“Grid Edge Security” Forum and Roundtable

UNC Charlotte’s Center for Energy Security and Reliability (CESAR) Presents:
“Grid Edge Security” Forum and Roundtable
Save the Date – When: Monday, 9 September 2024; 1:00pm-5:00pm
Where: Harris Alumni Center, UNC Charlotte, Main Campus

This event will consist of presentations followed by an interactive Round-Table discussion on the topic of Grid Security at the Edge and the Threat Environment. Cyber attacks pose growing, multifaceted risks to the nation’s critical utility infrastructure and significant attention is focused on protecting the Bulk Electrical System (BES). However, the increasing reliance on distributed sensors and devices operating at the edge of the BES represents a growing and evolving threat dynamic, one replete with new, emerging attack vectors. Examples of this class of devices include many behind-the-meter (BTM) distributed energy resources (DERs), such as batteries, rooftop solar, standby power systems, and electric vehicles – systems called upon to assume an increasingly active role in grid management. There is also a growing class of sensors and controls opening new input channels, thus enabling more attack vectors.

CESAR, an effort led by UNC Charlotte with support from NC A&T and NCSU, is the result of a UNC System funded Research Opportunities Initiative (RO1). It intends to address the risks posed by “threats at the edge” by deploying two testbeds as resources for industry:

The Hardware in the Loop (HIL) Testbed

• A hardware tested enabling testing of actual internet-connected DERs while connected to a power_system simulator

The Large-Scale Integrated Transmission & Distribution (T&D) Testbed

• A software-based tested incorporating a transmission system model with many interconnected distribution circuits allowing the team to model loads DERs down to the level of individual residences.

No Cost to attend!