In this policy analysis exercise (PAE), we analyze the North American electric power infrastructure and offer recommendations for reducing vulnerabilities. We examine the electric power industry, the threats to it, its vulnerabilities, and its relationships with other organizations. Our major sources of information consist of interviews, attendance at an infrastructure protection conference, and extensive academic research. Our recommendations focus on reducing three specific vulnerabilities: physical terrorism, cyber attacks and confluence of events. Finally, we assess the benefits of our recommendations and the obstacles to implementation.
The economic prosperity and the well-being of our nation's communities depend on the reliable functioning of critical infrastructures: transportation, banking and finance, information and communications, water supply systems, emergency services, and especially energy (electric power, oil, and natural gas). In the new economy, these infrastructures are increasingly reliant on information technologies and are strongly affected by restructuring and other market forces. They are much more heavily interconnected than ever before, and disruptions in one system can have significant adverse consequences, both locally and regionally. Communities often are not well prepared to deal with widespread infrastructure failures, which could become commonplace in the new millennium. This report, prepared on behalf of the partnership, is a first-of-a-kind effort to compile this type of information on the electric power system in a form that municipal governments can use and adapt to local conditions. ComEd and Harza Engineering Company have provided valuable support for this effort. Argonne National Laboratory's Infrastructure Assurance Center compiled and integrated the planning information.
Electric power is a critical infrastructure that is vital to the U.S. economy and national security. Today, the nation's electric power infrastructure is threatened by malicious attacks, accidents, and failures, as well as disruptive natural events. As the electric grid evolves and becomes increasingly interdependent with other critical infrastructures, the nation is challenged to defend against these threats and to advance grid capabilities with reliable defenses. On November 1, 2019, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine convened a workshop to gather diverse perspectives on current and future threats to the electric power system, activities that the subsector is pursuing to defend itself, and how this work may evolve over the coming decades. This publications summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop.
Americans' safety, productivity, comfort, and convenience depend on the reliable supply of electric power. The electric power system is a complex "cyber-physical" system composed of a network of millions of components spread out across the continent. These components are owned, operated, and regulated by thousands of different entities. Power system operators work hard to assure safe and reliable service, but large outages occasionally happen. Given the nature of the system, there is simply no way that outages can be completely avoided, no matter how much time and money is devoted to such an effort. The system's reliability and resilience can be improved but never made perfect. Thus, system owners, operators, and regulators must prioritize their investments based on potential benefits. Enhancing the Resilience of the Nation's Electricity System focuses on identifying, developing, and implementing strategies to increase the power system's resilience in the face of events that can cause large-area, long-duration outages: blackouts that extend over multiple service areas and last several days or longer. Resilience is not just about lessening the likelihood that these outages will occur. It is also about limiting the scope and impact of outages when they do occur, restoring power rapidly afterwards, and learning from these experiences to better deal with events in the future.
Version 5 Critical Infrastructure Protection Reliability Standards (US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Regulation) (FERC) (2018 Edition) The Law Library presents the complete text of the Version 5 Critical Infrastructure Protection Reliability Standards (US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Regulation) (FERC) (2018 Edition). Updated as of May 29, 2018 Pursuant to section 215 of the Federal Power Act, the Commission approves the Version 5 Critical Infrastructure Protection Reliability Standards, CIP-002-5 through CIP-011-1, submitted by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), the Commission-certified Electric Reliability Organization. The CIP version 5 Standards address the cyber security of the bulk electric system and are an improvement over the current Commission-approved CIP Reliability Standards. The CIP version 5 Standards adopt new cyber security controls and extend the scope of the systems that are protected by the CIP Reliability Standards. The Commission also approves nineteen new or revised definitions associated with the CIP version 5 Standards for inclusion in the Glossary of Terms Used in NERC Reliability Standards. In addition, the Commission directs NERC to develop modifications to the CIP version 5 Standards and submit informational filings. This book contains: - The complete text of the Version 5 Critical Infrastructure Protection Reliability Standards (US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Regulation) (FERC) (2018 Edition) - A table of contents with the page number of each section
The economic prosperity and the well-being of our nation's communities depend on the reliable functioning of critical infrastructures: transportation, banking and finance, information and communications, water supply systems, emergency services, and especially energy (electric power, oil, and natural gas). In the new economy, these infrastructures are increasingly reliant on information technologies and are strongly affected by restructuring and other market forces. They are much more heavily interconnected than ever before, and disruptions in one system can have significant adverse consequences, both locally and regionally. Communities often are not well prepared to deal with widespread infrastructure failures, which could become commonplace in the new millennium. This report, prepared on behalf of the partnership, is a first-of-a-kind effort to compile this type of information on the electric power system in a form that municipal governments can use and adapt to local conditions. ComEd and Harza Engineering Company have provided valuable support for this effort. Argonne National Laboratory's Infrastructure Assurance Center compiled and integrated the planning information.
"In summary, all of us need to recognize that the cyber revolution brings us into a new age as surely as the industrial revolution did two centuries ago. Now, as then, our continued security requires a reordering of national priorities and new understanding about our respective roles in support of the national goals. The relationships that have stood us in such good stead through the end of the second millennium must give way to new ones better suited to the third."--Page xi.
Revised Critical Infrastructure Protection Reliability Standards (US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Regulation) (FERC) (2018 Edition) The Law Library presents the complete text of the Revised Critical Infrastructure Protection Reliability Standards (US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Regulation) (FERC) (2018 Edition). Updated as of May 29, 2018 The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) directs the North American Electric Reliability Corporation to develop a new or modified Reliability Standard that addresses supply chain risk management for industrial control system hardware, software, and computing and networking services associated with bulk electric system operations. The new or modified Reliability Standard is intended to mitigate the risk of a cybersecurity incident affecting the reliable operation of the Bulk-Power System. This book contains: - The complete text of the Revised Critical Infrastructure Protection Reliability Standards (US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Regulation) (FERC) (2018 Edition) - A table of contents with the page number of each section
