InfraTrans2040 - Energy infrastructure 2040 - scenarios and expansion plans for a sustainable economic system in Austria

The general objective of this project is the comprehensive elaboration and evaluation of three expansion scenarios for the energy infrastructure of the energy carriers electricity, gas, and heat to enable a sustainable, climate-neutral economic and energy system in Austria by 2040. We apply a model-based investigation approach in which we establish a soft link between three models (ATLANTIS, HyFlow, ASCANIO), specialized and proven for their respective purpose of investigation. We then develop infrastructure expansion plans for three different scenarios (import/export-orientation, sector coupling, and energy efficiency), which represent the first core outcome of the project. A multi-criteria analysis and -assessment synthesizes technical, techno-economic, macro-economic, and environmental aspects and allows a systematic and comprehensive comparison of the scenarios. The resulting scenariobased transformation pathways represent the second core outcome of the project. A GIS-based and webenabled map for energy infrastructures, potentials of renewable energies and sectoral energy demands, constitute the third key outcome and ensure a clear and user-friendly presentation of the complex interrelationships. Our interdisciplinary project consortium can call on comprehensive expertise and numerous pre-projects relevant for this research proposal. By intensively involving a broad range of stakeholders in a series of five specialized workshops, we integrate additional expertise (e.g. with respect to planned infrastructure projects) and take industry ideas and requirements into account. The project results fully meet the terms-of-reference of the tender and show a depth of detail beyond that. Thereby, they represent a solid basis for decision making, in particular for the preparation of the integrated grid infrastructure plan.