Journal of Security and Sustainability Issues

Our paper is dealing with the issues of energy security and economic development. Our focus is on the changes and challenges that are posed in front of the many countries with regard to the threat of the shortages of energy sources and the depletion of the existing carbon sources. Economic, social and demographic changes in the world call for the novel solutions that would include innovative ways how to secure the smooth and undisrupted flow of energy for maintaining the daily lives of the citizens. We are particularly interested in showing how the integration of energy systems or the coordination between neighboring energy systems might contribute to the sustainable development and operation of the energy sector. The paper uses an example of hydro energy storage in order to show the shortcomings of the battery energy storage and the ways how it can be solved. Our results and findings show that renewable energy sources might become a viable solution to the problems specified above. Well-balanced and well-placed usage of renewables might cushion the shortcomings of the traditional energy systems and prevent major shocks to the energy security through the world and in the European Union countries.

Energy security is conditioned by numerous factors, among which solutions and patterns of energy storage play important role. Electrical energy storage (EES) is the process by which energy is stored from the power network to a form which can be used later when converted back to electrical energy. There are various ways by which electrical energy can be stored for future purposes. Nowadays, the electrical energy is mainly stored in pumped hydroelectric energy storage (PHES) that comprises about 99% of EES worldwide and the battery energy storage (BES) that uses chemical energy with both methods yielding characteristic advantages and disadvantages. Electrical energy is mainly stored when there is low demand and when there is high generation of power at low costs. The energy is then used when there is high demand of power and the generation cost is high or when there are no other means of generating electrical energy. Electrical energy storage has many uses such as in the electrical devices, motor vehicles and stationery energy resources and is gaining special attention with the widespread usage of renewable energy sources (RES).

Critical Energy Infrastructures can suffer different impacts from accidents and natural disasters which concern the whole energy system and specific functional aspects of Energy Security as well. A negative energy event -i.e. a strategic refinery blockade due to an accident- can provide useful experiences which demonstrate the connection among logistic efficiency, resilience and Energy Security. Spanish refinery Puertollano suffered an accident in year 2003 which stopped oil logistics in a significant part of the country. Military oil refined products logistics in Spain are managed by CLH oil products logistic company -operating in the framework of a Public-Private Partnership and civil-military cooperation model- and then this enterprise facilitated the implementation of a resilience measures aimed to guarantee the operation of oil products logistic chain in the affected area. Management of Puertollano refinery crisis in 2003 showed positive results for ensuring National Energy Security, market and business normal function, system stability and infrastructure re-adjustment. This crisis advanced criteria and lesson learned for Critical Energy Infrastructure Protection and business continuity planning.

Our paper tackles the issue of the European energy security and economic growth. Specifically, it evaluates the relationship between natural gas consumption and economic growth in the European Union (EU). Channels along which natural gas is supplied to the EU energy markets yield dependence from the Russian Federation which presents a threat to the European energy security. Our sample includes panel time series data over the period from 1997 to 2011 for a 26 EU countries. Based on neoclassical growth model, we create a multivariate model including gross fixed capital formation and total labor forces of a country as additional explanatory variables. Using panel cointegration tests, we found that there exists a long-run relationship between economic growth, natural gas consumption, labor and capital. In the short-run there is bidirectional causality between natural gas consumption and economic growth. The causality running from economic growth to natural gas consumption is positive. On the other hand, the causality, which runs from natural gas consumption to economic growth, is negative.

This paper is devoted to tracing contemporary perceptions of energy security. Energy security, as a concept started its evolution from a point, where it was identified with secure oil provision for countries, which did not possess energetic resources and were increasingly dependent on oil imports. Gradually, the concept of energy security started to be repeatedly used in the scientific papers, popular press and media and even colloquial language. Energy security has become an argument in making political decisions. Nevertheless, despite the exaggerated attention to energy security, still there is no unanimous agreement on what the concept of energy security means, what facets it embraces and, consequently, how it could be measured and controlled. The paper aims to distinguish the main perceptions of energy security and foresee plausible implications of one or another approach adopted.