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Dispersion of power generation units as a measure of national energy resilience

Perogiannaki Chrysi

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Summary

The maintenance and enhancement of energy security and resilience constitute strategic national priorities, while also serving as critical elements in the geopolitical landscape, influencing energy dependence and global stability. Specifically, energy security and resilience pertain to the uninterrupted, economically affordable, and environmentally sustainable supply of energy, as well as to the ability of an energy system to anticipate, withstand, adapt to, and recover from various disruptions such as natural disasters, geopolitical crises, technological failures, or cyberattacks. A key factor in achieving national energy security is the meticulously designed geographic dispersion of power generation units, which prevents their concentration in vulnerable locations, reduces the network’s susceptibility, and mitigates the risk of widespread power outages. Moreover, dispersion facilitates the integration of decentralized renewable sources and overall reinforces the stability and sustainability of energy infrastructure. The present thesis aims to develop appropriate indicators for measuring the dispersion of power generation units and evaluating their capacity to manage heterogeneous geographic data. For the quantitative estimation of dispersion, spatial analysis metrics are employed, such as the Convex Hull for mapping the geographic envelope and the Nearest Neighbor Index (R), which detects data clustering or dispersion. Additionally, Ripley’s K-function is applied to calculate how the average number of units within a given radius deviates from a random distribution, thereby enabling the identification of distances at which unit density is unusually high or low. Subsequently, these indicators are rigorously evaluated through their application to real geospatial data of medium- and large-capacity power generation units, using technical criteria. The implementation is carried out in a MATLAB environment and evaluated on geospatially heterogeneous datasets from countries such as Greece and Switzerland. The evaluation seeks to draw conclusions and recommend the most suitable indicators for real-world applications in assessing energy security. The goal of this work is to raise policymakers’ awareness of the pivotal role of power generation dispersion and to formulate guidelines for measuring and strengthening energy security.

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