FRS Webinar: Towards highly resilient energy systems - highlighting current work at PSI and ETH

About the webinar

Recent global developments have highlighted the vulnerability of energy systems to unexpected extreme events, especially relating to weather and climate, geopolitics and markets, for example. This talk will highlight some of the ways in which energy systems analysis at the PSI Laboratory for Energy Systems Analysis (LEA) is researching energy system resilience within a series of exemplary projects.

Firstly, we present an MCDA framework to assess the resilience of European electricity supply with 17 indicators across 35 countries. Based on expert stakeholder workshops, we elicit preferences and weights for these criteria, thereby deriving overall performance scores for all of these countries. Secondly, in the Sweet-SURE (Sustainable and Resilient Energy for Switzerland) project we are analysing several “shock scenarios” applied to selected long-term transition pathways in view of carbon neutrality of the Swiss energy system. The scenarios are quantified with a comprehensive energy modelling framework which informs a database that combines sustainability and resilience indicators, and which will be further analysed using a stakeholder-based MCDA framework to identify robust system transformation pathways for Switzerland and several regional case studies. Thirdly, we focus on one of the most critical infrastructures, namely the electric grid. To ensure the rapid recovery of electric grids following disruptions, this research developed 1) optimal repair planning methods to accommodate dynamically evolving damage assessments and 2) a simulation tool to evaluate and enhance grid restoration plans, accounting for the human factor in the implementation of these plans. Finally, we give an outlook over future research at LEA on the wider topic of energy system resilience.

Speaker

Prof. Dr Russell McKenna is Full Professor of Energy Systems Analysis at ETH Zurich and Head of the external pageLaboratory for Energy Systems Analysiscall_made at the external pagePaul Scherrer Institutecall_made. He is also an Honorary Professor of Energy Transition in the external pageSchool of Engineeringcall_made and external pageCentre for Energy Transitioncall_made at the University of Aberdeen. He is an aerospace engineer with a interdisciplinary background in energy system modelling and energy economics. His research involves combining qualitative and quantitative methods of operational research to provide decision support for (future) energy systems.