Security in the energy Grid

The evolution that leads from the classical power grid to the current smart energy grid has been a major step for Europe with benefits in several dimensions: economic, societal, and environmental. However, energy (power) grids continue to be prone to physical risks due to natural events (earthquakes, floods, etc.) and human attacks, some of them new (bombing, breakings into installations, drone crashes, etc.). Moreover, information and communication technologies (ICT) are intrinsic to the smart grid and ICT systems are usually exposed to a high level of cyber-attack risk. In the case of the smart grid, attacks from cyber-criminals, cyber-terrorists or even acts of cyber-war can have a devastating impact and cause power outages in large regions. Project SiGrid aims to provide game-changing contributions to the protection of smart grids from cyber-attacks, physical events, and combinations of both, by: - analysing the current state of the smart grid and providing a clear view about cyber- and physical-threats against it; - developing a comprehensive, efficient and cost-effective protection framework ? the SiGrid framework ?for energy infrastructures and installations, including a set of advanced framework components; - performing demonstrations of prototypes in operational environments (TRL 7) and laboratorial test beds; - doing activities towards the commercialization of SiGrids results and disseminating its results within manufacturers and end-users (energy utilities). These contributions will not only consider physical and cyber threats, but also their combinations, interconnections, and cascading effects. The consortium is composed of three energy infrastructure operators (representing production, distribution, and transmission), one large electric equipment manufacturer, three SMEs expert on critical infrastructure security and disaster recovery, four research institutes, and two universities, constituting an exceptionally strong consortium.