Guest editorial

Citation

Psarras, J., Flamos, A. and Doukas, H. (2011), "Guest editorial", International Journal of Energy Sector Management, Vol. 5 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijesm.2011.32805aaa.004

Guest editorial

Article Type: Guest editorial From: International Journal of Energy Sector Management, Volume 5, Issue 1

About the Guest EditorsJohn Psarras is Professor in the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) and the Director of the Decision Support Systems (DSS) Laboratory. He is holding a PhD on Multi-objective Mathematical Programming applied to energy and environmental systems. He has been the manager or senior researcher in numerous EC and national projects for over 25 years in the areas of energy policy, national and regional energy planning, energy and environmental modelling, promotion of energy and environmentally friendly technologies, energy management, decision support and monitoring systems. He has more than 150 scientific publications in international journals and conferences and many articles published in magazines, journals and books.

Alexandros Flamos is Assistant Professor in the University of Piraeus (UNIPI). He has a Degree on Electrical and Computer Engineering and a PhD on DSS applied to energy system technoeconomics. He is teaching techno-economics of energy at graduate and post-graduate level at UNIPI and NTUA. He has over 12 years working experience in the scientific areas of DSS, energy management and planning and their applications for analyzing energy policy, security of supply and energy pricing competitiveness. He has held the position of manager/senior researcher in more than 15 EU-funded projects (EC R&D FP5, FP6, FP7, Synergy, Tacis, MEDA, ENPI, etc.) related to energy systems management, appraisal, planning, etc. He has more than 60 publications in high-impact international scientific journals and international conferences and as invited speaker in major international energy policy cooperation events.

Haris Doukas is a Mechanical Engineer with a PhD on DSS for the promotion of renewable energy sources (RES) and energy efficiency (ENEF) in the energy sector. His areas of expertise includes models and DSS for energy policy, sustainable energy planning in local and regional revel, climate change economics, Kyoto GHG emissions reduction flexible mechanisms (CDM, JI and ET) and he has been involved in a number of research and consultancy projects in the above fields. His publications record includes 45 scientific publications in international journals, 30 announcements in international conferences and many articles published in magazines, journals and books.

Risk of energy availability – common corridors for Europe supply security

The aim of this special issue is to provide structured information and comprehensive studies with models and methods for supporting security of energy supply scenarios and policies in the European Union (EU), concerning the different energy corridors, emphasizing on key dimensions of energy security. The motivation of this effort originated from the EC-FP7 REACCESS: Risk of energy availability – common corridors for Europe Supply Security project, which main purpose was to build tools suitable for EU27+ energy import scenario analyses, able to take into account at the same time the technical, economical and environmental aspects of the main energy corridors, for all energy commodities and infrastructures.

In this special issue, six articles were selected aligning latest practices, innovation and case studies with academic frameworks and theories, providing an exploratory energy sector analysis and information on critical parameters of the complex issue of security of energy supply and associated risks. Each paper illuminates one or more of the critical issues in security of supply policy and research.

The issue opens with the article of José María Marín-Quemada and Beatriz Muñoz-Delgado. They describe a new methodology for the analysis of international energy relations that enables their classification in terms of competition (rivalry) and complementarities (affinity) between countries. The adopted methodological approach rests on the composition of a new index (affinity index), which has been defined as a function of countries’ roles in international energy markets. The affinity index is considered a new concept and a metric to facilitate understanding and analysis of international energy relations both quantitatively and qualitatively.

Gonzalo Escribano Francés, continues with an article to explore an energy strategy for the EU that could integrate the tensions between geopolitics and the market in a coherent and consistent external EU energy policy. He finds that most qualitative energy security scenarios can be conceived as applications of international political economy paradigms. Its main result is to conceptually develop a geo-economic strategy consisting on the Europeanization of EU’s external energy corridors along its own energy regulations and standards.

Haris Doukas, Charikleia Karakosta, Alexandros Flamos, Maria Flouri and John Psarras investigate the suitability of graph theory concepts on energy supply networks and apply the shortest path algorithm and the maximum flow at minimum risk algorithm for the oil and gas corridors to Greece. This pilot application has indicated the applicability of graph theory concepts in such problems and is considered a step forward of existing studies, supporting the design efforts towards the development of a more reliable energy supply system.

Andrea Carpignano, Chiara Nironi and Francesco Ganci propose an analytic model for risk assessment in large-scale energy systems. In particular, the methodology adopted includes models to assess risk for people safety, risk for the environment and availability for corridors and the related infrastructures. As regards technological risk, accidents producing loss of lives in the population and environmental damage are taken into account; while for the loss of production primary attention is paid to technical failures and maintenance.

In the following article, Pernille Seljom and Eva Rosenberg provide a general overview of the global oil and natural gas resources, production, technology development, energy use, emissions and costs. This overview of oil and natural gas resources, production rates, recent technology developments, costs, losses, energy consumption and emissions on a world regional level provides valuable inputs for modelling and analysis of present and future energy system.

In the last article of this special issue, Thomas Pregger, Evasio Lavagno, Maryse Labriet, Pernille Seljom, Markus Biberacher, Markus Blesl, Franz Trieb, Marlene O’Sullivan, Raffaella Gerboni, Laura Schranz, Helena Cabal, Yolanda Lechón and Daniela Zocher provide the synthesis of a huge volume of information on the main characteristics of energy supply corridors, as provided in the literature and own additional calculations in a consistent way. The resulting database provides the framework for the integration of security of supply aspects into energy scenario modelling, which is an important modelling challenge and one of the main tasks of REACCESS. The study considers oil, gas, coal and nuclear fuel as well as renewable imports of solar electricity and biomass, and also hydrogen as a possible new energy carrier.

The Guest Editors would like to acknowledge the support from the European Commission (EC) who is financing the FP7 project REACCESS – Grant Agreement No. 212011. The content of this special issue is the sole responsibility of its authors and editors and does not necessarily reflect the views of the EC. In addition, the editors would like to thank the Project Coordinator, Professor Evasio Lavagno and all members of the POLITO team for the excellent cooperation within the framework of the REACCESS project, as well as the project officer, Mr Martin Huemer, for his continuous support.

As Guest Editors of this special issue, we do hope that this special issue will contribute to realizing the necessity of identifying all the parameters affecting the smooth and uninterrupted energy supply to Europe and will propose materials and methods for EU27+ energy import scenario analysis, striving towards a more sustainable energy future. The current issue aims also to trigger further the need for investigating critical parameters, alternative practices and policies as well as models and tools to assess the complex issue of security of energy supply.

John Psarras, Alexandros Flamos, Haris DoukasGuest Editors