· · · Institutional Repository

The reliable operation of energy infrastructures is more than just a technical matter. It is also dependent upon the organizational structure that enables and constrains entities in their management of operations. Yet this lesson seems forgotten in our planning of future renewable energy systems. There, focus is on technical development, market deployment, and supporting government policies. Much less attention has been given to the broader organizational requirements necessary to ensure their reliable operation once they are put in place. This research proposes a framework to pinpoint the organizational structures required for the reliable operation of future renewable energy infrastructures. To this end it analyses the complex relationship between technology and organization in energy systems and seeks ways to express the technological characteristics of energy systems in terms of their organizational requirements in a simple yet effective manner. The result is a stepwise progression that moves from several critical technical functions and their control mechanisms to the responsibilities and roles that they imply for the entities involved in their operation (i.e. the who does what, when, and how, and the nature of coordination between them), and finally to the organizational structure that may facilitate the latter. The proposed framework is illustrated on the transition to the use of hydrogen as a motor fuel in the Netherlands as depicted by the European Union’s HyWays project. It shows how different technical characteristics of the hydrogen networks envisioned in 2020, 2035, and 2050 require different organizational structures to facilitate reliable operations. In addition, it discusses the implications of neglecting the organizational dimension of reliability in the development of renewable energy systems, such as organizational lock-ins and path dependencies.

The European refining system has been through an intense restructuring in the period 2008-2012 and it is still uncertain how this restructuring will unravel. This created the motivation for this research study. Research objective: to analyse if, and in what manner, potential structural, technical changes to the European refining system will most likely affect oil product supply- and demand balances in the period 2010 - 2025. The applied research methodology consists of spread sheet modelling combined with scenario analysis to build an input-output model from the bottom up. Main finding is that supply- and demand balances will most likely further deteriorate and hence cause increased trade flows.

Dutch households are responsible for a significant part of the total Dutch energy consumption and CO2 emissions. One option for decreasing household energy consumption and CO2 emissions is to deploy micro-combined-heat-power (μCHP) units. A micro-CHP virtual power plant (VPP) is a cluster of grid connected μCHP units that is monitored and controlled on an aggregate level by a VPP operator for commercial or technical objectives. In this research, the technical feasibility and economic viability of the VPP was evaluated, as well as the impact of the institutional environment on these aspects. Also the VPP was compared to existing systems, to determine whether it is beneficial to implement such a system in the Netherlands.

The functioning of vital infrastructures, such as energy and telecommunications infrastructure, is key to societal and economic security and well-being in modern society. The reliability of these infrastructures is thus of paramount importance. Transmission system operators (TSOs) fulfill a central role in achieving this reliability, by maintaining, operating and developing the transmission networks that form the backbone of the infrastructure. However, the TSOs have to achieve this in changing conditions and with increasing uncertainties; vital infrastructures are faced with rapidly changing market conditions and regulations, especially given the ongoing liberalization process in the European Union. Furthermore, they not only have to maintain reliability, but also other values like affordability, accessibility and sustainability. To ensure an adequate level of reliability, while also remaining efficient and profitable in a changing environment, TSOs need to continuously reevaluate their planning and investment decision making methods. To be able to do this, they need insight in the trade-off between reliability and efficiency and the different investment options to improve reliability. In this research, we aim to add to that insight by comparing three vital Dutch infrastructures (the gas infrastructure, the electricity infrastructure and the fixed line telecommunications infrastructure) using an analytical framework based on the ISO31000 Risk Management standard. By using risk management, we create a generic framework that explicitly deals with uncertainty. We focus on three elements in the risk management process: context, assessment and treatment. The study consists of a comparative case study, based on literature review and interviews with TSOs and regulators. The context has been described along a set of factors, that have been categorized as either technical, economic or institutional. The final set of 12 factors is considered to be as parsimonious, relevant and complete as possible, to give a structured and efficient overview of the different infrastructures. From analyzing the context it follows that the infrastructures are very different, but often have striking similarities on individual context factors and experience similar developments, such as internationalization and institutional fragmentation. This fact enables us to analyze the particular influence of these factors on the assessment and treatment of reliability. This final set of factors thus forms a strong basis for the rest of the analysis. Reliability is neither a simple nor an unambiguous concept for multiple reasons. First, we can identify different levels of reliability. Second, reliability risks can occur on different timescales and in different parts of the supply chain. Third, in vital infrastructures the public interest in reliability has a large influence on the perception of reliability. Finally, the discussion on reliability is often embedded in a specific infrastructure. To compare the assessment of reliability in different infrastructures, we have to deal with these complexities. Therefore, we have developed a new conceptual model that identifies different levels and dimensions of reliability and also is generic enough to be applied to all analyzed infrastructures. The assessment of reliability in gas and electricity infrastructure shows strong similarities, while in telecommunications infrastructure the assessment is radically different as a result of rapid technological developments and strong differentiation in services offered. When analyzing the treatment of reliability, it becomes clear that individual treatment options are very infrastructure specific and comparing them is difficult and of limited use. Therefore, four high-level treatment strategies have been identified, which can be compared between infrastructures. These four treatment strategies are investing in larger infrastructures, investing in smarter infrastructures, supply responsiveness and demand responsiveness. The dominant strategies of the TSO in gas infrastructure are investing in larger infrastructures and supply responsiveness; in electricity infrastructure it is supply responsiveness and in telecommunications infrastructure it is investing in larger and smarter infrastructures. Demand responsiveness is important, but not a central strategy for TSOs, because they deal with aggregated traffic flows and have no direct contracts with consumers in which to include incentives for demand responsiveness. The trade-off between reliability and efficiency is sometimes mistakenly simplified and over rationalized in the discussion between regulators and regulated TSOs. Considering that the costs of reliability risks and the investment costs to reduce these risks can be estimated, it is contended that this trade-off can be analytically optimized. However, given the multidimensionality and subjectivity of reliability and the complexity of transmission networks, this optimization is most likely false and extremely difficult. In an infrastructure where different stakeholders have different perceptions and requirements for reliability, which also change over time and as a result of incidents, an adequate level of reliability can only be determined in a political, rather than an analytical, process. Another concern is that fragmented regulatory oversight and the decoupling of public values, can lead to conflicting interventions and suboptimal decisions by the TSO. Especially when the regulation of a specific value is very stringent compared to other values (e.g. efficiency by price regulation) and the regulated TSO has only specific responsibilities and capabilities, the risk exists that the scope of the TSO is narrowed only to those responsibilities and capabilities, instead of developing and encouraging new solutions. To avoid this, regulation should be more holistic and should address conflicts between different public values instead of decoupling them. To achieve an adequate trade-off between reliability and efficiency, while dealing with institutional fragmentation and uncertainty, TSOs should employ more proactive mechanisms to efficiently and effectively utilize existing and future transport capacity. Especially the gas infrastructure lacks such mechanisms, e.g. an efficient capacity allocation mechanism. Also, while we have shown that analytically optimizing the trade-off between efficiency and reliability produces no sensible results, TSOs still need a way to determine and achieve an adequate level of reliability. Considering the political and complex nature of reliability, it is necessary to develop instruments to achieve long-term reliability in cooperation with other stakeholders.

