Cyber security challenges to smart Power grid infrastructures Sodha Narendra Singh Former Executive Director, POWERGRID, India Online published on 25 September, 2018. Abstract Indian Power System is presently having Power Generation of around 335 GW & the National Transmission Grid of EHVAC/UHVAC/HVDC is being managed by POSOCO through NLDC at National level & 5 Nos RLDCs at Regional levels to schedule & dispatch power efficiently to all states in a very transparent manner following all Regulatory guidelines/Grid Codes. Renewable Energy is now top priority of GoI as 100 GW of Grid connected Solar & 40 GW of Roof top Solar capacity is planned besides Wind generation plans & RE will contribute about 40% of total generation by 2030. RE integration into the Transmission & Distribution Grids will be a major challenge & will be met by deploying tools e.g. Forecasting, Balancing mechanisms, Market Mechanisms, Ancillary Services, Flexible Transmission, Compliance to Standards & Grid Codes, Fault Ride Through (FRT) and Low Voltage ride through capabilities. Renewable Energy Management Centers (REMC) are also being set up shortly. At COP 21 in Paris, India made a commitment that 40% of electricity generation by 2030 will be from Renewables, which again translates into several hundred GWs of renewable energy capacity addition. The traditional electricity networks designed for unidirectional flow of electricity, revenue and information will have a paradigm shift to bidirectional flow of these elements. Before the advent of Smart Grids, communication networks were used to monitor and control power flow using Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA)/Energy Management Systems (EMS). Control & monitoring is now reaching upto the end consumer. Secure, reliable, scalable, interoperable and cost effective communication networks is required for Smart metering, SCADA, Substation and Distribution Automation, Wide Area Monitoring System (WAMS) etc. It is believed that the grid will soon emerge as a ‘Grid of Things’ just like the Internet has evolved as the ‘Internet of Things’. Different applications in a Smart Grid would have different bandwidth, latency, reliability and scalability requirements. Nationwide Optical Fiber OPGW network on EHV Transmission lines is a unique communication back-bone system to support all types of Smart Grid technologies with high speed & very low latency. Indian Power System has great potential for various automation technology trials in Smart Grid domain & Cyber Security has assumed high importance in view of the increasing threats to power Sector. Large RE capacity addition programs in years ahead will unfold interesting Power Sector scenario in India. As India is already an “Information Technology Leader”, Smart Grid deployment in Power Sector has provided quantum jump to Information & Communication Technology (ICT) domain but Cyber Security vulnerabilities have posed bigger challange. This Paper discribes briefly the Cyber Threats, Vulnerability assessments, Solutions, need for Security Audits & following Cyber Security Standards. Top |