Novel Approach of Quantifying Energy Security in terms of Economic, Environmental and Supply Risk Factors

Abstract

The rising global demand of energy and political instability has raised the issue of energy security more than ever before. Depleting reservoirs and environmental degradation encourage policy makers to review intended action plans for sustainable energy generation. Fluctuating oil prices and unforeseen political events has emergeda need of secure energy supplies policies. This study will incorporate three key integrated energy dimensions in terms of cost to evaluate the total exposure. Affordability, acceptability and availability of adequate supply are the factors to evaluate forsustainable economic growth, potential environmental harm and social stability. Energy experts and policy makers around the globe are looking for the effective tool to measure the impact of supply disruption on energy generation process. High level of security incurred extra cost; however, opportunity loss due to energy supply disruption has never been evaluated in terms of monitory unit. This study will focus on the evaluation of potential loss due to unavailability of supplies for power generation system. Holistic approach will be applied to measure the combine impact of fuels specifically used in power generation process. Besides the traditional approach of unit power generation cost this paper encompasses other cost parameters which indirectly affects the cost of generation in the form of carbon-tax penalty and the excessive cost of secure and reliable supply of energy resources to power generation system.