Title: Powerhouse British Isles

Authors: Bent Sørensen

Addresses: Department of People and Technology, Roskilde University, 4000, Denmark

Abstract: The British Isles are blessed with one of the largest resources of offshore wind energy in the world. A scenario simulation is used to demonstrate that not only can each society within the British Isles area in a matter of a few decades (say around 2050) develop an energy system to satisfy all energy demands with 100% renewable energy, but there are further export opportunities to cover more than the entire electricity needs of the continental European Union (EU). The political implication of this is that it would be very foolish of the European Union not to use the Brexit negotiations to establish a friendly relationship with the UK that can open for the electricity imports without which it will be very difficult for the continental EU to reach an emission-free and sustainable energy system.

Keywords: energy export; offshore wind power; energy scenarios; sustainability; European policy; British Isles.

DOI: 10.1504/IJETP.2020.105508

International Journal of Energy Technology and Policy, 2020 Vol.16 No.2, pp.160 - 173

Received: 18 Oct 2017
Accepted: 16 Jan 2018

Published online: 03 Mar 2020 *

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