DOE Awards 10 Projects to Enhance Energy Systems Security

The U.S. Department of Energy has selected 10 projects to receive an estimated $23 million to strengthen the energy systems’ defense against various threats.

The awardees will conduct studies to develop tools and technologies to mitigate cyber, physical and natural threats to the energy sector, the Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security and Emergency Response announced on Sept. 27.

The selected projects and their leads are:

• Brigham Young University’s quantum-based technology for enhanced distributed energy resource—or DER—communications within a zero-trust architecture
• New York University’s enhanced physical security monitoring systems at substations using fiber-optics sensing technology
• North Carolina A&T State University’s cyber-physical platform that simulates large-scale electric power grid with multiple DERs
• Operant Networks’ use of zero-trust architecture to integrate security and access control across energy systems
• SUNY Research Foundation’s fire spread prediction model and situational awareness system for critical energy assets and infrastructure
• Southern California Edison’s technologies that enable DER to operate while mitigating cyber threats  
• Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station’s two climate-based projects, including the use of engineering software tools to prepare the electric grid for extreme weather, and the use of machine learning programming to detect failing devices and prevent fire
• Texas A&M University’s integration of light, camera and siren systems into the GDI Gun Detection System to harden substation infrastructure
• University of North Dakota’s use of sensors, machine learning algorithms and data systems to detect and respond to physical and climate-based threats to substations

Puesh Kumar, director of CESER, noting that the DOE is making strategic investments to secure energy systems, said “This work is accomplished through robust partnerships with academia, industry and technology companies. We know it will take the best and brightest to fully realize a secure and resilient energy future for all Americans, and the funding we are announcing today is a significant step toward that goal.”