexible demand.

Currently, each Member State has a separate support scheme for RES-E. The instruments can be divided between investment support and operating support (price subsidies, green certificates, tender schemes, and tax reductions for the production of electrici- ty). Feed-in tariffs are the most prevalent support mechanism. Largest addition in the NREAPs is ex- pected from wind power generation. Wind power could exceed hydropower generation in 2016-2017.

11-08 :: August 2011

High growth is also expected in solid biomass-based electricity generation and PV. NREAP scenarios were compared against four other sources, which had quite similar expectations.

http://www.vtt.fi/inf/pdf/tiedotteet/2011/T2584.pdf

Nanotechnologies for Secure Communications

The latest briefing from the observatoryNANO project provides an update on quantum cryptogra- phy, the future for secure data exchange. It identifies European capabilities and opportunities in this area, as well as the global competitive position. The spectrum of threats and types of attackers targe- ting information systems are growing, creating secu- rity concerns for national security, businesses, and individuals. In this environment, attention to new measures that enhance security is growing at all le- vels. As a result, public and private standards relevant to information protection are becoming increasingly stringent.

Quantum Cryptography (QC) is one emerging secu- rity technology that offers radically new protection measures. Quantum key distribution (QKD) encryp- tion, the most advanced recently developed method of QC aimed to distribute a secret key, can be used in conjunction with existing virtual private network service offerings for businesses needing communica-