Online tool tracks EU advances in low-carbon technology

A new online tool launched by the European Commission lets users track how different regions are investing in low-carbon technologies, and where those technologies are likely headed in years to come.

The SETIS (for “strategic energy technologies information system”) portal provides the latest research results on the status, forecasts and research-and-development investment figures for clean-energy technologies. It covers everything from energy efficiency in buildings and efficient transport to wind, solar, geothermal to fission, fusion and carbon capture and storage.

SETIS is designed to assess and monitor technologies with a significant potential to help Europe meet its energy and climate change targets. The system offers interactive tools to compare the maximum potential and energy production costs foreseen for the different technologies over the coming decades.

“SETIS has been designed as a unique, accessible one-stop-shop for validated, up-to-date information about low-carbon energy technologies,” said Janez Potočnik, European Commissioner for Science and Research. “Its aim is to disseminate robust data and transparent methodologies widely, in support to the EU blueprint for research on energy technologies, the SET-Plan. SETIS monitors low-carbon technologies and helps determine where best to invest resources and coordinate action in EU interest.”

Scientific and market analyses are fed into the system by the SETIS community, led by the European Commission through its Joint Research Centre (JRC), working in close collaboration with other Commission services, EU Member States and European stakeholders in industry, research and finance.

The analyses cover in particular the low-carbon technologies identified by the SET-Plan and proposed as European Industrial Initiatives (wind, photovoltaics, concentrating solar power, bioenergy, carbon dioxide capture and storage, smart grids, nuclear fission), two ongoing initiatives (fuel cell and hydrogen and nuclear fusion) as well as others with great potential such as ocean, geothermal power and energy storage. Demand-side energy efficient technologies are also included.

SETIS focuses its analysis on research-and-development investment, which marks the innovation capacities for each technology. It also assesses each technologies’ state of the art, and provides forecasts from a technological, market and impact point of view.

The capacities maps monitor research-and-development efforts made by the industry and the public sector in Europe on key low-carbon technologies. SETIS will continuously monitor the research efforts and report periodically through these maps.

A set of technology maps also provide key information on the status and prospects of low-carbon technologies.

SETIS also releases online an energy production cost-calculator that allows users to compare costs of production for different technologies over the time (up to 2030) and dissects the main elements that contribute to these costs.