Planning for resilience in the case of power shortage: The Swedish STYREL policy

Abstract

Modern society has developed a growing dependence on electricity in order to carry out important societal functions. This implies the risk of cascading failures to society in the case of power shortage. The creation of a resilient and sustainable power energy system is therefore crucial. Equal crucial is the preparedness for the event of power shortage. As a part of the Swedish crisis management system, the Swedish Energy Agency (EM) has developed a planning system, STYREL, to identify social important objects in order to ensure important social functions in the case of power shortage. This article examines STYREL as a policy network and as a planning system to ensure a sustainable and resilient power supply. The study focus on the design of the system, the implementation of the system based on the results from the two rounds completed in 2010 and 2014. Using interviews with coordinators at the local and regional level in three counties and a survey including all 21 coordinators at the regional level, it indicates that the design of the planning system reviles opportunities for improvements of the planning system. The study also indicates that the coordinators at the local level lack trust in the planning system depending on both the lack of resource and the lack of feedback. This in turn indicates challenges for the system from a resilient and sustainability point of view.

Reviewing qualitative research approaches in the context of critical infrastructure resilience

“…However, such type of coordination is a rather complicate and delicate task, and should be treated taking care of the potential privatisation of some companies, as well as the organisational cultures. A critical reflection in this sense comes from the STYREL project, where the public–private cooperation envisaged in the process revealed lack of trust between actors, concerning both lack of resources and feedbacks (Olausson 2019 ). Most reviewed papers shed light on the importance of data availability and information sharing.…”

“…In the same national context, Olausson ( 2019 ) deals with the resilience in the case of power shortage, focusing on the Swedish STYREL policy. STYREL (a Swedish acronym for “Steering of electricity to prioritised users during short-term electricity shortages”) is a planning and prioritisation process, involving national authorities, CABs, and municipalities.…”

Left in the Dark: Obstacles to Studying and Performing Critical Infrastructure Protection

“…The data collection included publicly available documents, semi-structured interviews, and a survey, which enabled data triangulation (Gerring, 2007). Additionally, partial studies (Danielsson, Nyhlén and Olausson, 2020;Olausson, 2019;Große, 2017;Große and Olausson, 2018;Große, 2019;2018), field notes, reflections, internal meeting protocols, and individual experiences of involved researchers along with the progress of the research project enriched the material basis of the present study (Bryman and Bell, 2015).…”

“…Their knowledge and experience varied based on their individual involvement in the planning process. Two of the coordinators had been involved in both rounds of STYREL, and one of them had been in another county during the first round (see Olausson, 2019). The other two coordinators participated in only the second round, and one of them had previously been responsible for the process in one of the municipalities in the county.…”