Critical Energy Infrastructures: Geopolitical Vulnerabilities and Strategies of Securitization

EasyChair Preprint 10622

Abstract

The protection of Critical Energy Infrastructures (CEI) represents a key priority for both global energy suppliers and consumers in order to preserve the energy security condition, namely “the uninterrupted availability of energy sources at an affordable price”. As a matter of fact, the high relevance of energy in the global economy, CEI infrastructures have progressively become an attractive target for terrorist attacks – both physical and cyber attacks – aimed at provoking energy disruptions and economic damages, highlighting the condition of high vulnerability of the affected country in security terms. In the last years, mainly Middle East producers and Ukraine have suffered terrorist attacks aimed to destroy CEI, but all CEI - included the RES-based infrastructures such as solar plants, wind farms and hydrogen industries which will be the cornerstone of the energy transition - represent a vulnerable asset which is necessary to protect in order to preserve the geopolitical stability based on a condition of energy security without disruptions. Nuclear power plants have the added security value to be target for radionuclear terrorist attacks, beside the energy supply chain's disruption. The main aim of this proposal is to evaluate the existing threats to CEI and how efficiently prevent, contain and downplay the negative impact on the global energy security: considering the sharing interest of both energy suppliers and consumers to preserve the regularity of the energy flows to the markets, a joint engagement which could be profitable to improve the security conditions and to avoid dangerous geopolitical unbalances.

Keyphrases: Critical infrastructures security, Renewable energy sources security, nuclear security, supply chain disruption

@booklet{EasyChair:10622,
  author    = {Matteo Gerlini and Fabio Indeo},
  title     = {Critical Energy Infrastructures: Geopolitical Vulnerabilities and Strategies of Securitization},
  howpublished = {EasyChair Preprint 10622},
  year      = {EasyChair, 2023}}