SECURE · Security of Energy Considering its Uncertainty, Risk and Economic Implications

The SECURE project will build a comprehensive framework that considers all the issues related to the topic of security of supply, including geopolitics, price formation and the economic and technical design of energy markets inside and outside the EU. Tools, methods and models will be developed to measure and assess EU security of energy supply both outside the EU and inside the EU. The objective is to evaluate the vulnerability of the EU to the different risks which affect energy supplies in order to help optimizing the Union’s energy insecurity mitigation strategies, including infrastructure investment, demand side management and dialogue with producing countries. This project will develop energy security indicators for all the major energy sources in order to identify the risk factors and quantify the EU exposure to volume and price risks in the short and long terms, including impacts of severe accidents and terrorist threats. Costs and benefits (both measurable and perceived) of energy security will be evaluated for different energy supply/demand scenarios to help policy makers providing the most appropriate institutional, political and industrial solutions. All major energy sources and technologies (oil, natural gas, coal, nuclear, renewables and electricity) will be addressed from upstream to downstream with both a global and sectoral analysis studying in depth issues such as technical, economic/regulatory and geopolitical risks. The analysis will also integrate demand as a key issue related to energy security. The SECURE project has both a strong quantitative and qualitative component and will at the end not only provide a comprehensive methodological and quantitative framework to measure energy security of supply, but it will also propose policy recommendations on how to improve energy security taking into account costs, benefits and risks of various policy choices.