REVIEW 3 major objections 5 minor 104 references
Europe can halve its natural gas use for about 16 billion euros a year, and gas still shapes electricity prices.
Reviewed by Pith at T0; open to challenge. T0 means a machine referee read the full paper against a public rubric. the ladder, T0–T4 →
T0 review · deepseek-v4-flash
2026-08-01 08:37 UTC pith:LAV32THE
load-bearing objection A serious, transparent, policy-relevant sector-coupled study; the headline cost figures are conditional on an acknowledged but under-tested industry-heat mapping, so treat them as a well-built scenario analysis rather than a point estimate. the 3 major comments →
Accelerating fossil gas independence in Europe
The pith
A machine-rendered reading of the paper's core claim, the machinery that carries it, and where it could break.
Core claim
The central discovery is that Europe's path to gas independence is economically mild in aggregate cost but uneven across sectors, and that curbing gas use does not automatically sever the link between global gas prices and consumer electricity bills. By iteratively tightening a cap on fossil gas supply in a cost-optimising model that covers power, building heat, and industrial heat in four temperature bands, the authors show that gas can be halved to 200 bcm/a for an extra annual system cost of about 16 billion euros, and reduced to 275 bcm/a for about 5 billion euros. The most cost-effective gas displacement occurs in industry heat below 500°C and in bulk power generation, with residential
What carries the argument
The load-bearing mechanism is a sector-coupled European energy system model that endogenously represents almost all gas uses, including industrial heat disaggregated into four temperature bands (<100°C, 100–200°C, 200–500°C, >500°C). The model co-optimises investment and dispatch across power, buildings, industry, and biomass, and is run with an equality constraint on total fossil gas supply, which produces a shadow price for gas. This shadow price reveals the scarcity value of gas and drives the sectoral ordering of phase-out: low-temperature industrial heat is cheapest to electrify because heat pumps there enjoy high utilisation, while high-temperature processes require hydrogen. The margi
Load-bearing premise
The assumption that gas currently meets the hottest temperature end of every industrial process's heat demand—so the model can only substitute fuel for that gas-attributed slice—drives the finding that sub-500°C industry heat is the cheapest ~50 bcm to displace.
What would settle it
A detailed empirical survey of where natural gas is actually burned in European industry—by temperature band, process type (steam vs. direct firing), and load factor—would confirm or contradict the assumption that gas is concentrated at the high-temperature end of each process. If gas is found to be significantly more prevalent in low-temperature bands or in steam systems, the model's cost-optimal sector ordering would need revisiting.
If this is right
- If correct, the cost of reaching autarky (200 bcm/a) is comparable to a sustained 2 EUR/MWh rise in gas import prices, making import independence economically compelling.
- The cheapest gas reductions are concentrated in sub-500°C industrial heat and power, implying that policy should prioritise industrial heat electrification and renewable-plus-storage deployment over early residential gas phase-out.
- Without industry electrification, reaching 200 bcm/a becomes about 10 billion euros a year more expensive and requires millions of additional heat pumps in buildings.
- At a carbon price of 100 EUR/tCO2 and long-term gas prices at or above 30 EUR/MWh, the market's cost-optimal gas consumption falls to or below autarky levels, meaning existing policy may already push Europe toward gas independence.
- Even a low residual gas share keeps marginal electricity prices anchored to gas, so decoupling renewable generation from marginal pricing via instruments like two-sided contracts for difference will be necessary to protect consumers.
- Current deployment trends suggest renewables can reach autarky levels by 2030–2040, but building heat and industrial electrification lag, requiring roughly a tripling of current heat-pump installation rates and a doubling of wind and solar build-out to meet 2035 autarky targets.
Where Pith is reading between the lines
- The paper's sectoral ordering—low-temperature industry first, then power, then buildings—depends on the assumption that gas serves the hottest end of each industrial process's heat demand. If real gas use is more evenly spread across temperature bands or concentrated in steam vs. direct-fired processes, the relative cost of displacing gas in different sectors could shift, and the headline cost est
- The result that gas anchors electricity prices even at low shares suggests a testable policy prediction: in a future grid with high renewable penetration, observed hourly price spikes will still correlate with gas prices as long as gas turbines or gas-opportunity-cost batteries set the marginal price. This could be verified empirically before the policies proposed are fully implemented.
- The model's elasticity estimate (−1.33) is higher than empirical long-run elasticities; a more realistic treatment of capital-stock inertia and imperfect information would likely raise the cost of reaching the same gas-reduction milestones, though the qualitative ordering of sectors would probably remain.
- A natural extension would be to combine this gas-supply-constrained framework with a more granular representation of distribution-grid bottlenecks and industry process characteristics (steam vs. kiln), which would test whether the cost-optimal ordering persists when those constraints are made explicit.
Editorial analysis
A structured set of objections, weighed in public.
