Performance Evaluation of European Power Systems

Electric power systems are facing significant challenges regarding their organization and structure. Energy infrastructures are crucial to ensure a transition to low-carbon societies, contributing to sustainable development. This paper uses Data Envelopment Analysis to compare the performance of the power systems in 16 European countries using data available to the public. Three perspectives were considered, focusing on technical aspects affecting quality of service, network costs and environmental impact. It is proposed a new formulation of the DEA model that estimates a composite indicator (CI) aggregating individual indicators which should be minimized. The benchmarking results can give insights to electric operators, regulators and decision-makers on the strengths and weakness of national power systems and disclose the potential for performance improvements. Based on the outcomes from the CI model, Austria, Croatia, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy and Netherlands are identified as the benchmarks for the power systems in the Europe. The discussion of the results is intended to raise public awareness on the performance of the European power systems and contribute to the definition of public policies for the promotion of continuous improvement.