Smart-grid questionsThe brief
Smart grid technologies may themselves introduce new problems, such as increasing the vulnerability to cyber attack, as power grid resources become increasingly linked to the Internet
On Tuesday President Barack Obama announced that he would use $3.4 billion of the stimulus package funds to encourage states, localities, and utilities to adopt smart grid technologies. These funds will be matched by $4.7 billion from the private sector, for a total of $8.1 billion.
The two major questions still be convincingly answered about the smart grid have to do with security and money.
The term Smart Grid refers to the integration of the existing physical infrastructure of the power grid with an advanced communication and control cyber infrastructure, with the ultimate goal of making energy transmission and distribution more efficient — and thus cheaper for consumers and less wasteful of resources.
Trouble is, smart grid technologies may themselves introduce new problems, such as increasing the vulnerability to cyber attack, as power grid resources become increasingly linked to the Internet. For example, experts recently warned that some types of “smart” automated meters could be hacked by attackers with minimal equipment and knowledge, and that an attacker who succeeded in gaining access to the meters might be able to cause blackouts. These blackouts could have serious economic and human consequences if they are widespread or affect critical systems, such as airports or city traffic light systems.
“Ultimately, the extent to which the Smart Grid vision is achieved is going to depend on how functional and robust the cyber infrastructure is,” says Ilesanmi Adesida, dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Illinois. “Smart Grid technologies should be able to offer us increased protection against accidents and against adversaries who might want to deliberately harm the power grid, who might include well-funded, highly motivated criminal organizations or even nation-states, not just casual hackers. The concern is that the existing technologies can’t offer those guarantees, and that we could even open the door to new risks if we carelessly put together new systems that don’t have resilience and security guarantees built in from the ground up. That’s where the TCIPG work is going to make a big difference.”
There is a consensus among industry experts and regulatory bodies that resilience and cyber security are critical areas of concern for the future power grid. “The interconnectedness of the emerging Smart Grid presents cyber security challenges,” says Dave Whitehead, vice president of research & development for Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Inc. of Pullman, Washington, a company that works on power system technologies. Dr. Arshad Mansour, a vice president at the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), agreed that “cyber security is a key component in the development of a smarter grid.”
Money is also an issue. First, it is not yet clear whether all the stakeholder involved agree that there is a compelling business case for the smart grid. Then, there is the question of size of the investment required. The Obama package envisions a $8.1 billion in public-private investment, but a recent study by Al Gore and his team suggested that building a unified national smart grid for the United States would cost around $400 billion.
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