Recent physical attacks on substations have heightened the industry’s awareness of the necessity for physical security of critical facilities on the bulk power system. The goal of the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) reliability standards is to identify and protect the physical security and cybersecurity of critical electricity infrastructure of North America.
With the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) providing conditional approval of the North American Electric Reliability Corporation’s...
U.S. government announces new voluntary guidelines to address public concerns BY PHILL FELTHAM, Editor-in-Chief Electricity Today Magazine Smart Grid equals innovation to many utilities and their customers, but not everyone shares that sentiment. In fact, many customers and media outlets perceive...
Managing change with positive thinking to make the most of investments BY JOHN MCDONALD, IEEE Senior Member, GE Energy Management - Digital Energy The process of writing requirements for Smart Grid-related technology purchases may appear simple and straightforward. It is not. As the technology...
How utilities can utilize multi-layered security approaches BY RICHARD CLARK, InduSoft Defense-in-depth is a security strategy first developed by military leaders in which multiple layers of safeguards are placed throughout a system. The concept behind the strategy is that it is more difficult to...
Increasingly violent weather, probably caused by global warming, is increasingly taking down electricity distribution lines and poles and cyberattacks are increasingly taking out electricity, apparently just as trials for major terrorism of this sort. Little wonder that the price of grid...
Utilities are rethinking cybersecurity. The zero-trust model replaces perimeter defense with continuous verification—of every device, vendor, and data path—across the substation and supply chain. The End of Perimeter Thinking For decades, substation cybersecurity meant building walls:...
A coalition of large energy consumers and ratepayer advocates has filed a complaint with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), urging the agency to prohibit transmission owners from independently planning "local" transmission projects exceeding 100 kilovolts (kV). The coalition argues...
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is seeking public input on proposed "ride-through" reliability standards for inverter-based resources (IBRs), including wind, solar, and battery systems. These standards aim to ensure that IBRs can maintain operation during grid disturbances, such as...
The rapid shift toward renewable energy resources (RERs) has placed significant demands on traditional power systems. To address these challenges, modern energy infrastructure is evolving into smart grids, leveraging advanced technologies like Virtual Power Plants (VPPs) to enhance grid...
A small town in North Carolina has filed a lawsuit against Duke Energy, one of the largest utility companies in the United States, alleging that the company has been deceptive in its efforts to downplay the environmental impact of its operations. The lawsuit, filed by the town of Smithfield, claims...
In a significant move that underscores the growing demand for reliable and sustainable energy to power the expanding digital infrastructure, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has approved an interconnection agreement between Talen Energy, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and Exelon. This...