Referee Report
Summary. The paper uses the open-source PyPSA-Eur sector-coupled energy system model, extended with an endogenous representation of industrial process heat in four temperature bands, to compute cost-optimal European energy-system configurations under successively tighter equality constraints on fossil gas supply (450 bcm/a down to 0 in 25 bcm steps). The central claims are that reducing gas consumption to 275 bcm/a (No-LNG) costs about 5 bn EUR/a and to 200 bcm/a (Autarky) about 16 bn EUR/a; that the cheapest displacement occurs in sub-500C industry heat and in bulk power generation; that at a carbon price of 100 EUR/tCO2 and a gas price of about 30 EUR/MWh autarky becomes cost-optimal; and that gas remains a dominant driver of electricity marginal prices even when its share in the power mix is small. The paper also quantifies consumer cost pass-through of gas price shocks (about 8.7 bn EUR/a per 1 EUR/MWh gas price increase at 400 bcm/a) and compares required technology deployment rates with current trends.
Significance. If the results hold, they provide a valuable, policy-relevant quantification of the cost of European gas-import independence, with a novel endogenous treatment of industrial heat in a continent-scale model. The paper is unusually transparent about its limitations, explicitly listing single-weather-year analysis, absence of asset stranding, load-following heat constraints, and retail price gaps. It ships open-source code and data, and derives scarcity rents and elasticities from LP duality rather than from fitted parameters, which strengthens the internal consistency of the cost curves. The sectoral ordering result — sub-500C industry heat as the cheapest large tranche — is the load-bearing element and needs additional robustness testing before the headline cost figures can be taken as established.
major comments (3)
- [Methods, 'Industry Heat Demand'; Fig 21; Limitations] The gas-to-temperature-band mapping is load-bearing for the main quantitative claims. The paper states 'We cannot know in which temperature band gas heating is deployed' and assumes gas serves the hottest portion of each process's heat demand. This creates the ~1,300 TWh of gas-attributed heat, locates roughly half below 500C, and makes sub-500C industry heat the cheapest ~50 bcm to displace, which in turn drives the 5 and 16 bn EUR/a headline costs and the sectoral ordering. The Limitations paragraph acknowledges that neglecting steam-vs-kiln and other process characteristics 'could misrepresent the true cost of alternatives,' but no sensitivity analysis quantifies the effect. I request a systematic sensitivity study with alternative plausible mappings — e.g., gas distributed proportionally across temperature bands, gas assigned to the coldest end, or a process-level assignment distingu
- [Fig 14 and 'Cost-Optimal Gas Phase-Out...' section] The 200-500C industry heat displacement relies on a major expansion of solid biomass, from ~1,300 to ~1,700 TWh, and the model includes 'unsustainable solid biomass' and 'unsustainable biogas' categories from ENSPRESO. The paper reports aggregate biomass use but does not quantify the share of unsustainable sources in the cost-optimal solution. If those sources were excluded or constrained (as the paper notes the RePowerEU biomethane target already exceeds plausible sustainable capacity), the cheap biomass direct-firing option in the 200-500C band would be curtailed, potentially raising the cost of reaching 200 bcm and shifting the sectoral ordering. Please report the unsustainable share and provide a sensitivity case with only sustainable biomass potentials.
- [Results, 'At a Carbon Price of 100 EUR/tCO2...' and Fig 4] The long-term price elasticity of gas demand is reported as -1.33, derived by quadratic interpolation between model runs at 50 bcm steps and a tangent at the reference gas price of 24.6 EUR/MWh. The value is compared with empirical estimates such as -0.57, with the difference attributed to omitted frictions. Given that this elasticity is used to argue that autarky is cost-optimal at 30 EUR/MWh and that LNG import dependence persists only below ~25 EUR/MWh, the sensitivity of this threshold to the interpolation method and to the step size should be shown. A simple check would be to recompute the parabolas using the 25 bcm step results that the paper says were generated, rather than only every 50 bcm.
minor comments (5)
- [Fig 21 vs Fig 22] Numbers are inconsistent: Fig 21 says gas is assumed to meet '996 of 1514 TWh', Fig 22 shows a total of 1198 TWh of gas-attributed heat, and the Methods text says 'around 1,300 TWh'. Please reconcile these figures and specify whether the difference is due to feedstock, aggregation, or rounding.
- [Methods, last paragraph] Typo: 'conventation' should be 'conventions'. Also 'chose' is unnecessarily informal; consider 'we use a conversion factor of 10 TWh/bcm'.
- [Introduction, paragraph 2] Typo: 'asssess' should be 'assess'.
- [Throughout] Monetary amounts are typeset inconsistently: '16bnEUR/a', '16 bne/a', '5 bne/a', 'e10 bn/a', 'e4–10 bn', '~710 bne'. Please use a single notation (e.g., EUR bn/a) and ensure the unit is defined at first use.
- [Fig 5 caption] The caption states 'Each network has around 146,000 bus–snapshot pairs' but the main text says '~146,000' in one place and the violin plot shows many more samples. Clarify whether the 146,000 refers to a subset (e.g., low-voltage buses only) and explain the sampling in the caption.
