Kategori : ELECTRICITY ENERGY NEWS, ENERGY AGENDA NEWS - Tarih : 01 September 2020

If the electrical grid is knocked out for long periods, the damage to the American economy would be insurmountable. And the country’s enemies know that. That is why its brain trust is dedicated to insulating the transmission network from both physical and cyber-attacks.

The National Commission for Grid Resilience just laid out its blueprint to prepare the country for 21st Century combat — including the kind from afar and from behind a keyboard. Power companies are on guard and they are developing robust systems that can continue to generate and deliver power if attacked. Most, if not, all are participating in exercises that simulate mock assaults. The aim is to be proactive — to anticipate what moves the enemy might make. But it is a never ending battle with each side is always trying to one-up the other.

“The idea that the Russians would use cyber attacks on the grid did not exist” in the 20th Century, says Darrel Issa, a former congressman and now a co-chair on this grid commission. “We later found that Osama bin Laden wanted to take down grids.” Issa, who spoke last week an event hosted by the Center for Strategic & International Studies, said that the focus has been on hurricanes and earthquakes. But in recent times, the experts have learned that more insidious events such as cyber attacks and invisible viruses can wreak havoc.

The commission, dedicated to securing the grid, is comprised of General Wesley Clark, Norm Augustine, Dan Poneman, Kevin Knobloch, Adam Cohen and Rep. Issa. Among their recommendations are to ensure that the threats are widely understood by the utilities that must allocate scarce resources to these causes — ones that have a low probability of occurring but also ones that have a high consequence if they do occur.

To that end, innovations need to be rapidly advanced and they need to be paid for by using public-private resources. The need is simply too great to depend on private investors who think short term and who are concerned about quarterly returns. Utilities should be able to recoup their outlays associated with resilience, the commission says, just as they do for all other capital expenses. The grid is a national asset. But with 500 separate grid owners, it is too hard to coordinate. As such, Congress needs to get involved and there must be a central repository upon which utilities, grid operators and safety experts can share information.

Source: Forbes