The security of the energy supply is a central target of an energy policy dedicated to the goal of sustainable development. Energy security therefore has to be considered and analyzed in the context of economic efficiency and environmental and social compatibility. The security of the supply of electricity, in particular, is of crucial importance for a highly developed industrial nation such as Germany, especially one that is in the process of electrifying the transportation sector. It is a topic that is being prominently discussed in scientific and political circles. The security of the power supply in the energy transformation is therefore at the focus of work in this subtopic.

The topics of research in subtopic “Energy Security: Challenges and Opportunities for Future Energy Systems” are:

• The development of indicators in order to be able to measure energy security in general and the supply of electricity in particular.
• The analysis and assessment of the security of the power supply under new technological, economic, regulative, and political circumstances. A special focus in this is on power grids, in particular on transmission networks. The technical, economic, and social science experts of topic 3 will, in close cooperation with the Helmholtz Young Investigators Group on Efficiency, Emergence, and Economy of Future Supply Networks, analyze the challenges and opportunities of a secure and sustainable power supply.
• Some types of technology that are central to the success of the energy transformation depend on the supply of critical raw materials, most of which have to be imported. Subtopic “Energy Security: Challenges and Opportunities for Future Energy Systems” examines—with reference to the example of a technology (namely, the solid state battery)—which possibilities there are for using technical, economic, and political measures to make a sustainable supply of raw materials possible.