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Disagreements persist on how to design a self-sufficient, carbon-neutral European energy system. To explore the diversity of design options, we develop a high-resolution model of the entire European energy system and produce 441 technically feasible system designs that are within 10% of the optimal economic cost. We show that a wide range of systems based on renewable energy are feasible, with no need to import energy from outside Europe. Model solutions reveal considerable flexibility in the choice and geographical distribution of new infrastructure across the continent. Balanced renewable energy supply can be achieved either with or without mechanisms such as biofuel use, curtailment, and expansion of the electricity network. Trade-offs emerge once specific preferences are imposed. Low biofuel use, for example, requires heat electrification and controlled vehicle charging. This exploration of the impact of preferences on system design options is vital to inform urgent, politically difficult decisions for eliminating fossil fuel imports and achieving European carbon neutrality. ; ISSN:2542-4351 ; ISSN:2542-4785

Disagreements persist on how to design a self-sufficient, carbon-neutral European energy system. To explore the diversity of design options, we develop a high-resolution model of the entire European energy system and produce 441 technically feasible system designs that are within 10% of the optimal economic cost. We show that a wide range of systems based on renewable energy are feasible, with no need to import energy from outside Europe. Model solutions reveal considerable flexibility in the choice and geographical distribution of new infrastructure across the continent. Balanced renewable energy supply can be achieved either with or without mechanisms such as biofuel use, curtailment, and expansion of the electricity network. Trade-offs emerge once specific preferences are imposed. Low biofuel use, for example, requires heat electrification and controlled vehicle charging. This exploration of the impact of preferences on system design options is vital to inform urgent, politically difficult decisions for eliminating fossil fuel imports and achieving European carbon neutrality.

The demand side plays a pivotal role in order to understand the expanse of the whole energy system, especially when one considers the European Union's (EU) commitment to climate neutrality by 2050, in the context of which, energy demand needs to be reduced substantially. Therefore, the role of policies that support energy efficiency measures and demand-side management practices will be critical; however, the impacts of such policies can only be explored ex-ante using energy demand models. In this context, the energy demand models (EDMs) used in the Sustainable Energy Transitions Laboratory (SENTINEL) project provide yearly and hourly future demand profiles for each of the EU Member States. However, EDMs, including the ones used in SENTINEL, namely: BEVPO, DESSTINEE, DREEM, and HEB, are often criticized for not incorporating dynamic GDP, or socio-political dimensions. Having that in mind, the SENTINEL EDMs will be soft-linked with the QTDIAN toolbox from WP2 to incorporate storylines of different socio-political developments, while calculating the future energy demand. Furthermore, the SENTINEL EDMs use a linear economic (mainly GDP) projection as input data to calculate future energy demand profiles. However, the linear projection of economic input usually excludes market uncertainties, and hence, makes model outputs less realistic. To overcome this limitation in SENTINEL, EDMs will be also soft-linked with the macroeconomic model WEGDYN from WP5. This soft-linking will make the output of the SENTINEL EDMs much more realistic, and, hence, it is expected to increase their useability in decision-making. Thus, the demand profiles, more precisely the hourly and yearly demand profiles for the building, transport and industry sectors, will be used in WP4 as an input to calculate the energy balance in the context of the transition to climate neutrality in the EU. Finally, to make these exercises more policy relevant, all the aforementioned soft-linkages will take place for three case studies of different heterogeneous ...