Opening the black box of energy security

Despite much literature on energy security, the term continues to resist a commonly-accepted definition. Nevertheless, policy decisions are frequently made on the basis of ‘improving energy security’, despite the lack of any clear understanding of what improving energy security actually means. Therefore, this paper conducts an empirical exploration of the meaning of energy security for key experts in the UK energy sector, with a particular focus on the security of electricity systems in the context of a low-carbon transition. A set of 22 energy security indicators is discussed with 25 experts from across the energy sector in the UK, in order to get a grasp on which aspects or dimensions of energy security are felt to be most important, and to discover the underlying concepts which are used by experts when making or justifying these choices. The results from the interviews show that there is a real need to attempt to take into account multiple competing and context-specific views on energy security, instead of trying to close the discussion down around a small number of simple quantifiable indicators or metrics. The paper reveals an array of conceptualisations and a lack of any clear pattern determining experts’ perspectives, as well as some competing worldviews which are potentially intractable. However, despite the challenges that this clearly creates for policy, certain measures are widely suggested as being sensible for improving energy security by a considerable number of participants from a range of organisations. Energy security policy should focus on measures which can respond to threats or insecurity, instead of focusing on reducing causes of insecurity; therefore a focus on flexibility on both the demand-side and the supply-side would be beneficial. There should also be increased focus on measures such as demand reduction which can bring about co-benefits in multiple dimensions. Finally, it is critical to ensure adequate investment in infrastructure, which requires political stability and long-term planning; these aspects are challenging to measure and therefore have received a lack of attention in energy security assessments in the past.