Transition to a Resource Efficient and Climate Neutral Electrity System (EL-TRAN)

Public description of the goals at the beginning of the project

This consortium will help to resolve policy problems involved in a transition to a resource efficient, climate neutral electricity system. The initial phase of such a transition is currently underway in Finland. We welcome this initial vision. However, we suggest that Finland lacks a full comprehension of what resource efficiency entails in the context of this transition, what complex policy problems such a society-wide energy transition will involve and generate, and how to respond to them. To overcome the problems, we examine energy policy actors, their interests and cognitive frames, trends and structures influencing Finland's electricity system, different renewable energy solutions and prospects of optimising the electricity system to realise the actors' interests. We outline requirements for Finnish energy policy actors to implement the transition and a roadmap for the public sector to support the process.

Public description of the results at the end of the project

The EL-TRAN consortium (2015-21) explored how Finland’s electric energy system can transition to a more climate neutral and resource effective one including electricity generation, distribution and consumption. Interdisciplinary research extended from technological solutions to energy policy, views of experts and the public, and to the international context of energy transitions especially in the Nordic and EU regions. The consortium found significant support for the transition, examined policy instruments for accelerating the electrification of road transport and transition of heavy-duty road transport to biogas, and analysed prospects of better managing peak electricity demand situations by means of energy solutions in buildings, and use of microgrids and power-based tariffs, as well as the future electric energy system by 2030/2050 including the role of bioenergy. The consortium stressed acknowledging the various societal interests for the transition to be realistic.