5/2/2023 0 Comments Ncdpi gridded response![]() Logan Stewart Kureczka, lead communications manager at Duke Energy, did not specify what parts of the substations were affected, but said that “several pieces of equipment” were hit. It doesn’t take a lot to have a significant impact on the population,” he said. “In rural areas, there’s not a ton of redundancy. ![]() ![]() In the recent incident, the attackers appeared to hit components of substations that are difficult to replace, causing more widespread outages in a rural area with few supplemental grid assets, Monken said. By contrast, the weekend attack in North Carolina initially knocked out power for 45,000 utility customers. The incident spurred FERC to direct NERC to adopt the existing infrastructure protection regulation for certain critical substations.ĭuring the California attack in 2013, PG&E was able to divert power away from the substation to minimize outages. In 2013, for example, one or more gunmen fired at Pacific Gas and Electric Co.’s Metcalf substation in California. The shooting in North Carolina was one of a handful of deliberate attacks over the past decade on power system infrastructure. “This seemed to be too easy,” Cooper said of the attack. Such an assessment would likely include discussions with federal regulators, lawmakers and utility companies about how to bolster security and prevent future attacks, he said. Roy Cooper (D), meanwhile, called for a thorough assessment of the state’s critical infrastructure. On Tuesday, President Joe Biden said he didn’t know who was behind the substation attacks when asked by reporters. “The conversation that’s going to have to happen is what’s acceptable in balancing out security versus cost, and what the relative benefits of making those investments really are,” said Jonathon Monken, principal at Converge Strategies LLC, an energy security consulting firm. While implementing additional protections at all substations could address potential gaps, it would also come at a cost to utilities and their customers. Those requirements don’t apply to a wide range of substations, however, according to grid experts and former FERC commissioners. Substations are a key component of the grid, since they help convert power into a form that can be used in homes and businesses.Ĭurrently, NERC’s infrastructure protection regulation, CIP-014, is designed to protect transmission stations and substations that, if inoperable, could lead to “widespread instability, uncontrolled separation, or cascading within an Interconnection.” For those facilities, utilities must establish a physical security plan, which is subject to review by a third party. Still, engineers and former regulators are divided as to whether there are cost-effective and practical solutions to better safeguard electricity infrastructure, including the more than 55,000 electric substations around the country. “The more we depend on electricity for transportation, heat pumps, air conditionings, internet access and so forth, the more important it becomes to protect the integrity of power systems,” said Cowart, who is now a principal at the Regulatory Assistance Project, a nonpartisan group that supports clean energy. Meanwhile, the grid is also increasingly vulnerable to more frequent, severe weather events, Cowart said. The North Carolina attack and ensuing power outages come at a time when electricity demand is projected to increase as states and the Biden administration seek to reduce fossil fuel consumption.Ĭarbon-free technologies such as heat pumps and electric vehicles - seen as key for addressing climate change - depend on reliable access to electric power, meaning that attacks on the grid could become more consequential to everyday life, said Richard Cowart, former chair of the Vermont Public Utilities Commission. You really don’t need a lot of sophisticated equipment to protect this substation infrastructure,” said Jon Wellinghoff, former chair of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the CEO and founder of GridPolicy Inc. “Why aren’t they protecting their infrastructure? It could’ve been prevented with some cheap sandbags. That regulatory gap is increasing calls for the utility industry and regulators to consider new measures to protect assets that can still affect tens of thousands of people if knocked out. (NERC) that is aimed at protecting infrastructure and applies to the most critical energy facilities and substations. Grid security experts say that the affected substations are outside the scope of a national rule from the North American Electric Reliability Corp. As of Tuesday, police had not named suspects or released information on a possible motive or the type of firearm used in the attack.
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