Energy Infrastructure Defense Systems

Energy infrastructure faced with deregulation and coupled with interdependencies with other critical infrastructures and increased demand for high-quality and reliable electricity for our digital economy is becoming more and more stressed. The occurrence of several cascading failures in the past 40 years has helped focus attention on the need to understand the complex phenomena associated with these interconnected systems and to develop defense plans to protect the network against extreme contingencies caused by natural disasters, equipment failures, human errors, or deliberate sabotage and attacks. With dramatic increases in interregional bulk power transfers and accelerating diversity of transactions among parties, the electric power grid is being used in ways for which it was not originally designed. As the power grids become heavily loaded with long-distance transfers, the already complex system dynamics become even more important. The potential for rare events but high-impact cascading phenomena represent just a few of many new science and technology challenges. We focus on the lessons learned as well as challenges associated with accomplishing these missions, including recent hardware, software, applications, and algorithmic developments.