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Cybersecurity, Reliability & CIP

Waiting on NERC: What's Next for Cyber-Security?

As NERC’s CIP standards advance, utilities move ahead, haltingly, with implementation.

Utilities are preparing for the eventual enforcement of new reliability rules from the North American Electric Reliability Council. As the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission continues its review of the proposed standards, we take a closer look at the effect of these rules on cyber-security, and offer a broad overview of all of the proposed reliability standards.

Byline: 

Christian Hamaker

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A Year After the Blackout: On a Collision Course With History?

Grid reliability is still at risk unless the industry quickly takes action.

The blackout highlighted the growing threat of dynamic voltage problems. Technical solutions to this problem are readily available, but creative regulatory approaches are needed. Here is a case where the timeworn precept, “follow the money,” offers a winning solution for the entire array of power system stakeholders.
Byline: 

John B. Howe

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The Devil in the Transmission Data

Untapped T&D measurement data could make the difference on reliability.

As transmission operators are forced to deal with increasingly less comfortable margins of reliability, choices must be made about acceptable levels of risk. Essential to such determinations is the analysis of untapped operational and non-operational data.
Byline: 

David Kreiss and J.D. Hammerly

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Power Outages: A Tale of Two CIS Systems

What made BG&E's system more reliable than Pepco's?

Reliability and customer information systems (CIS) are rarely mentioned in the same breath. But in the wake of Hurricane Isabel last fall, the CIS at Baltimore Gas and Electric gets kudos for helping the utility keep on top of a widespread outage.
Byline: 

Jennifer Alvey

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Generation Reserves: The Grid Security Question

A cost-benefit study shows the value of adding synchronized generating reserves to prevent blackouts on the scale of Aug.14.

A study reveals how increasing the availability and flexibility of generation resources is cheaper than adding transmission.
Byline: 

Rajat K. Deb

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