28 INSIGHTS 2018
The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
(Berkeley Lab) is working on a project to develop
tools to detect and counter certain types of
cyber attacks on the grid.T
he project is part of the US Department of Energy’s
(DOE’s) commitment to building cyber-resilient energy
delivery systems. It has been awarded up to $2.5 million
in funding over three years by DOE.
The project focuses on solar inverters, devices that turn the
direct current from rooftop solar panels into alternating current that
is fed back onto the grid. So-called ‘smart inverters’ can enhance
overall system reliability and reduce operational costs.
Daniel Arnold, a Berkeley Lab researcher and engineer who is
one of the leads of the project, said, “As we modernise the grid,
our belief is that we, as a society, can enjoy all of the benefits
of large amounts of distributed PV, such as reduced greenhouse
gas emissions and a more resilient system, and still have a secure
network that is potentially more robust to cyber intrusions than it
was before the introduction of large amounts of distributed PV.”
In this project, Berkeley Lab will develop algorithms to essen-
tially use the system in the same way the hackers might do but
sending opposite signals to nullify the attack, similar to what a
noise-cancelling headphone does. “If an attacker tries to manipu-
late the settings in a number of PV inverters, we’ll observe these
manipulations, then identify the settings in PV inverters that have
not been hacked, and finally, dispatch the appropriate settings to
the inverters deemed safe in order to counter that attack,” said
Arnold, a researcher in Berkeley Lab’s Grid Integration Group.
The concept is based on watching for irregularities in the physi-
cal behaviour of the grid. “There are laws that govern the way
the power grid operates from a physical perspective,” said Sean
Peisert, a cybersecurity expert in Berkeley Lab’s Computational
Research Division and the principal investigator on the project.
“So we leverage those insights to understand the ways in which
hackers might attempt to do something to the grid.”
Ultimately, the algorithms will be able to monitor the grid
to provide advanced warning to a utility operator of a possible
emerging attack.
Berkeley Lab is teaming with a number of partners on this
project, including OSISoft, SunSpec Alliance, SolarEdge, HDPV
Alliance, Power Standards Lab, Arizona State University, Siemens,
the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association and the Sac-
ramento Municipal Utility District.
SunSpec Alliance is a global industry alliance working on informa-
tion and communication standards for distributed energy resources
such as solar PV and battery-based systems. “As the distributed
energy grid takes shape, cybersecurity risks are increasing,” said
Tom Tansy, chairman of SunSpec. “The work that will take place in
this program leverages best practices and standards, developed by
SunSpec and others, and takes them to the next level by providing
sophisticated technology to maintain and enhance grid security.”
“Berkeley Lab has pioneered the development of algorithms
that can optimally manage distributed energy resources, like wind,
solar and batteries, and are completely plug and play,” said Arnold,
who is leading the Berkeley Lab part of the Grid Resilience and
Intelligence Project, or GRIP.BUILDING CYBER-RESILIENT
ENERGY
DELIVERY
SYSTEMS
Grid security
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