Visualising the E-Armageddon scenario : a comparative assessment of the social consequences of major power outages

Prezelj, Iztok (avtor), Kocjančič, Klemen (avtor)

As global dependence on electricity increases, alongside rising threats from natural disasters and hostile actors such as military, intelligence, criminal, and terrorist entities, the risk of large-scale, prolonged power outages is intensifying. This paper addresses a gap in the literature by (1) reviewing the main concepts of major power outages, (2) identifying numerous cases, and (3) extracting their typical societal and cross-sectoral consequences. Findings on similarities and differences from 28 analysed cases confirm that major and prolonged electric power outages are likely to cause serious, both predictable and unpredictable, societal and cross-sectoral consequences, such as human casualties, significant financial losses, and disruption, delay, or cessation of activities in the following sectors: information and telecommunications, transport, water, food, finance, health, security, public administration, industrial production, leisure activities, and many other areas (households, public lighting, electric locks, elevators, crematoria). The Achilles' heel in such scenarios is the availability and quality of electric power generators and related fuel supplies during periods of drastic demand by many critical societal actors.

• Jezik: Angleški jezik
• Ključne besede: electric power, blackout, critical infrastructure, risk, security, threat, damage, energy
• Vrsta gradiva: Članek v reviji
• Tipologija: 1.01 - Izvirni znanstveni članek
• Organizacija: FDV - Fakulteta za družbene vede
• Status publikacije: Objavljeno
• Različica publikacije: Objavljena publikacija
• Datum objave: 11.07.2026
• Leto izida: 2026
• Št. strani: Str. 1-11
• Številčenje: Vol. 54, art. no. 100871
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-184704
• UDK: 351.78:620.9
• ISSN pri članku: 1874-5482
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijcip.2026.100871
• COBISS.SI-ID: 284638467
• Datum objave v RUL: 14.07.2026

Gradivo je del revije

• Naslov: International journal of critical infrastructure protection
• Založnik: Elsevier
• ISSN: 1874-5482
• COBISS.SI-ID: 519685657

Licence

• Licenca: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0, Creative Commons Priznanje avtorstva-Nekomercialno-Brez predelav 4.0 Mednarodna
• Povezava: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.sl
• Opis: Najbolj omejujoča licenca Creative Commons. Uporabniki lahko prenesejo in delijo delo v nekomercialne namene in ga ne smejo uporabiti za nobene druge namene.

Sekundarni jezik

• Jezik: Slovenski jezik
• Ključne besede: Javna infrastruktura, Energetika

Projekti

• Financer: ARIS - Javna agencija za znanstvenoraziskovalno in inovacijsko dejavnost Republike Slovenije
• Številka projekta: P5-0206-2018
• Naslov: Obramboslovje

• Financer: TEB - TEB
• Akronim: TEB/INV/37/2019