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Energy Generation and Economic Efficiencies of Renewable Energy Technologies in EU-27

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Responsible Engineering and Living (REAL 2022)

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Abstract

European countries are having challenging times with rising electricity prices and energy security on one side and the immediate need to react to climate change risks on the other side. Renewable energy power plants with no greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions and no fuel dependency can be a solution to this challenge. It is crucial to know their energy generation and economic efficiencies to prioritize the support policies. This chapter analyzes three mostly utilized renewable sources (hydro, wind, and solar), using the Super Efficiency Model of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). EU-27 countries were grouped into two, in line with their capacity factors, and studied under two models. The first model focused on the generation efficiencies of each technology. According to DEA results, both groups of countries have higher super efficiency levels in 2020 when compared to 2019 based on wind and solar technologies, with the highest average efficiency belonging to South and Balkan countries concerning solar resources. The reason can be traced back to richer natural resources and decreasing costs of technologies. However, Nordic and Baltic hydro generation efficiency has decreased in 2020 which shows the effects of the higher investment costs per MW because of the higher number of plants with smaller sizes. The economic efficiency (Model 2) was studied with gross value added as output. The solar energy economic efficiency is the only element where both groups of countries have increased their scores. Both the efficiency of Group 2 in terms of wind and the economic efficiency of Group 1 for the hydro sector were decreasing. It can be argued that with higher generation efficiency combined with economic efficiency, European countries would become more competitive in solar technology if the current efficiency trend continues. However, it is important to map the economic potential of resources in light of the climate change effects on the resources and the cost trends for future policy decisions.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Note that although Norway has the highest generation, it is not listed here as being a non-member of the EU.

  2. 2.

    The energy in the wind changes with the cube of the AWS [31].

  3. 3.

    The net capacity factor is calculated for a specified period as the division of the net electricity production to the energy that could be produced with uninterrupted full-power of operation [39].

Abbreviations

AWS:

Average Wind Speed

BCC:

Banker Charnes Cooper

CCR:

Charnes Cooper Rhodes

CRS:

Constant Returns to Scale

DEA:

Data Envelopment Analysis

DMUs:

Decision-Making Units

EU:

European Union

GDP:

Gross Domestic Product

GHG:

Greenhouse gases

GVA:

Gross Value Added

IEA:

International Energy Agency

IPCC:

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

IRENA:

International Renewable Energy Agency

ISE:

Institute for Solar Energy Systems

RES:

Renewable Energy Sources

SBM:

Slack Based Measure

SE:

Super-Efficiency

VDMA:

German Mechanical and Plant Engineering Association

VRS:

Variable Returns to Scale

Wp:

Watt peak

WTG:

Wind Turbine Generator

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Quantitative Methods Division, Faculty of Political Sciences, Department of Management, Ankara University, Ankara, Turkey

    Fazıl Gökgöz

  2. Social Sciences Institute, Doctoral Program in Management, Ankara University, Ankara, Turkey

    Gaye Demirhan Başbilen

Authors
  1. Fazıl Gökgöz
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  2. Gaye Demirhan Başbilen
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Correspondence to Fazıl Gökgöz .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. MAME, University of Windsor, Windsor, ON, Canada

    David S.-K. Ting

  2. Mechanical Engineering, Tennessee Tech University, Nashville, TN, USA

    Ahmad Vasel-Be-Hagh

Appendix

Appendix

See Tables 4.8, 4.9 and 4.10

Table 4.8 Average SE and SE levels of EU 27 countries-wind
Full size table
Table 4.9 Average SE and SE levels of EU 27 countries-hydro
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Table 4.10 Average SE and SE levels of EU 27 countries-solar
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Gökgöz, F., Başbilen, G.D. (2023). Energy Generation and Economic Efficiencies of Renewable Energy Technologies in EU-27. In: Ting, D.SK., Vasel-Be-Hagh, A. (eds) Responsible Engineering and Living. REAL 2022. Springer Proceedings in Energy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-20506-4_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-20506-4_4

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