New Framework to Help Plan Secure Energy Transitions
A new study published in iScience addresses an essential but often overlooked pillar of the Energy Trilemma: energy supply security.
Recent events, particularly the war in Ukraine, have brought energy security back to the top of governments’ agendas worldwide. To inform governments in their policy decisions, researchers rely on energy system models that often integrate energy equity and sustainability but overlook energy security.
In contrast to the well-established methodologies for assessing energy equity and sustainability, the literature on energy security depends on a wide range of perspectives and indicators. Although the diversity underscores the multifaceted nature of energy security, it makes decision-making more difficult.
This new article introduces the Energy Supply Security (ESS) Pyramid—a quantitative framework designed to help policymakers and planners assess and strengthen energy supply security during the energy transition.
The ESS Pyramid organizes security-related indicators into five hierarchical levels, ranging from Self-Production and Autonomy to System Adequacy, Self-Sufficiency, and Autarky. Each level is paired with specific quantitative metrics that make the framework useful for real-world strategic planning and policy development.
The authors tested the framework using Switzerland as a case study, showing how the ESS Pyramid can guide the design of energy systems that are not only sustainable and equitable but also secure. Their findings show that improving energy supply security can go hand-in-hand with accelerating the renewable energy transition.
This article was a collaboration led by Prof. Matthias Sulzer from Empa, with Dr. George Mavromatidis from Empa, Dr. Michael Wetter from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and SusTec Senior Researcher Dr. Alejandro Nuñez-Jimenez.
Read the full study for more details:
- Sulzer, M., Mavromatidis, G., Nuñez-Jimenez, A. and Wetter, M., 2025. The energy supply security pyramid: A quantitative framework for planning and policy making. iScience, 28(5). external page https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2025.112407