Editorial: Next level of security of supply: a resilience strategy for the energy transition

Abstract

A successful energy transition requires a complex transformation process that considers technical, economic, ecological, and social dimensions. Energy systems analysis uses methods and tools from different disciplines to provide insights from these dimensions and to integrate them into a holistic view of future defossilised energy systems. The first International Symposium on Energy System Analysis (ISESA), held in Stuttgart in 2024 and organized by the Stuttgart Research Initiative on Integrated Systems Analysis for Energy" (STRise), brought together international experts from various disciplines to discuss critical aspects of the energy transition under the theme “Next Level of Security of Supply: A Resilience Strategy for the Energy Transition”. Key challenges in the development of this complex system were highlighted and discussed in an interdisciplinary context. The symposium addressed the vulnerabilities of the “new” energy system, such as the lack of technical flexibility, low user acceptance, and high dependency on rare materials as well as aspects of governance, energy justice and elements of resilience strategies. Outstanding contributions and further interested authors were invited to submit their full papers to this Special Issue. It has been a very active symposium and the extract of papers is overwhelming. The contributions to this special issue are organized into four sections: (1) resilience strategies, including several case studies (eight contributions); (2) reliable resource supply and supply chains (seven contributions); (3) dark doldrums, i.e. Dunkelflaute, which challenges a reliable electricity supply (four papers); and (4) recent developments aligned with the symposium’s theme, comprising two papers on Artificial Intelligence and one on cyber security. A brief overview of each contribution follows. It is highly recommended to read in suitable papers for further insights.