Milan, 10-12 December, 2018, Bocconi University
The AIEE - Italian Association of Energy Economists (Italian affiliate of the IAEE - The International Association for Energy Economics) is organizing this international conference in cooperation with the Bocconi University - GREEN (Centre for Geography, Resources, Environment, Energy and Networks), of Milan to bring together energy experts engaged in academic, business, government, international organizations for an exchange of ideas and experiences on the present and future landscape of energy security.
The first two editions of the AIEE Symposium on Energy Security - Milan 2016 and Rome 2017, were an opportunity to explore new energy trends, challenges and creative solutions for the energy security, the availability of new technologies, the emergence of new market conditions and of new market operators.
Following up on the success of the past editions we are delighted to announce this third AIEE Energy Symposium to provide a fresh look on the major forthcoming issues offering an excellent occasion to continue the dialogue and to share best practice and experience with delegates from all over the world.
The energy situation is evolving in Europe as well as in the rest of the world, where new actors, the emerging economies, are taking the leading role. Political developments in several areas of the globe (North Africa and Middle East, the Caspian region, ASEAN countries) are reshaping the geopolitical situation, generating some worries about the security of supply in the EU countries. The concept of energy security is undergoing a rapid transformation. In the past, geopolitics and the supply of oil and gas were the dominant factors determining energy security. Today, a broader and more complex spectrum of elements are interacting to both stabilize and threaten energy security. The availability of energy sources, when we consider both fossil fuels and renewables, is increasing. In particular, a major source of change is the strong growth in the production and integration of renewable and distributed energy, which offers opportunities to diversify the energy mix and thus improve energy security by reducing physical reliance and price exposure to only a few sources and countries. At the same time, this paradigm of a new energy system has strong implications both on petroleum-producing countries and companies, with knock-on effects on geo-economic balance of powers and energy markets and on the security and reliability of the transmission and distribution networks.
The new challenges of the digital revolution that on one hand offers opportunities to improve efficiency, to have lower costs but on the other hand raises a whole new set of challenges and creates vulnerabilities we have never seen before so that energy is being viewed as a key part of national security.
While in the past the supply side was the dominant factor in energy security, with the critical element being the possibility of sourcing the products to produce electricity and provide mobility, now the energy security balance is changing.
