This Working Paper explores ways of enhancing the “resilience” of the UK energy system to withstand external shocks and examines how such measures interact with those designed to reduce CO2 emissions. The concept of resilience explored and a set of “indicators” is developed to define quantitatively the characteristics of a resilient energy system.
In the report the authors systematically test the response of the UK energy system under different scenarios to hypothetical shocks. These are all assumed to involve the loss of gas infrastructure. The authors then assess mitigating measures which can help to reduce the impact of these shocks and test their cost effectiveness using an insurance analogy.