Circularity Check
No significant circularity: headline costs, shadow prices, and marginal-price results are model outputs from stated cost/technology assumptions; the industry-heat mapping is a disclosed assumption and sensitivity issue, not a fitted or self-referential prediction.
full rationale
Walking the derivation chain, the paper's load-bearing results are computed, not imported or constructed from the quantities they are said to predict. The headline extra costs (5 bn/a for No-LNG, 16 bn/a for autarky) are differences in the LP objective between runs with an equality constraint on fossil gas supply; the constraint is exogenous and the cost-minimizing response is a genuine model output. Gas shadow prices and the marginal electricity price distributions are dual variables from the same optimization, and the battery-opportunity-cost mechanism is supported both by the model's own Fig. 5 and by prior published work, including the self-cited [63]; the citation is explanatory rather than the sole load-bearing evidence. The long-run elasticity of about -1.33 is computed from the model's response to an exogenously varied gas price using the textbook arc definition, not fitted to a target. The industry heat temperature-band mapping is the least certain input: the paper explicitly says 'We cannot know in which temperature band gas heating is deployed' and bases its assumption on gas supplying the hottest end of each process. This is an assumption that affects the sectoral ordering and cost estimates, and the Limitations section concedes that neglecting steam-versus-kiln process characteristics 'could misrepresent the true cost of alternatives.' But this is an uncertainty/robustness caveat, not circularity: the model could in principle return a different ordering under a different mapping, and the paper does not redefine its conclusions in terms of the mapping. External anchors—JRC IDEES, DEA technology data, ENSPRESO biomass potentials, Eurostat/ODYSSEE heat mixes, and published LCOH comparisons—provide independent grounding. Self-citations to PyPSA-Eur and related work refer to open-source, reproducible code and publicly available results, and no uniqueness theorem or hidden ansatz is smuggled in via a self-citation. No circular step meets the standard of Eq. X = Eq. Y by construction or fitted parameter renamed as prediction.
Axiom & Free-Parameter Ledger
free parameters (4)
- Baseline fossil gas price =
24.6 EUR/MWh
- Carbon price =
100 EUR/tCO2
- H2 direct-firing investment cost =
151 EUR/kW_in (10x gas direct firing)
- Distribution-grid connection surcharge for heat pumps =
+500 EUR/kW_el
axioms (7)
- domain assumption Most industry heat currently supplied by gas, biomass and waste heat is treated as generic; only the temperature band determines available technologies.
- domain assumption Gas is assumed to meet the hottest temperature end of each industrial process's heat demand.
- domain assumption Urban individual and rural heating technologies are load-following, with partial load bounded by the relative heat load.
- domain assumption Single weather year 2024 represents typical conditions.
- domain assumption Biomass and oil boiler capacity expansion in buildings is prohibited.
- standard math LP duality gives a close proxy for real market price formation.
- domain assumption Retail prices are approximated by wholesale marginal prices; taxes and grid tariffs are only partially represented.
read the original abstract
Recent price shocks have prompted calls to curb Europe's dependence on fossil gas imports, but the cost of this goal, and the consumer protection it affords, remain uncertain. Here we address this gap by imposing constraints on fossil gas supply in a European energy system model that co-optimises abatement across all gas uses at high spatio-temporal resolution. Cutting import reliance proves economically compelling: through savings in power generation and low-temperature heat in industry and buildings, Europe can halve its natural gas consumption for 16bnEUR/a, aligning demand with the continent's production capacity of 200 bcm. This extra system cost is comparable to what consumers spend today on a 2 EUR/MWh rise in gas import prices. However, this sovereignty alone does not shield consumers from global gas price volatility: we find that, even at a small share of the mix, gas remains dominant in shaping the marginal electricity price, leaving consumers exposed without additional policy measures.
