Illustrative: a wind farm on a ridge with rotors turning and helical wakes, or a solar tower and its heliostat field

Risk Academy, led by the Nexus Consortium · Course catalogue · Infrastructure, Energy and Industry

Energy and Resources

Energy systems and the energy transition

Energy systems and the energy transition, taught twice over: as the working methods of the field and as its frontier since 2024, with labs on the Academy's tools, open data and the Nexus Standards.

Core course Frontier course

The discipline

01Core course · L2 Intermediate

Energy systems and the energy transition: foundations and practice

This area covers the reliability, security and transition of the systems that produce, store and deliver power, heat and fuels: generation, grids and interconnection, storage, hydropower and nuclear interfaces, and the risks of a fast transition.

Level
L2 Intermediate
Study time
about 24 hours (planning estimate)
Status
In authoring
Prerequisites
An L1 course in the area, or an entry review

Why now

Lower storage buffers shift winter security risk onto LNG markets and weather, relevant to price and supply risk planning for energy users. European Commission, EU gas system prepared for the winter despite lower storage levels, 8 October 2026

Learning outcomes

  1. Define energy security and the other key terms of the discipline and use them correctly in a written case
  2. Explain energy security and power grids and interconnection with a worked example and its source
  3. Apply the discipline's method to a documented case and explain each result with its source
  4. Analyse a named case against grid disruption and restoration, stating evidence, date and limits

Modules

  1. Energy security
    • Energy security
    • Power grids and interconnection
    • Grid disruption and restoration
  2. Renewables and storage
    • Renewables and storage
    • Hydropower and water
    • Heat, cooling and demand
  3. Transition risk for energy companies
    • Transition risk for energy companies
    • Industrial energy systems
    • Energy access
  4. Lab: the discipline's method
    • Peak demand and installed capacity give a reserve margin; forced outages and demand error turn that margin into a probability of shortfall; the hours of shortfall expected in a year are the loss of load expectation, and the adequacy standard decides whether more capacity is procured.
    • Work the method through a documented case and explain each result
    • Read the method's sources and stated values

Labs with Academy tools

Nexus Standards

Teaches

  • NRS-N2 Energy risk and resilience
  • NRS-H84 Hazard family: Energy system instability and shortfall
  • NRS-M15 Method fabric: Energy risk

Relies on

  • NS-1 The UNI and the artefact catalogue
  • NS-16 UNI application profile (how articles, documents, code, data, APIs and interfaces carry the UNI)
  • NRS-C1 Risk vocabulary and ontology
  • NRS-C2 Risk assessment method
  • NRS-C3 Hazard, exposure, vulnerability and capacity data
  • NRS-C4 Risk data model, identifiers and exchange
  • NRS-C7 Early warning, triggers and anticipatory action
  • NRS-C8 Evidence, uncertainty and provenance

Assessment

  • 40%Lab recordWork the discipline's method through a documented case and explain each result with its source and date
  • 40%Case memoApply the discipline's methods to a named place or organisation, stating evidence and limits
  • 20%Key terms checkShort answers on the key terms, marked against the definitions

Delivery

  • Self-paced online, with the labs in the browser
  • Cohort study over six to eight weeks, with a weekly lab review
  • Co-delivered with a partner institution, inside its own courses

Partner on this course

  • Co-teach a module and bring a current case from your work
  • Host a cohort for your learners, with your own schedule and review
  • Contribute a lab: a dataset your institution publishes openly, or a model
  • Review the course content and its references before it opens
  • Translate the course and adapt its cases to your region

How institutions and experts take part

In the Academy LMS

Course on the learning platform
Intermediate, 4 topics
Cohort group
A community group for each cohort of learners
Achievement
Recorded on completion of the assessed work

Open now in this discipline

References

  1. European Commission, EU gas system prepared for the winter despite lower storage levels, 8 October 2026
  2. Billinton and Allan, Reliability Evaluation of Power Systems, 1996
  3. Joskow, Capacity payments in imperfect electricity markets: need and design, 2008
  4. Busby et al., Cascading risks: understanding the 2021 winter blackout in Texas, 2021
02Live map

Energy now in New Zealand

Night-time lights, fires and gas flares, sunshine and heat, the signals of energy use, supply and demand, over New Zealand.

The interactive map needs JavaScript; the layer list and sources are below.

Layers 2

Energy now

Latest available

NASA GIBS / EOSDIS · ASTER GDEM (METI, NASA) · Blue Marble (NASA) · © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) · Natural Earth

Loading the latest NASA imagery.

Drag to move. Ctrl or ⌘ and scroll, pinch or the buttons to zoom; hover for the values under the pointer; reset returns to the region.

Energy now, framed on New Zealand.Satellite and model products as NASA publishes them, each with its own date. They are indicators, not assessments of any place.

