Evaluating the Resilience of Energy Supply Systems at the Example of a Single Family Dwelling Heating System

Abstract

Since the 1980s, the term “resilience” occurs more and more frequently in energy system analysis. However, the consideration and definition of the term primarily occurs in a qualitative way. This papers introduces a quantitative method to assess an energy system’s resilience by using physical key figures to reflect the maintained functionality during and after a disturbance. The presented method is used to evaluate the resilience of a heating system of a single family dwelling when its pump or boiler fails. It can be shown that the introduced resilience index mirrors the drop of the system’s functionality and is also able to point out weak spots and the most efficient system improvements. This provides the foundation of comparing the resilience of complex systems even though it is important to pay attention to comparable assessment settings.