The structure and dynamics of the interactions among the energy infrastructure systems shape the quality of life, the emergent economic productivity, environmental impact and security. This project aimed to investigate the possibility of advising energy decision makers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with a new Integrated Energy Decision Support System (IEDSS).

IEDSS leveraged the emerging technologies of Web 2.0 and cloud computing to reach a wide number of decision makers located in a distributed environment, and gave them the means to work collaboratively on a shared decision. It also allowed them to graphically visualize geospatial data of the power system in Saudi Arabia, and offered them a friendly and scalable architecture to simulate, model, mine, query, and aggregate mathematical models such as supply, demand and stakeholder analysis.

IEDSS simulated the current state of the power sector in the Kingdom and enabled decision makers to run through “what if” scenarios with realistic feedback and impacts. Although the users constructed hypothetical scenarios, all of the data, models, and resources were real. Its goal was to provide information to decision makers on the flows of power generation and consumption status across spatial and temporal dimensions.

The decision maker was able to view data at the country or region level, drill down to individual cities, and compare data across multiple time frames. IEDSS was also be used for forecasting electricity demand for each sector (i.e. residential, industrial, commercial and governmental) as well as demand growth for each region and selected cities .

IEDSS was designed with the needs of the stakeholders in mind by involving the stakeholders in each step throughout the project design and collecting their needs and requirements. To this end, we adopted an innovative network approach that allowed for the identification and prioritization of the most important stakeholders as well as the most important value exchanges between them. This is important since the energy infrastructure in KSA is not owned by a single entity but by a network of organizations.

In IEDSS, we envision a future where the entire network of the power system is interconnected in a way that gives decision makers a holistic and accurate view. Collecting and integrating data from multiple sources and stakeholders, gives us a better view of the current situation of the power network in Saudi Arabia at multiple levels of granularity. IEDSS started at a high level view of different regions and cities of the kingdom in anticipation that future versions will provide a high fidelity view where analysis can be conducted at particular area or neighborhood levels.

Additionally, the Saudi Arabia power network might be upgraded from a traditional electrical grid to a smart grid and subsequently add more capabilities in monitoring, analysis, control, and communication to improve the efficiency, reliability, economics, and sustainability of the power system. Smart grids have the potential to generate massive amounts of real-time data that IEDSS can integrate to give decision makers a real-time view and updated analysis of the current energy situation. By providing an environment where decision makers can analyze data, detect patterns, events, and get real-time feedback on decision scenarios, IEDSS has the potential to be a valuable advisor in decision-making and optimization.

Similarly, to build sustainable smart secure cities, regions, and countries, the infrastructure systems have to be regarded as a connected whole. The structure and dynamics of the interactions among the infrastructure systems, shapes the quality of life, the emergent economic productivity, environmental impact and security.

The eventual goal is to develop predictive capability of both short-term and long-term infrastructure element behaviors. We can combine infrastructure systems with integrated network modeling, and predict energy, water, waste, and security patterns in an integrated fashion. This will enable tools that support government decision-making with respect to critical infrastructure (e.g. traffic, energy consumption, water use, waste generation, public health, etc).

This project could help create better understanding of the structure and dynamics of infrastructure systems and investigates the possibility of advising energy decision makers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with a new Integrated Energy Decision Support System (IEDSS).