DOE allocates $39 million in research funding to boost cybersecurity of clean DER with nine national laboratories

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) through its Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER) announced US$39 million of funding for nine new National Laboratory projects to advance the cybersecurity of distributed energy resources (DER). These projects will work towards advancing research, development, and demonstrations for new cyber tools and technologies for clean DER. 

The National Laboratory teams aim to improve real-time DER operation data analytics using artificial intelligence (AI)/machine learning (ML) and secure cloud-based solutions for DER applications. The Labs will develop security solutions for current and emerging communication architectures for DER systems and develop innovative, real-time, or offline analysis technologies that secure DER.

These projects support the U.S. Administration’s commitment to safeguarding U.S. critical infrastructure and advancing the energy sector’s cybersecurity capabilities nationwide. DER systems include utility-scale solar, wind, storage, and other clean technologies; behind-the-meter renewables and storage systems; electric vehicle chargers; and other customer-owned devices. The funding supports the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to safeguarding the nation’s critical infrastructure and advancing the energy sector’s cybersecurity capabilities nationwide. 

These research, development, and demonstration projects will develop cybersecurity tools and technologies for DER Systems, such as distribution management systems, distributed energy resource management systems, and DER aggregators.

The projects selected to showcase the Department’s focus on enhancing the cybersecurity of DER include Argonne National Laboratory, Brookhaven National Laboratory, two projects with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and two projects with Sandia National Laboratory. 

Puesh Kumar, director of CESER, said that “distributed energy resources are critical to reaching President Biden’s ambitious clean energy and climate goals, and ensuring the cybersecurity of those resources is important to building a resilient energy future for all Americans.”

“From detection and diagnostic tools to leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning, CESER is proud to support these nine exceptional projects led by the DOE National Labs which will enhance the security of DERs in meaningful, pragmatic ways, Kumar added in Tuesday’s statement. 

At Argonne National Laboratory, the project will develop an Intrusion Diagnostic Unit cybersecurity software tool for DER aggregators to securely participate in wholesale energy markets. The tool will be deployed on edge devices and will be continuously supported using a cloud service to perform real-time monitoring, threat detection and mitigation for individual DER. Partners include Iowa State University, Kevala, University of North Dakota, and ComEd. The award amount is $3,484,765.

Brookhaven National Laboratory will work with a cloud service provider and utilities to develop generic security solutions for the public or hybrid clouds. These cloud solutions have been adopted by utilities to target real-time DER applications providing frequency and voltage support to the power grid, specifically through multiple virtual power plants. Partners will include NREL, Eversource Energy, University of Connecticut, and Google Cloud. Here, an award amount of $3,841,209 has been earmarked for this project. 

Two projects were granted to the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. In the first project, it will create a software platform to allow utilities to share relevant cybersecurity information with one another in a manner that does not compromise the privacy of customers in their service territories, reducing utilities’ reluctance to share information arising from privacy–related liabilities. Partners include Cornell University, NREL, Hawaiian Electric, McEachern Laboratories, RJSenergy, Kevala, Enernex, National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA), and Operant Networks. The award amount is $4,895,989.

The second Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory project will develop cybersecurity detection tools for aggregations of DER. The secure AI/ML tools will detect and mitigate cyber-attacks in electric power distribution systems and microgrids. Partners include Siemens, NRECA, NREL, Cornell University, McEachern Laboratories, RJSenergy, Richard Schomberg, and Enernex. An award amount of $4,872,397 has been allocated to this project. 

The NREL project will develop an emulation-based analysis framework to better understand cyber vulnerabilities and provide mitigation strategies to guide utilities and other stakeholders operating DERs in disadvantaged communities. The framework will use techniques combining offline analysis and modeling of integrated DER systems to better understand the cybersecurity impacts of the clean energy transition on those communities. Partners on this project include Xcel Energy, Clark Atlanta University, Carnegie Mellon University, Dynamics Organics, Efficiency Maine, and Consumers Energy.  An award amount of $4,924,627 has been granted to this project.   

The Oak Ridge National Laboratory project is set to incorporate principles of DER system physics into various ML-based applications for a comprehensive approach to cyber resilience including vulnerability analysis, attack detection and mitigation, as well as system recovery for DER system operations. A common software framework with a modular implementation will allow user flexibility in deployment. Partners include Siemens, NREL, Pennsylvania State University, University of Connecticut and Microsoft. An award amount of $3,692,896 has been allocated for this project. 

The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory project will develop algorithms and an AI/ML tool for operators to demonstrate human-machine teaming. The project will develop, validate, and field demonstrate real-time detection, precise localization, and appropriate mitigation for a wide range of cyber-attacks on DER operations data. Partners include University of Central Florida, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Siemens, and Portland General Electric. An award amount of $3,496,485 has been earmarked for this project. 

Two projects were granted to Sandia National Laboratory. In the first one, the project will research and develop a reference model for DER communication protocols using IPv6 and OT SDN and will distribute a reference implementation. The project will produce open-source and commercial solutions that are interoperable with existing networking equipment to minimize the impact on the operational technology network for a comprehensive solution to secure DER communications. 

The partners in this project include Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, SEL, Juniper Networks, GE Research, Fort Belvoir, Open Energy Solutions, Grimm SMFS, Spectrum Solutions, Dominion Energy, DTE Energy, and Duke Energy. An award amount of $4,924,627 has been allocated to this project.  

In the second Sandia National Laboratory project, the partners are looking to inspect encrypted DER traffic at the cloud/utility firewall and will act as a template for all DER vendors, operators, aggregators, and utilities. This will allow the industry entities to deploy defense-in-depth solutions for DER Management Systems with next-generation firewalls and security orchestration, automation, and response solutions. Partners include Palo Alto Networks, University of New Mexico, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Southern California Edison, DERSec, Patria, NRECA, and Tucson Electric Power. An award amount of $4,900,004 has been granted to this project.

Couple of weeks back, the DOE announced up to $39 million for projects across its national laboratories to help modernize the electricity grid. These funds come from the 2023 Grid Modernization Initiative (GMI) lab call which is set to support the development and deployment of concepts, tools, and technologies needed to measure, analyze, predict, protect, and control the grid of the future while incorporating equity and the best available climate science. The project includes support from Idaho National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, National Energy Technology Laboratory, and dozens of public and private sector partners.

Anna Ribeiro

Industrial Cyber News Editor. Anna Ribeiro is a freelance journalist with over 14 years of experience in the areas of security, data storage, virtualization and IoT.