Resilient by Design: Securing Europe’s Energy System Against Diverse Threats

Alessandro Lazari is a Postdoctoral Researcher and Fellow at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research on Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience (CRISR), University of Salento, specialised in Critical Infrastructure Protection, Resilience, and Cybersecurity. He is Advisor to the Office of the Military Advisor at the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, the national authority for Critical Entity Resilience in Italy. He holds a Master’s Degree in Law from the University of Bologna, a specialisation in Law from the University of Lecce, and a PhD in Computer Engineering, Multimedia and Telecommunications from the University of Florence.

Alessandro Lazzarini is a senior engineer with several years of experience in the fields of long-term energy scenario envisioning and power grid development planning. Involved since 2019 in analysing and addressing the challenges posed by climate changes to the Italian Transmission System Operator, Terna, He has contributed to the development of an innovative, probabilistic and forward-looking methodology aimed at assessing the level of resilience of the power grid to extreme weather events, in order to identify the interventions needed to reduce both the vulnerability of the grid infrastructures and the expected energy not served (EENS) to the end-users. He has also contributed to the identification and planning of new grid reinforcements evaluated with the Resilience Methodology and to the draft of the first Terna’s Resilience Plan, in which are collected all the initiatives planned by Terna to increase the transmission network resilience to extreme weather events.

Georgina is the Director of Energy Systems Management and Security at Ofgem. Her team is responsible for: security of supply; network charging; discharging Ofgem’s responsibilities in relation to the day-to-day operation of the electricity and gas systems (including system operation and regulation of the National Energy System Operator); as well as the development of a new regulatory regime for hydrogen. Georgina is also heading the Cost Allocation and Recovery Review work.

Before joining Ofgem, Georgina worked as a policy director at the Commerce Commission, providing strategic advice on the establishment of a new economic regulation regime for water. Prior to that, Georgina was a Director at Ofwat for 10 years where she held director roles on the PR14 and PR19 price reviews and also led Ofwat’s work on the business retail water market. Georgina has led work to reform the legislative framework for airport regulation and has also worked at the Department for Business and the UK’s competition regulator. She is an economist and joined the Government Economic Service in 2003.

Leigh is the Head of Security of Supply and Markets Regulation at the Utility Regulator and has worked in energy since 2010. She leads three wholesale and retail energy market teams across the supply chain from generator to end-consumer, with a strong focus on governance and compliance. Leigh has led teams through the energy transition, including licensing of the first battery storage in NI, regulation of closure of NI’s coal plant, winter and emergency preparedness for security of electricity and gas supply, and modification of the regulatory framework. Leigh was previously an Actuarial Analyst in the private sector, and she spent three years working as a Regulatory Specialist in industry. Leigh has a 1st class honours degree in Law & Accountancy from the University of Dundee and eight years’ experience of Non-Executive Board membership and voluntary mentoring experience.

Olivier Franz is a regulatory expert focusing on energy markets and energy networks, with additional knowledge in financial regulation. Recently, telco regulation has become part of his portfolio, particularly in the FttX environment. He teaches energy economics and regulatory economics at various institutions, including TU Berlin. During his tenure within innogy (now merged with E.ON), smart metering was a significant aspect of his work. Recently, he has also been actively involved in E-Mobility-related projects.

Annika Brack is the Director for the Energy, Mobility and Sustainability (EMS) practice at the Centre on Regulation in Europe (CERRE). Previously, she served as representative for Uniper SE in Brussels and led the political affairs unit at 50Hertz Transmission in Berlin. Her experience also includes senior roles at an emerging technology think tank and the World Economic Forum. Annika is a UNAOC and WEF Global Leadership Fellow, with a background in international studies in Paris, Washington D.C., and Berlin.

Catherine Banet (PhD) is Professor of Law at the University of Oslo and Head of the Department for Energy and Resources Law, Norway.

Her legal research activities focus on energy market design, energy transport infrastructures regulation, support schemes and financing models, focusing on renewable energy and notably offshore wind, climate change mitigation measures such as carbon capture and storage (CCS), and hydrogen regulation.

Prof. Banet has a background from the private law practice (Norway, France), the European Commission (DG ENV), U.S. diplomatic mission and academia. She is a member of the Academic Advisory Group of the Section on Energy, Environment and Infrastructure Law of the IBA, and Chair of the Board of the Norwegian Energy Law Association.

Giancarlo Spagnolo is Professor of Economics at the University of Rome Tor Vergata and research fellow at EIEF, Rome; CEPR, London; MaCCI, Mannheim; and at SITE -Stockholm School of Economics.

He is an internationally recognised expert on Competition Policy, Public Procurement, and Anti-Corruption. He has published many widely quoted scientific articles in leading international academic journals and has co-edited Cambridge University Press’s Handbook of Procurement and CEPR’s eBook Procurement in Focus: Rules, Discretion, and Emergencies. He has founded and directed for four years the Research Unit at the Italian Central Procurement Agency (Consip), and has advised many national and international institutions, including the World Bank, the European Parliament, and the European Commission.

Dr. Kong Chyong is an applied energy economist and policy analyst with a strong background and more than fifteen years of experience in applications of economics and operational research methods to energy and climate policy questions. Kong’s research interests include economics and geopolitics of Russian natural gas exports, with a focus on Russo-Ukrainian bilateral relations and impacts on Europe and global gas markets. He also works on large-scale modelling of power markets, with a focus on low-carbon generation sources and integration of renewables.

Currently, Kong is a Senior Research Fellow in Energy System Economics and Modelling at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies. Before this, he was Senior Research Scholar with the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University. Prior to joining Columbia University, Kong was a research associate with the Energy Policy Research Group (EPRG) based at the Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge. Kong holds a PhD in Energy Economics and Policy (2011) and an MPhil in Technology Policy (2007) from the University of Cambridge. His PhD topic concerned Russia’s strategic natural gas export policy and Gazprom’s pipeline investment strategy.

Prior to his studies at Cambridge University, Kong was a researcher at the at the National Academy of Sciences in Ukraine.

Prof Dr Paul Timmers is a research associate at the University of Oxford, Oxford Internet Institute, professor at European University Cyprus, visiting professor at KU Leuven and the University of Rijeka, senior advisor EPC Brussels, President of the Supervisory Board Estonian eGovernance Academy and CEO of iivii.  Previously, he was Director at the European Commission/DG CONNECT where has held responsibility for legislation and funding programmes for cybersecurity, eID, digital privacy, digital health, smart cities, and e-government. At the European Commission, he was also a cabinet member of European Commissioner Liikanen. He worked as manager of a software department in a large ICT company and co-founded an ICT start-up. He holds a physics PhD from Radboud University (Nijmegen, NL), MBA from Warwick University (UK), EU fellowship at UNC Chapel Hill (US), and a cybersecurity qualification from Harvard. His main interests are digital policy, geopolitics, and Europe. He frequently publishes and speaks on the interplay of digital developments with sovereignty, cybersecurity, industrial policy, and sectoral policies such as digital health and is regularly advising governments and think tanks.