Smart Grid Initiatives Address Cyber Security, Renewable Energy Intermittency
By Marsha W. Johnston, Contributor | January 25, 2012
Source: RenewableEnergyWorld.com
Source: RenewableEnergyWorld.com
Industry executives say increasing utility-owned renewables on the grid will not compromise grid security but worry that those owned by outside sources could pose a risk.
Securitizing renewable energy networks from cyber-attacks is not complicated by their oft-cited operational headache of intermittency, but rather by their separation from a utility's control system, said smart grid executives at the Gridwise Global Forum in Washington, DC in early November. Though renewable intermittency adds to the challenge of stabilizing a grid, the forum revealed new evidence of real-world smart grid load shifting that continues to chip away at the tired argument that renewable energy cannot successfully integrate into a legacy grid.
“If renewables are owned by the utility, you’re probably ok, in terms of them being under the utility [security] umbrella. If they are not part of the utility, then you could have a problem, you just don’t know,” said Ken Geisler, director of business strategy for Siemens Smart Grid Division. “What extends the threat surface with renewables is that the utility doesn’t own it,” added Jeff Meyers, a smart grid strategy and development expert for Telvent Energy.
With exceptions in Europe and isolated areas of the U.S., such as West Texas, the Pacific Northwest and parts of California, green energy grids don’t yet provide enough of a utility’s baseload power to be a prime target for an attack. [Full Story]
“If renewables are owned by the utility, you’re probably ok, in terms of them being under the utility [security] umbrella. If they are not part of the utility, then you could have a problem, you just don’t know,” said Ken Geisler, director of business strategy for Siemens Smart Grid Division. “What extends the threat surface with renewables is that the utility doesn’t own it,” added Jeff Meyers, a smart grid strategy and development expert for Telvent Energy.
With exceptions in Europe and isolated areas of the U.S., such as West Texas, the Pacific Northwest and parts of California, green energy grids don’t yet provide enough of a utility’s baseload power to be a prime target for an attack. [Full Story]
