Assessing the energy vulnerability: case of industrialised countries
Gnansounou, E. (2008) Energy Policy, Vol. 36, Issue 10, pp. 3734-3744
The emergence of new big consumer countries on the energy markets and the perspective of oil and gas depletion at the end of the current century raise the concerns about fair distribution of the remaining resources for the common and sustainable well-being of the mankind. High volatility of energy prices discourages the investment and delays the energy technology transition. Voluntary measures are needed mainly in industrialised countries in order to develop alternative and sustainable energy sources, to enable technology transfer towards emerging and developing countries and to avoid struggle for energy procurement. In this paper a composite index of energy demand / supply weaknesses is defined as a proxy of energy vulnerability. The proposed index is based on several indicators such as energy intensity, oil and gas import dependency, CO2 content of primary energy supply, electricity supply weaknesses and non-diversity in transport fuels. The assessment of this composite index for selected industrialised countries is discussed as well as the sensitivity to various factors.
Energy vulnerability: the right indicators
Babusiaux, D. ; Gnansounou, E. ; Percebois, J. Paper presented at 9th European Conference of the IAEE, Florence (Italy), June 2007.
Vulnerability of electricity supply under extreme weather conditions
Assessment of the Swiss bulk electricity system interconnected to the UCTE network
Extreme weather conditions can dramatically impact the electric power demand/supply adequacy. Weather factors exhibit time-space correlations that have not been fully considered when modeling the vulnerability of wide-scale energy infrastructures. In Switzerland, there is no previous comprehensive study of the vulnerability of electric power to extreme weather conditions. Accordingly the main objectives of this research project include:
- Identification and analysis of extreme weather conditions affecting the robustness of Swiss bulk electricity supply
- Identify current and projected weather-related vulnerabilities of the Swiss power system
- Identify possible countermeasures to handle and reduce the vulnerability
- Test the efficiency of the countermeasures and evaluate their feasibility
Security of Electricity supply in a liberalized environment: an agent based approach with application to the case of Switzerland
Gnansounou, E. ; Lahlou, A. Paper presented at IAEE International Conference, Potsdam, Germany, June 2006.