Data: NASA GIBS · ASTER GDEM · Blue Marble · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Natural Earth · NASA EONETSources and licences

  • We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • VIIRS Black Marble night-time lights, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center; distributed by the NASA Level-1 and Atmosphere Archive and Distribution System (LAADS DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • NASA Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS), VIIRS 375 m active fire product, NASA LANCE; vector tiles via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • MERRA-2 reanalysis, NASA Global Modeling and Assimilation Office; distributed by the NASA GES DISC; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • MODIS and VIIRS atmosphere products, NASA LANCE and LAADS DAAC; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • VIIRS near-real-time products (flood, land surface temperature, snow cover, corrected reflectance), NASA LANCE; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • ASTER GDEM is a product of METI and NASA (ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003, NASA LP DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). Cite as: NASA/METI/AIST/Japan Spacesystems and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team (2019). ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003. doi:10.5067/ASTER/ASTGTM.003. NASA open data
  • Made with Natural Earth. Free vector and raster map data @ naturalearthdata.com. Public domain
  • © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), via NASA GIBS (coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). ODbL
  • Blue Marble, NASA Earth Observatory; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • Context on the globe and flat map: coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names from NASA GIBS reference layers (OpenStreetMap data, ODbL, © OpenStreetMap contributors); Blue Marble imagery as an optional base; 3D terrain and the elevation read-out from the ASTER GDEM elevation colour index (5 m to 200 m classes, exaggerated for legibility). Boundaries are drawn as published and imply no position on any territory.
  • Globe: MapLibre GL JS 6.9.1, BSD-3-Clause, © MapLibre contributors.
  • Live events: NASA Earth Observatory Natural Event Tracker (EONET); events are indicative and keep their original source links.
  • NASA GIBS: We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS).
  • Past year, daily temperature (ERA5 via Open-Meteo): Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
  • Past year, daily temperature and sunshine (NASA POWER): These data were obtained from the NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) POWER Project funded through the NASA Earth Science/Applied Science Program..
  • Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (https://open-meteo.com/), licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
  • Optional layers (8 sources in the layer list: live, forecast, observed and context) print their provider credit on the map and here when switched on; forecasts are model output and derived indices are estimates.

Layers and dates

  • Night-time lights, daily: VIIRS Black Marble (VNP46A2), NASA LAADS DAAC · 12 Oct 2026
  • Active fires and thermal anomalies: VIIRS NOAA-20 375 m (FIRMS), NASA LANCE FIRMS · 13 Oct 2026
  • Incoming sunlight at the surface over land, monthly mean: MERRA-2, NASA GMAO / GES DISC · July 2026
  • Daytime cloud fraction: MODIS Terra, NASA LANCE · 13 Oct 2026
  • Land surface temperature, day: VIIRS NOAA-20, NASA LANCE · 13 Oct 2026
  • Flood water, 3-day composite: VIIRS Global Flood Product, NASA LANCE · 14 Oct 2026

03How learning runs

How learning runs, as a process you can run

Select a scenario and press Play: course, pathway, practice, faculty, cells and record.

04What is changing

Frontier course · L3 advanced, programme courses and standards

Energy systems and the energy transition: frontier methods

The methods, data, tools and studies that changed energy systems and the energy transition between 2024 and 2026, taught by reproducing them on open data.

Level
L3 Advanced
Study time
about 28 hours (planning estimate)
Status
Planned
Prerequisites
Energy systems and the energy transition: foundations and practice; Working knowledge of a scripting language (Python or R) for the labs

Why now

Lower storage buffers shift winter security risk onto LNG markets and weather, relevant to price and supply risk planning for energy users. European Commission, EU gas system prepared for the winter despite lower storage levels, 8 October 2026

Learning outcomes

  1. Explain what changed in energy systems and the energy transition since 2024 and cite the studies, data or rules behind each change
  2. Reproduce EU gas system judged ready for winter despite low storage on open data and state the uncertainty of the result
  3. Evaluate a 2024 to 2026 study: its question, data, method, limits and what it changes for practice
  4. Design an analysis that combines a frontier method with the faculty's instruments, and justify each choice