This Master Thesis research had the objective to design a Supplier Obligation System for the Netherlands that provides both effective and stable incentives for Essent to invest in renewable electricity. The scientific paper that was writen as part of the SEPAM Master Thesis project is added as a separate file. The title of this paper is: Securing regulatory stability in a Renewable Portfolio Standard - The case of the Netherlands

Wi-Fi has steadily emerged as the most favourite technology for wireless access to the internet. The most recent development in the Wi-Fi world is the increasing use of Wi-Fi technology in local community networks both in developing and developed countries. Wi-Fi offers possibilities for end-users in creating local community initiatives that go beyond simple in-house use and can cover relatively large areas providing a semi-public network. This research intends to study a number of Wi-Fi community initiatives in order to obtain insights in the success factors of community based Wi-Fi initiatives. In addition to its scientific relevance this research has practical relevance as well. It can help actors interested in Wi-Fi networks to deploy Wi-Fi communities more successfully.

The liberalization of the energy sector transformed this sector into a dynamic and competitive environment. To cope with this transformation and to build competitive advantage, energy companies expand their businesses through downstream customer interfacing businesses in energy-related markts. These new markets are not the core business of energy companies, and as a consequence that energy companies do not have all the needed resources in-house to commercialize the energy-related products and services succesfully. Energy companies source the needed resources through organizational relationships. However, there is no garantueed success for entering into organizational relationships. It is therefore vital for strategic purposes to control and manage these relationships through appropriate organizational governance structures. Organizational governance structures are structures through which risks that accompany organizational relationships are managed and controlled. Appropriate organizational governance structures are designed along complex decision-making processes. This research focuses on the design of a framework for the support of decision-making processes concerning organizational governance structures. Based on theory, and knowldge gained during a case study analysis and a workshop a decision framework is designed. The decision framework consists of three layers: factors, risks, and organizational governance structures. Together with a risk matrix, the decision framework provides guidance by illustrating the aspects that need to be considered, the relations among these aspects, and the steps decision-makers should take in order to design appropriate organizational governance structures.

In recent years most of the Chinese cities have shown a rapid decline in modal split of public transport as a consequence of rapid urbanization and motorization in the “socialist market economy”. It has been witnessed that cars flood into streets; road congestion, air pollution and traffic safety have become major problems in urban China. To ameliorate this situation and to promote sustainable urban traffic, many Chinese metropolises consider the concept of Transit-Oriented Development (TOD), which is a model with worldwide successful experience in promoting public transport through integrating urban traffic with land use and creating a mobility environment where public transport is a much more respectable alternative to automobile travel. However, as the municipal governments embrace the concept, they were not aware of the fact that the realization of TOD requires fulfilling a number of preconditions, including a high level of land use diversity and density, beautiful urban design and cityscape, constraints on automobile use, good transit service qualities, good urban governance, and a real estate market that provides affordable and mixed types of housing. Even if the governments are informed of these conditions and seriously intend to meet these conditions, they are bound to deliberately enact comprehensive targeted policies and to mobilize substantial resources and support. However, after decades of economic reforms the Chinese cities have grown from comparatively simple systems that heavily depend on artificial intervention to complex and self-organizing systems that seem to be unplannable. In other words, it is very likely nowadays for the deliberate design for TOD to become dashed in complex cities. Therefore, rather than focusing on providing policy instruments and implementation recommendations of TOD for the Chinese local governments, this study sought to understand how cities are structured, what makes cities work, how to perceive cities as complex systems, and with such a perception how to plan cities (with respect to TOD). Accordingly, this book aims to pry open the complex urban systems firstly by formulating a conceptual model of cities and establishing 36 city parameters; and secondly by applying this framework into the case area, the Dalian city that is one of the most prosperous cities located in the eastern coastal region of China and has officially adopted TOD, whereby the empirical scores of the parameters are obtained. Based on the empirical scores, we draw lessons as to how the city parameters operate, how complex urban systems self-organize, and then what the implications are for deliberate design. The purpose of the lessons is to show elite politicians, policy analysts, public officials, legalists and also the wider public how TOD can be planned in contemporary cities in China.