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Assessing the resilience of electricity and telecommunication networks and adaptation options in the Netherlands

Identifying infrastructural vulnerabilities of the Dutch electricity and telecommunication networks to flooding and how disruptions have cascading effects 

  • Two

    flood types considered

  • Two

    types of critical infrastructure considered

  • 2023-2026

    Implementation timeline

Replicability

Scaling up climate resilience for essential electricity and telecommunications infrastructure using the model to identify hotspots and assess adaptation pathways

Best suited for

This model is best suited for regions where electricity and telecommunication networks are highly interconnected and exposed to flood risks, both pluvial and caused by precipitation. It is particularly relevant for low-lying and flood-prone areas where failures in one type of infrastructure network can cause cascaded impacts in others, disrupting essential services such as healthcare, emergency response and transport. The model is also applicable where operators need to understand dependencies between multiple critical infrastructure systems at different levels (assets, network, system) rather than assessing assets in isolation. 

Stakeholders' role

The model relies on close collaboration between electricity and telecommunications operators, researchers and specialist practitioners to identify network interdependencies, existing gaps in flood resilience, and possible adaptation options. Stakeholder consultations help co-develop adaptation measures at asset, network and system levels, ensuring that proposed interventions reflect operational requirements and can allow the infrastructure to maintain essential services during and after flooding. 

Built-in scalable tools

The model develops transferable methods for understanding interdependent electricity and telecommunications networks, including how failures propagate between critical infrastructure systems and affect dependent services. By combining interdependency modelling with the co-development of adaptation measures at the asset, network and system levels, the approach provides a framework that can be applied to other regions and infrastructure sectors facing similar flood risks and cascading failures. 

Funding pathways

The pilot case was developed through the Horizon Europe-funded MIRACA project, as part of the EU Mission on Adaptation to Climate Change.