Infrastructure, energy electricity

Edison Electric Institute. 2002. Energy Infrastructure Electricity Transmission Lines. Washington, D.C. Edison Electric Institute. February. 

The current energy infrastructure in the Netherlands (see figure 1) can be characterised as rigid and inflexible. For decades, capital-intensive units such as power stations and oil refineries have converted one specific type of fossil resource into only a few products most coal is converted into electric power, some 90% of crude oil is turned into transport fuels and natural gas is used to generate electric power and heat. At a short term a feedstock change cannot be realized for any of the facilities in this energy infrastructure. Long-term feedstock modification options are limited and often prohibitively expensive. 

Cost is a hurdle in using hydrogen widely as a fuel. Changes in the energy infrastructure are needed to use hydrogen. Electricity is required for many hydrogen production methods. The cost of this electricity tends to make hydrogen more expensive than the fuels it would replace. 

The reduction half-reaction is an easy two-electron transfer reaction, while four electrons are involved in the oxidation of water to form oxygen. While by no means trivial, it is considerably easier to photo-oxidize water than it is to photoreduce CO2. Moreover, hydrogen can be readily converted into electricity - and back again - with fuel cells and electrolyzers. This offers the prospect of a future energy infrastructure based oti sunlight, hydrogen, and electricity, as illustrated in Fig. 1.2. 

Off-grid villages and towns require a standalone energy infrastructure, which includes electricity and perhaps desalination and/or district heating. Small power plant staffing levels are preferred and low staffing skill level may be desirable in some cases. 

The electricity and petroleum sectors account for 54.4% and 36.6%, respectively. The natural gas sector makes up only 7.4%, and all other sectors are almost negligible. A possible reason for this pattern could be that attacks predominantly target linear energy infrastructures (e.g. pipelines and transmission lines) that are difficult to protect, and also often pass through remote areas. In contrast, point sources such as power plants or refineries can be more easily controlled and secured. 

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