Figures
Reference graph
Works this paper leans on
-
[1]
URL:https://ec.e uropa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/nrg_bal_s/default/t able, accessed 2026-05-25
Eurostat, Simplified energy balances (nrg_bal_s), Online data code, European Commission, 2024. URL:https://ec.e uropa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/nrg_bal_s/default/t able, accessed 2026-05-25
2024
-
[2]
URL:https: //www.gov.uk/government/statistics/energy-consu mption-in-the-uk-2021
Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Energy Consumption in the UK (ECUK) 1970 to 2020, Tech- nical Report, UK Government, BEIS, 2021. URL:https: //www.gov.uk/government/statistics/energy-consu mption-in-the-uk-2021
1970
-
[3]
URL:https://www
Norwegian Petroleum Directorate, Exports of Norwegian oil and gas, norskpetroleum.no, 2024. URL:https://www. norskpetroleum.no/en/production-and-exports/expor ts-of-oil-and-gas/, Norway exports ∼30% of EU+UK gas consumption in 2024
2024
-
[4]
Boccara, D
G. Boccara, D. Hernandez Diaz, B. Heringa, O. Rolser, N. Sharma, T. Vahlenkamp, C. Xue, A balancing act: Se- curing European gas and power markets, McKinsey & Company (2023). URL:https://www.mckinsey.com/industr ies/oil-and-gas/our-insights/a-balancing-act-securing-e uropean-gas-and-power-markets, accessed: 2026-03-05
2023
-
[5]
URL:https://tradingeconomics.com/commodity/eu-natur al-gas
Trading Economics, EU Natural Gas – TTF Gas Prices, 2026. URL:https://tradingeconomics.com/commodity/eu-natur al-gas
2026
-
[6]
Graichen, Wie gefährlich ist Deutschlands Gasab- hängigkeit wirklich?, 2026
P. Graichen, Wie gefährlich ist Deutschlands Gasab- hängigkeit wirklich?, 2026. URL:https://steady.page/ de/climate-and-energy-blog/posts/5afee861-6b78-413 f-ab73-b07b5b57f22b, von Mauern und Windmühlen: Ein Energieblog (Steady)
2026
-
[7]
Gillot, Endgame for gas dependence: Electrification and regional partnerships, 2026
M. Gillot, Endgame for gas dependence: Electrification and regional partnerships, 2026. URL:https://strategicperspec tives.eu/a-credible-gas-endgame-for-europe-electrificati on-and-regional-partnerships/
2026
-
[8]
J. Rosenow, War in the Middle East hands Europe another chance to break its fossil fuel dependency, Nature Energy (2026). doi:10.1038/s41560-026-02048-z
-
[9]
S. Zwickl-Bernhard, C. K. Chyong, A. Creti, A. Neumann, J. Rosenow, Closure of the Strait of Hormuz fuels Europe’s natural-gas trilemma, One Earth 9 (2026) 101717. doi:10.1 016/j.oneear.2026.101717, commentary. 13
arXiv 2026
-
[10]
URL:https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/ databrowser/view/nrg_cb_gasm/default/table, inland consumption (IC_OBS), natural gas (G3000), TJ (GCV)
Eurostat, Supply, transformation and consumption of gas – monthly data (nrg_cb_gasm), Online data code, European Commission, 2024. URL:https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/ databrowser/view/nrg_cb_gasm/default/table, inland consumption (IC_OBS), natural gas (G3000), TJ (GCV). Ac- cessed 2026-06-02
2024
-
[11]
URL:https://ec.e uropa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/nrg_bal_c/default/t able, sectoral natural-gas demand split (power, buildings, industry)
Eurostat, Complete energy balances (nrg_bal_c), Online data code, European Commission, 2024. URL:https://ec.e uropa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/nrg_bal_c/default/t able, sectoral natural-gas demand split (power, buildings, industry). Accessed 2026-06-02
2024
-
[12]
URL:https://www.oxfordenergy.org /publications/quarterly-gas-review-29/
Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, Quarterly Gas Review – Issue 29, Quarterly Gas Review 29, Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, 2024. URL:https://www.oxfordenergy.org /publications/quarterly-gas-review-29/
2024
-
[13]
Hotmaps project, Industrial sites – industrial database, Open dataset, GitLab, 2019. URL:https://gitlab.com/hotma ps/industrial_sites/industrial_sites_Industrial_Database, locations and emissions of energy-intensive industrial sites (chemicals, refineries, iron and steel, cement). Accessed 2026-06-02
2019
-
[14]
Data available under the Open Database License (ODbL)
OpenStreetMap contributors, OpenStreetMap,https://ww w.openstreetmap.org, 2024. Data available under the Open Database License (ODbL)
2024
-
[15]
European Commission, REPowerEU Plan, Communica- tion COM(2022) 230 final, European Commission, Brussels,
2022
-
[16]
URL:https: //eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX: 52021DC0550
European Commission, ‘Fit for 55’: delivering the EU’s 2030 Climate Target on the way to climate neutrality, Com- munication from the Commission to the European Par- liament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions COM(2021) 550 final, European Commission, Brussels, 2021. URL:https: //eur-lex.europa.eu/lega...
2030
-
[17]
URL:https://ec.europa.eu/commission/pr esscorner/detail/en/ip_25_2860
European Commission, EU agrees to permanently stop Russian gas imports and phase out Russian oil, Press release IP/25/2860, 2025. URL:https://ec.europa.eu/commission/pr esscorner/detail/en/ip_25_2860
2025
-
[18]
Corsoni-Husain, A
A. Corsoni-Husain, A. Lanitis, EU publishes Regulation phasing out Russian gas and oil imports, Harneys Regula- tory Blog, 2026. URL:https://www.harneys.com/our-blogs /regulatory/eu-publishes-regulation-phasing-out-russian -gas-and-oil-imports/
2026
-
[19]
URL:https://energy.ec.europa.eu/publ ications/accelerateeu-energy-union-affordable-and-sec ure-energy-through-accelerated-action_en
European Commission, AccelerateEU – Energy Union: Af- fordable and Secure Energy through Accelerated Action, Communication COM(2026) 370 final, European Commis- sion, Brussels, 2026. URL:https://energy.ec.europa.eu/publ ications/accelerateeu-energy-union-affordable-and-sec ure-energy-through-accelerated-action_en
2026
-
[20]
European Parliament and Council of the European Union, Directive (EU) 2023/959 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 10 May 2023 amending Directive 2003/87/EC establishing a system for greenhouse gas emission al- lowance trading within the Union and Decision (EU) 2015/1814 concerning the establishment and operation of a market stability reserve...
