U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy Daniel Poneman recently detailed President Barack Obama’s $28.4 billion Fiscal Year 2014 budget request for the Energy Department. Poneman emphasized the President’s continued commitment to an all-of-the-above energy strategy that prioritizes investments in innovation, clean energy technologies, and national security. “The United States faces one of the greatest challenges ahead, Continue reading →
DistribuTECH 2013 in San Diego, California, had it all: Demand response, customer-based analytics, system wide architectures/platforms, advanced solutions for water utilities, distribution automation, optimization, cyber security and data privacy, “self-healing” grids – and the most innovative minds in the industry to bring them all together. via DTECH: Driving smart grid in a post-SGIG world – FierceSmartGrid.
In this interview with FierceSmartGrid Editor Barbara Vergetis Lundin, Sam Sciacca discusses how developments in grid modernization and wireless telecom networks have created new opportunities for both sectors. He also talks about how cyber security needs have affected power utilities. Sam Sciacca is a Senior Member of IEEE and current chair of two IEEE working Continue reading →
It’s no secret that the nation’s electric grid is vulnerable to potentially devastating cyber attacks. It’s also no longer a secret that the federal government is targeting utilities to test the security of their grids. Cyber security concerns reach much farther than your typical computer hacker. The government is most concerned with the surveillance by Continue reading →
Electric cooperative managers are being urged to approach cyber security challenges in the same ways they would prepare for other threats to system reliability—with training, prevention and awareness. via Co-ops Prepare for Cyber Security » Electric Co-op Today.
Sam Sciacca, an IEEE senior member and consultant, works on utility automation, smart grid, and cyber security standards and has co-authored an in-depth article on limitations to the implementation of IEC 61850, which attempts to achieve interoperability in substations and other areas of the grid. As standards are the means to economies of scale, market Continue reading →
Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) and Clasma Events are hosting the first GridSec Summit in San Francisco, CA, October 22-24, to address the critical issues around cyber security and risk management for the nation’s electrical infrastructure. This summit will bring together grid-security leaders for in-depth dialogue on the threats, opportunities, drivers and challenges of Smart Continue reading →
With grid modernization underway, cyber security is recognized as an increasingly important factor in ensuring resiliency, reliability and safety. Indeed, it has become a top national security issue. Many cyber security events have already taken place, including Stuxnet, Aurora, RuggedCom, smart meter hacks and others. From a regulatory perspective, grid cyber security has been addressed Continue reading →
In less than two weeks, hundreds of energy-industry thought leaders will gather in Washington, D.C., at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center at the sixth annual GridWeek to discuss, debate, and strategize how to achieve Smart Grid value from complexity, Oct. 2-4, 2012. Major drivers, including the falling price of natural gas, the lack of Continue reading →
UTC’s second annual smart grid workshop will be held Wednesday, Oct. 3. Among the topics to be covered are cyber security, power systems and recent smart grid innovations. via UTC hosting smart grid workshop | Nooga.com.
Utilities deploying smart grid and AMI technologies continue to face serious cyber security challenges. Securing SCADA systems, critical infrastructure, distributed intelligent devices, and the end-to-end smart grid IT network is a top priority for energy companies and regulators alike, as the nature and extent of cyber threats to the grid continue to escalate. To help Continue reading →
Clasma Events today announced that GridWeek 2012 will tackle the Smart Grid value challenge in the sixth annual conference, October 2-4, 2012 in Washington, D.C., gathering industry stakeholders to discuss how to achieve Smart Grid value in an increasingly complex environment. The utility industry is facing complexity on two major levels. This includes the external Continue reading →
Cyber security is of course a major issue for utilities. The risks, the potential vulnerabilities, the investments. And probably that nagging question: Is our security as good as we think it is? A new tool from the Energy Department, the Cyber Security Self-Evaluation Survey Tool, has been released to help utilities answer that question. Part Continue reading →
Burns & McDonnell won approval from Naval Facilities Engineering Command Hawaii to begin construction of the Smart Power Infrastructure Demonstration for Energy Reliability and Security (SPIDERS) Phase I project at Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam (JBPHH). Burns & McDonnell was awarded the SPIDERS Phase I design-build project on December 2, 2011. Since the contract award, Continue reading →
nCircle has announced the results of a survey of 104 security professionals in the energy and utility industry. nCircle and EnergySec, a DOE-funded, public-private partnership that works to enhance the cyber security of the electric infrastructure, jointly sponsored the survey. The online survey was conducted between March 12 and March 31, 2012. via 90% of Continue reading →
Keep electricity flowing to customers, businesses, and industry. For decades, the power system industry has been developing extensive and sophisticated systems and equipment to avoid or shorten power system outages. In fact, power system operations have been termed the largest and most complex machine in the world. Although there are definitely new areas of cyber Continue reading →
Talk of smart grid cyber security has quieted in recent months, with few, if any, high-profile meter hacks picked up by the media and less daily new-product releases that aim to prevent such attacks. However, according to new findings from Pike Research, the complacency created by the lack of news coupled with the growing amount Continue reading →
Governance, risk management, and compliance (GRC) are considered the foundation upon which all cyber security is deployed. But GRC for smart grids has only recently developed as an independent market. According to a new report published by Pike Research, “the vendors that have focused most tightly on control systems innovation, and somewhat distanced themselves from Continue reading →
In many respects, the topic of smart grid cyber security has gone quiet in recent months. Gone are the high profile meter hacks and daily new product releases that characterized the field in the last two years. Even the Stuxnet worm, which first emerged in June of 2010, seems to have fallen off the radar Continue reading →
NXP Semiconductors is partnering with S&C Electric Company to develop and incorporate advanced integrated circuits designed to provide enhanced security for products used in smart grid applications. The hardware will advance cyber security by integrating secure verification, reducing the risk of unauthorized access to smart grid equipment. via NXP and S&C Electric Collaborate on Smart Continue reading →
