The concept of risk and possibilities of application of mathematical methods in supporting decision making for sustainable energy development

This study is devoted to presentation of the concept of risk, and the possibility of applying mathematical methods in supporting decision making in the energy sector to promote sustainable energy development. The problem with risk assessment in the energy sector arises mainly due to the difficulty of expressing risk in numerical terms. To avoid risk, it is necessary to set the criteria and objectives of measurement before making decisions in the energy sector. The aim of this study is to try to fill in this gap by means of comparing decisions under risk conditions within models supporting energy decisions. The authors’ focus is on the problem of risk in supporting decision making towards sustainable energy sector development, which is the main target of the European Union (EU) energy policies. Without the ability to determine the probability of occurrence of certain phenomena and their inclusion into the model, it is not possible to determine how well the solutions resulting from the models are accurate, and what is the probability of their implementation under specific conditions linked to renewable energy development.