2023
-
[21]
SI 2020/1265
UK Government, The greenhouse gas emissions trading scheme order 2020,https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukdsi/2 020/9780348209761/contents, 2020. SI 2020/1265
2020
-
[22]
URL: https://www.ceer.eu/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/RES_s tatus_review_2022_2023_C24-RES-84-05_final.pdf
Council of European Energy Regulators, Status Review of Renewable Support Schemes in Europe for 2022 and 2023, CEER Report C24-RES-84-05, CEER, Brussels, 2025. URL: https://www.ceer.eu/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/RES_s tatus_review_2022_2023_C24-RES-84-05_final.pdf
2022
-
[23]
European Heat Pump Association, Subsidies for residential heat pumps in Europe, Technical Report, EHPA, Brussels,
-
[24]
URL:https://www
International Energy Agency, Europe’s energy crisis: What factors drove the record fall in natural gas demand in 2022?, Commentary, IEA, Paris, 2023. URL:https://www. iea.org/commentaries/europes-energy-crisis-what-facto rs-drove-the-record-fall-in-natural-gas-demand-in-2022, sectoral decomposition of the 13% drop in EU gas demand in 2022 across power, bu...
2022
-
[25]
S. Madeddu, F. Ueckerdt, M. Pehl, J. Peterseim, M. Lord, K. A. Kumar, C. Krüger, G. Luderer, The CO 2 reduction potential for the European industry via direct electrification of heat supply (power-to-heat), Environmental Research Letters 15 (2020) 124004. doi:10.1088/1748-9326/abbd02
-
[26]
Rosslowe, N
C. Rosslowe, N. Fulghum, B. Petrovich, et al., European Electricity Review 2025, Technical Report, Ember, Brussels,
2025
-
[27]
URL:https://www.iea.org/reports/electricity-2026
International Energy Agency, Electricity 2026: Analysis and Forecast to 2027, Technical Report, IEA, Paris, 2026. URL:https://www.iea.org/reports/electricity-2026
2026
-
[28]
URL: https://www.ehpa.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/EHP A-Market-Report-2025-executive-summary.pdf
European Heat Pump Association, European Heat Pump Market and Statistics Report 2025, Technical Report, Euro- pean Heat Pump Association (EHPA), Brussels, 2025. URL: https://www.ehpa.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/EHP A-Market-Report-2025-executive-summary.pdf. 14
2025
-
[29]
URL:https://www.iea.org/reports/the-future-of-heat-pum ps
International Energy Agency, The Future of Heat Pumps, Technical Report, International Energy Agency, Paris, 2022. URL:https://www.iea.org/reports/the-future-of-heat-pum ps
2022
-
[30]
Rehfeldt, S
M. Rehfeldt, S. Bußmann, T. Fleiter, J. Rissman, Direct electrification of industrial process heat: An assessment of technologies, potentials and future prospects for the EU, Study, Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI, Karlsruhe, Germany, 2024. URL:https://www. agora-industry.org, on behalf of Agora Industry
2024
-
[31]
Odenweller, F
A. Odenweller, F. Ueckerdt, The green hydrogen ambition and implementation gap, Nature Energy 10 (2025) 110–123
2025
-
[32]
URL:https://www
International Energy Agency, Global Hydrogen Review 2024, Technical Report, IEA, Paris, 2024. URL:https://www. iea.org/reports/global-hydrogen-review-2024
2024
-
[33]
URL:https://www.irena
IRENA, Methanol Institute, Innovation Outlook: Renew- able Methanol, Technical Report, International Renewable Energy Agency, Abu Dhabi, 2021. URL:https://www.irena. org/publications/2021/Jan/Innovation-Outlook-Renewab le-Methanol
2021
-
[34]
Energy Information Administration, Hydrogen for refineries is increasingly provided by industrial suppliers, Today in Energy, 2015
U.S. Energy Information Administration, Hydrogen for refineries is increasingly provided by industrial suppliers, Today in Energy, 2015. URL:https://www.eia.gov/todayine nergy/detail.php?id=24612
2015
-
[35]
URL:https://www.iea
International Energy Agency, The Future of Petrochem- icals: Towards more sustainable plastics and fertilisers, Technical Report, IEA, Paris, 2018. URL:https://www.iea. org/reports/the-future-of-petrochemicals
2018
-
[36]
Fehrenbach, M
H. Fehrenbach, M. Pehnt, Biomethane in Europe, Tech- nical Report, Institut für Energie- und Umweltforschung Heidelberg (ifeu), Heidelberg, Germany, 2022. URL:https: //www.ifeu.de/fileadmin/uploads/ifeu_ECF_biomethane_ EU_final_01.pdf
2022
-
[37]
URL:https://www.agor a-energiewende.org/publications/breaking-free-from-fos sil-gas
Agora Energiewende, Breaking Free from Fossil Gas: A New Path to a Climate-Neutral Europe, Technical Report, Agora Energiewende, Berlin, 2023. URL:https://www.agor a-energiewende.org/publications/breaking-free-from-fos sil-gas