Modules

  1. EU gas system judged ready for winter despite low storage
    • The European Commission assessed the EU gas system as flexible enough to meet winter demand despite below-average storage, relying on LNG import capacity, and set out preparations for ending long-term contracts for LNG from the Russian Federation from 2027 under the REPowerEU Gas Regulation.
    • Lower storage buffers shift winter security risk onto LNG markets and weather, relevant to price and supply risk planning for energy users.
    • European Commission, 8 October 2026
  2. Ember: renewables overtook coal in global power generation in 2025
    • Ember's Global Electricity Review 2026 found clean sources met all electricity demand growth in 2025, solar alone meeting 75% of it, renewables reaching 33.8% of generation and overtaking coal, and fossil generation falling slightly.
    • A shifting generation mix changes grid stability, fuel price exposure and stranded asset risk for utilities and energy-intensive users.
    • Ember, 21 April 2026
  3. Expert panel explains the 2025 Iberian blackout
    • The ENTSO-E expert panel's final report found the 28 April 2025 blackout in Spain and Portugal resulted from interacting factors, including oscillations, gaps in voltage and reactive power control and cascading generator disconnections, and recommended operational, monitoring and regulatory changes.
    • It is the reference case for voltage control risk in high-renewable grids and shows local behaviour can trigger system-wide failure.
    • ENTSO-E, 20 March 2026
  4. Reproduction lab
    • Extend the discipline's method with one frontier method and compare its results
    • State the uncertainty and the limits of the result
    • Peer review against a shared checklist
  5. Technology that helps and the risks it carries
    • Grid automation, storage and forecasting.
    • Attacks on control systems, space weather, load growth from AI, hydrogen and storage safety, and advanced nuclear.

Labs with Academy tools

Nexus Standards

Teaches

  • NRS-N2 Energy risk and resilience
  • NRS-H84 Hazard family: Energy system instability and shortfall
  • NRS-M15 Method fabric: Energy risk

Relies on

  • NS-1 The UNI and the artefact catalogue
  • NS-16 UNI application profile (how articles, documents, code, data, APIs and interfaces carry the UNI)
  • NRS-C1 Risk vocabulary and ontology
  • NRS-C2 Risk assessment method
  • NRS-C3 Hazard, exposure, vulnerability and capacity data
  • NRS-C4 Risk data model, identifiers and exchange
  • NRS-C7 Early warning, triggers and anticipatory action
  • NRS-C8 Evidence, uncertainty and provenance

Assessment

  • 50%Method reproductionReproduce one frontier method on open data and state the uncertainty of the result
  • 30%Study reviewA critical review of a 2024 to 2026 study: question, data, method, limits, what it changes
  • 20%Peer reviewReview two other learners' reproductions against a shared checklist

Delivery

  • Self-paced online, with the labs in the browser
  • Cohort study over six to eight weeks, with a weekly lab review
  • Co-delivered with a partner institution, inside its own courses

Partner on this course

  • Co-teach a module and bring a current case from your work
  • Host a cohort for your learners, with your own schedule and review
  • Contribute a lab: a dataset your institution publishes openly, or a model
  • Review the course content and its references before it opens
  • Translate the course and adapt its cases to your region

How institutions and experts take part

In the Academy LMS

Course on the learning platform
Expert, 5 topics
Cohort group
A community group for each cohort of learners
Achievement
Recorded on completion of the assessed work

Open now in this discipline

References

  1. European Commission, EU gas system prepared for the winter despite lower storage levels, 8 October 2026
  2. Ember, Global Electricity Review 2026, 21 April 2026
  3. ENTSO-E, 28 April 2025 Iberian blackout, 20 March 2026
  4. Billinton and Allan, Reliability Evaluation of Power Systems, 1996
  5. Joskow, Capacity payments in imperfect electricity markets: need and design, 2008
  6. Busby et al., Cascading risks: understanding the 2021 winter blackout in Texas, 2021
05Take part

Take part in the work

Start from who you are.

06Questions

Questions, answers and key terms

Is the course free?
Yes. Every course and learning material of Risk Academy, led by the Nexus Consortium, is free to study, self-paced or with a cohort. Ordinary participation has no fee; paid work, internships and fellowships are separate arrangements.
What does completing a course give me?
A completion record: the course, its version, the date and what was assessed, private by default and shared by you. It stacks into discipline, department and programme achievements. A record states what was studied and assessed and does not certify competence; it is not a licence, a professional title or an employment status.
Where do the data and the places come from?
Every faculty teaches on a twin of a real place built from open data; each layer carries its provider, licence and date, and every result on the Academy states its source. Maps and figures are indicators for teaching, never an assessment of a place.
How do I take part beyond the course?
Form a competence cell of three to seven people, study a shared pathway, take a supervised assignment in the National Working Groups, or bring a cohort from your institution. For organisations.

Key terms

Term

Energy security

The uninterrupted availability of energy at an affordable price.

Term

Grid balancing

Keeping electricity supply and demand matched in real time to hold frequency stable.

Term

Black start

Restarting a power system from a total or partial shutdown without external supply.

Term

Resource adequacy

Whether a power system has enough capacity to meet demand at all times with a stated reliability.

ReportsContribute

Contribute evidence from this page.

Reports is the Consortium's quarterly publication. What you know about this subject can become evidence, a case or a correction in the next edition, credited to you and published under CC BY 4.0 where it is your own work.

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