The 3 R's of Critical Energy Networks: Reliability, Robustness and Resiliency
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A White Paper Submitted to the MIT Energy Research Council by Richard Larson, David Marks, Munther Dahleh and Marija Ilic

October 30, 2005

Framing the Problem
Energy comes in many forms: coal, oil, natural gas, nuclear, geothermal, wind, tidal, solar and more. Once collected at the source it is transported over networks that transform the raw power represented by the natural resource into useful energy products -- gasoline, electricity, natural gas, steam, etc. These products are then used to fuel our economy and support our lifestyles.

Many networks are involved in the collection, transport, transformation, and final delivery of energy to ultimate consumers. Additional, coupled networks are involved in the use of the delivered energy to fuel our vehicles, heat our homes, light our cities, etc. The delivery networks include gas and oil pipelines, the highway system, electricity transmission networks, etc. The usage networks include transportation networks (land, air, and sea), telecommunication networks, and the “end nodes” of certain transmission networks (e.g., private homes using electricity, natural gas, and/or oil). The two dominant US energy networks are 1) the system that produces, distributes, and delivers electrical energy and 2) the fuel system that brings fossil fuels from sources through pipelines to refine, store, and use for manufacturing, heating, and mobility.

The electrical system is under stress from growth of demand, the impacts of deregulation on new investment, and the lack of coordinated strategic planning to secure the present system and robustly expand it for the future. A recent rash of blackouts gives ample proof of its insecurity. The fuel network is largely privately owned and as indicated by the recent Hurricane Katrina event is vulnerable to disruption that can cripple the economy of the US. There is significant evidence that interconnectedness can lead to cascading failures both within and between the two systems. More electricity generation in the US is from fuels such as natural gas. In Hurricane Katrina, loss of electricity led to loss of pumps to move fuels for more than 30 percent of US demand. Loss of electricity also closed cell phone communications, hampering relief efforts.