2023
-
[38]
URL:https: //www.agora-industry.org/publications/the-business-cas e-for-electrifying-industrial-heat
Agora Industry, Agora Energiewende, Fraunhofer ISI, ECCO Think Tank, Reform Institut, The business case for electrifying industrial heat: Evidence from selected EU Member States, Technical Report, Agora Industry and Agora Energiewende, Berlin, Germany, 2026. URL:https: //www.agora-industry.org/publications/the-business-cas e-for-electrifying-industrial-heat
2026
-
[39]
T. T. Pedersen, E. K. Gøtske, A. Dvorak, G. B. Andresen, M. Victoria, Long-term implications of reduced gas imports on the decarbonization of the European energy system, Joule 6 (2022) 1566–1580. doi:10.1016/j.joule.2022.06.023
-
[40]
Jewell, V
J. Jewell, V. Vinichenko, D. McCollum, N. Bauer, K. Riahi, T. Aboumahboub, O. Fricko, M. Harmsen, T. Kober, V. Krey, et al., Comparison and interactions between the long-term pursuit of energy independence and climate policies, Na- ture Energy 1 (2016) 16073
2016
-
[41]
URL:https://www.ise.fraunhofer .de/en/press-media/press-releases/2023/net-electricity-g eneration-in-germany-in-2022-significant-increase-in-g eneration-from-wind-and-pv.html
Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, Net electricity generation in Germany in 2022: Significant in- crease in generation from wind and PV, Press release, Fraun- hofer ISE, Freiburg, 2023. URL:https://www.ise.fraunhofer .de/en/press-media/press-releases/2023/net-electricity-g eneration-in-germany-in-2022-significant-increase-in-g eneration-fr...
2022
-
[42]
Hafner, G
M. Hafner, G. Luciani, Italy and its North African gas interconnections, Energy Comment, Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, 2023. URL:https://www.oxfordenergy.o rg/wpcms/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Italy-and-its-N orth-African-gas-interconnections.pdf, TransMed and Greenstream capacities. Accessed: 2026-05-25
2023
-
[43]
URL:https://www.tap-ag.com/ infrastructure-operation/how-tap-operates, operational capacity 10 bcm/a, expandable to 20 bcm/a; +1.2 bcm/a from January 2026
Trans Adriatic Pipeline AG, How TAP operates, TAP AG corporate website, 2026. URL:https://www.tap-ag.com/ infrastructure-operation/how-tap-operates, operational capacity 10 bcm/a, expandable to 20 bcm/a; +1.2 bcm/a from January 2026. Accessed: 2026-05-25
2026
-
[44]
L. M. Pastore, G. Lo Basso, L. de Santoli, Towards a dra- matic reduction in the European natural gas consumption: Italy as a case study, Journal of Cleaner Production 369 (2022) 133377. doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.133377
arXiv 2022
-
[45]
Hörsch, F
J. Hörsch, F. Hofmann, D. Schlachtberger, T. Brown, PyPSA-Eur: An open optimisation model of the European transmission system, Energy Strategy Reviews 22 (2018) 207–215
2018
-
[46]
Brown, D
T. Brown, D. Schlachtberger, A. Kies, S. Schramm, M. Greiner, Synergies of sector coupling and transmis- sion reinforcement in a cost-optimised, highly renewable European energy system, Energy 160 (2018) 720–739
2018
-
[47]
F. Neumann, E. Zeyen, M. Victoria, T. Brown, The poten- tial role of a hydrogen network in Europe, Joule 7 (2023) 1793–1817. doi:10.1016/j.joule.2023.06.016
-
[48]
Nikas, N
A. Nikas, N. Frilingou, C. Heussaff, P. Fragkos, S. Mittal, J. Sampedro, S. Giarola, J.-P. Sasse, L. Rinaldi, H. Doukas, et al., Three different directions in which the European Union could replace Russian natural gas, Energy 290 (2024) 130254
2024
-
[49]
Millinger, F
M. Millinger, F. Hedenus, E. Zeyen, F. Neumann, L. Re- ichenberg, G. Berndes, Diversity of biomass usage path- ways to achieve emissions targets in the European energy system, Nature Energy 10 (2025) 226–242
2025
- [50]
-
[51]
E. D. Vicente, C. A. Alves, An overview of particulate emis- sions from residential biomass combustion, Atmospheric Research 199 (2018) 159–185. doi:10.1016/j.atmosres.2017. 08.027
-
[52]
P. P. Altermatt, J. Clausen, H. Brendel, C. Breyer, C. Ger- hards, C. Kemfert, U. Weber, M. Wright, Replacing gas boilers with heat pumps is the fastest way to cut German gas consumption, Communications Earth & Environment 4 (2023) 56
2023
-
[53]
URL:https://www
International Energy Agency, Levelized cost of heating (LCOH) for consumers, for selected space and water heat- ing technologies and countries, 2021. URL:https://www. iea.org/data-and-statistics/charts/levelized-cost-of-h eating-lcoh-for-consumers-for-selected-space-and-w ater-heating-technologies-and-countries, chart only; methodology not fully documente...
