On the second day of the 16th CIGRE-CIRED conference of Slovenian power engineers, the central discussion was devoted to the currently very topical topics of power system resilience and hydrogen as a key savior of the power transition.

In the first panel discussion, Dr Uroš Kerin, Assistant Director of Asset and Project Management at Eles, introduced the different facets of resilience and presented some examples where resilience has been tested both in the world and in our country. The key question in resilience is whether we are resilient to such events and what else we can change in the future. In Slovenia, we were most tested during the 2014 harvest, and another major event that could have an impact on resilience was last year’s massive fire in the Karst. Of course, the war in Ukraine, and the deliberate damage to critical infrastructure that this entails, is also an important example, both globally and domestically.

Cyber security, or cyber-attacks, are also an important topic concerning system resilience, and Slovenia is not immune to them. Intentional physical attacks have increased by 77% from 2021 to last year.

When we talk about the green transition, in addition to the EUR 167 billion that Europe is giving us, in order to ensure resilience, it is also necessary to have a production or supply chain that can provide quality materials and components or equipment when we need them. We also need adequate human resources. We would need three to four times more people in the EU to meet the green transition targets, but this is not just about people in production and in the field.