ABSTRACT
Electricity supply, transmission and conservation systems present particularly complex planning challenges and risks. They require large long-term capital investments, and carry risks that technological and institutional choices, and their accompanying environmental, economic, social and technological consequences, may be embedded over very long time periods (Lovins, 1980; Jaccard, 2005; Mitchell, 2011; Lehmann et al., 2012). In addition to these risks of high path dependence and negative resilience, electricity planning needs to respect an environment of rapid technological development, increasing uncertainty about future energy needs, and the relationship between electricity and other energy sources, such as fossil fuels.