2021
-
[54]
Ember, A power sector analysis of the draft national en- ergy and climate plans (NECPs), Dataset and report, 2024. URL:https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/draft-nec ps-put-eu-shortofrepowereu/, country-level installed ca- pacity and generation targets for 2025, 2030, 2040 and 2050 extracted from EU Member States’ draft updated NECPs
2024
-
[55]
Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, Clean Power 2030 Action Plan: A New Era of Clean Electric- ity, Technical Report, UK Government, London, 2024. URL: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/clean-p ower-2030-action-plan/clean-power-2030-action-plan-a -new-era-of-clean-electricity-main-report, 2030 capac- ity ranges: solar PV 45–47 GW; onshor...
2030
-
[56]
URL:https://www.ceer.eu/wp -content/uploads/2024/05/ACER-Market-Monitoring-Rep ort-2020-Gas-Wholesale-Markets-Volume.pdf
ACER, CEER, Annual Report on the Results of Monitor- ing the Internal Electricity and Natural Gas Markets in 2020 – Gas Wholesale Markets Volume, Technical Report, European Union Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators, Ljubljana, 2021. URL:https://www.ceer.eu/wp -content/uploads/2024/05/ACER-Market-Monitoring-Rep ort-2020-Gas-Wholesale-Markets-Volume.pdf
2020
-
[57]
D. Tong, Q. Zhang, Y. Zheng, K. Caldeira, C. Shearer, C. Hong, Y. Qin, S. J. Davis, Committed emissions from ex- isting energy infrastructure jeopardize 1.5◦C climate target, Nature 572 (2019) 373–377
2019
-
[58]
S. Zwickl-Bernhard, A. Creti, A. Neumann, The EU’s CBAM trinity in LNG supply: Modeling global trade flows, supply risks and upstream emissions, Energy Economics 157 (2026) 109252. doi:10.1016/j.eneco.2026.109252
arXiv 2026
-
[59]
S. Boyd, L. Vandenberghe, Convex Optimization, Cam- bridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 2004. See Ch. 5 on duality and Ch. 5.6 on perturbation and sensitivity analysis
2004
-
[60]
X. Labandeira, J. M. Labeaga, X. López-Otero, A meta- analysis on the price elasticity of energy demand, Energy Policy 102 (2017) 549–568. doi:10.1016/j.enpol.2017.01.002
-
[61]
B. Zakeri, I. Staffell, P. E. Dodds, M. Grubb, P. Ekins, J. Jääskeläinen, S. Cross, K. Helin, G. Castagneto Gissey, The role of natural gas in setting electricity prices in Eu- rope, Energy Reports 10 (2023) 2778–2792. doi:10.1016/j.eg yr.2023.09.069
-
[62]
Schittekatte, C
T. Schittekatte, C. Batlle, Power Crisis in the EU 3.0: Pro- posals to Complete Long-Term Markets, CEEPR Working Paper 2023-04, MIT Center for Energy and Environmen- tal Policy Research, Cambridge, MA, 2023. URL:https: //ceepr.mit.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/MIT-CEE PR-WP-2023-04.pdf
2023
-
[63]
Brown, F
T. Brown, F. Neumann, I. Riepin, Price formation without fuel costs: The interaction of demand elasticity with storage bidding, Energy Economics 147 (2025) 108483
2025
-
[64]
J. Geis, M. Lindner, T. Brown, Managing the mismatch: The role of flexibility on the path to a carbon-neutral energy system, arXiv preprint arXiv:2604.00674 (2026)
arXiv 2026
-
[65]
Salmon, O
N. Salmon, O. Alšauskas, S. Harmsen, S. Bouckaert, The energy crisis creates even stronger impetus for EU electri- fication, IEA Commentary, International Energy Agency, Paris, 2026. URL:https://www.iea.org/commentaries/the-e nergy-crisis-creates-even-stronger-impetus-for-eu-elect rification, licence: CC BY 4.0. Accessed 2026-06-14
2026
-
[66]
Arlia, J
D. Arlia, J. Hutchinson, Drivers of electricity prices across households and energy-intensive industries and their im- portance for the EU’s decarbonisation objectives, in: ECB Economic Bulletin, 1, European Central Bank, 2026. URL: https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/economic-bulletin/fo cus/2026/html/ecb.ebbox202601_02~a552b71378.en.html, published 17 February 2026
2026
-
[67]
T. Schittekatte, I. Momber, L. Meeus, Future-proof tar- iff design: Recovering sunk grid costs in a world where consumers are pushing back, Energy Economics 70 (2018) 484–498. doi:10.1016/j.eneco.2018.01.028
-
[68]
URL:https://energy.mit.edu/wp-content /uploads/2016/12/Utility-of-the-Future-Full-Report.pdf, principal investigators: I
MIT Energy Initiative, Utility of the Future: An MIT En- ergy Initiative Response to an Industry in Transition, Tech- nical Report, MIT Energy Initiative and IIT-Comillas, Cam- bridge, MA, 2016. URL:https://energy.mit.edu/wp-content /uploads/2016/12/Utility-of-the-Future-Full-Report.pdf, principal investigators: I. Pérez-Arriaga and C. Knittel
2016
-
[69]
URL: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=C ELEX:52025XC06703, Brussels, 10 December 2025
European Commission, Commission notice — guidance on efficient and timely grid connections, Official Journal of the European Union, CELEX:52025XC06703, 2025. URL: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=C ELEX:52025XC06703, Brussels, 10 December 2025
2025
-
[70]
Cremona, Crossed Wires: Grid Capacity Could Block EU Energy Security, Technical Report, Ember, 2026
E. Cremona, Crossed Wires: Grid Capacity Could Block EU Energy Security, Technical Report, Ember, 2026. URL: https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/crossed-wires-g rid-capacity-could-block-eu-energy-security/, accessed: 2026-04-15. 16
2026
-
[71]
URL:https://www.eure lectric.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/From-Backlog-t o-Breakthrough-Managing-Connection-Queues-in-Distr ibution-Networks.cleaned.pdf
Eurelectric, From Backlog to Breakthrough: Managing Connection Queues in Distribution Networks, Technical Report, Eurelectric, Brussels, 2025. URL:https://www.eure lectric.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/From-Backlog-t o-Breakthrough-Managing-Connection-Queues-in-Distr ibution-Networks.cleaned.pdf
2025
-
[72]
URL:https://www
German Emissions Trading Authority (DEHSt), Umwelt- bundesamt, Relief for small emitters 2026 to 2030, Deutsche Emissionshandelsstelle (DEHSt), 2024. URL:https://www. dehst.de/EN/Topics/EU-ETS-1/Stationary/Small-Emitters -2026-2030/small-emitters-2026-2030_node.html, national Art. 27 implementation: installations below 15,000 t CO2- eq in each of 2021–202...
2026
-
[73]
European Commission, Directorate-General for Climate Action, ETS2: buildings, road transport and additional sec- tors, European Commission, Climate Action, 2026. URL: https://climate.ec.europa.eu/eu-action/carbon-markets/e ts2-buildings-road-transport-and-additional-sectors_en, upstream cap-and-trade: the surrender obligation falls on fuel suppliers, not ...
2026
-
[74]
URL:https://www.nesta.org.uk/report/ho w-to-install-more-heat-pumps-insights-from-a-surve y-of-heating-engineers/
Nesta, How to Install More Heat Pumps: Insights from a Survey of Heating Engineers, Technical Report, Nesta, London, 2024. URL:https://www.nesta.org.uk/report/ho w-to-install-more-heat-pumps-insights-from-a-surve y-of-heating-engineers/
2024
-
[75]
URL:https://ehpa.org/news-and-resources/press-releases/ dutch-heat-pump-industry-responds-to-cancellation-o f-2026-legislation/
European Heat Pump Association, Dutch heat pump in- dustry responds to cancellation of 2026 legislation, Press release, European Heat Pump Association (EHPA), 2024. URL:https://ehpa.org/news-and-resources/press-releases/ dutch-heat-pump-industry-responds-to-cancellation-o f-2026-legislation/
2026
-
[76]
M. Victoria, K. Zhu, T. Brown, G. B. Andresen, M. Greiner, Early decarbonisation of the European energy system pays off, Nature Communications 11 (2020) 6223. doi:10.1038/s4 1467-020-20015-4
doi:10.1038/s4 2020
-
[77]
O. Ruhnau, C. Stiewe, J. Muessel, L. Hirth, Natural gas savings in Germany during the 2022 energy crisis, Nature Energy 8 (2023) 621–628. doi:10.1038/s41560-023-01260-5
-
[78]
P. Ruiz, W. Nijs, D. Tarvydas, A. Sgobbi, A. Zucker, R. Pilli, R. Jonsson, A. Camia, C. Thiel, C. Hoyer-Klick, F. Dalla Longa, T. Kober, J. Badger, P. Volker, B. S. Elbersen, A. Brosowski, D. Thrän, ENSPRESO – an open, EU-28 wide, transparent and coherent database of wind, solar and biomass energy potentials, Energy Strategy Reviews 26 (2019) 100379. doi:...
arXiv 2019
-
[79]
T. Brown, J. Hörsch, D. Schlachtberger, PyPSA: Python for power system analysis, arXiv preprint arXiv:1707.09913 (2017)
Pith/arXiv arXiv 2017
-
[80]
M. Rózsai, M. Jaxa-Rozen, R. Salvucci, P. Sikora, J. Tattini, F. Neuwahl, JRC-IDEES-2021: the Integrated Database of the European Energy System — Data update and technical documentation, JRC Technical Report JRC137809, Publi- cations Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 2024. doi:10.2760/614599
discussion (0)
Sign in with ORCID, Apple, or X to comment. Anyone can read and Pith papers without signing in.