Protecting the Power Grid: Building Resiliency Into Essential Systems

The power grid is central to our everyday life and the economy. Disruptions to its systems can have devastating effects. Despite the fact that consistent electric power has been a basic human need for more than a century; more than ever, the grid faces a growing onslaught of threats. TechNewsWorld spoke with experts in the field about the critical nature of the grid — and what can be done to reinforce the backbone of society’s infrastructure. “Electricity is an essential commodity that drives daily life, business, and essential services, including other critical infrastructure such as security systems, communications, gas delivery systems, and even transportation, with the escalating rate of adoption of electric vehicles,” Hala Ballouz, president of Electric Power Engineers, told TechNewsWorld. Further, she added, “Electricity use by residents and businesses changes by the second, and by the milliseconds for some of the devices used by these end-consumers. The power grid performs the critical and complex job of balancing the energy generated with fluctuating consumer energy needs.” Dynamic Protection The power grid, because of its complexity, requires complicated systems in place to protect it. “Any threat or disruption of the grid can create a disturbance to this system, which may result in a failure to deliver reliable electricity supply to homes, businesses, and other critical infrastructure,” explained Ballouz. “The system must always be able to instantly handle constantly changing operating conditions, including managing outages in the infrastructure of the power grid’s critical delivery system,” she advised. The digital nature of the modern world has made the grid even more central to our way of life. Disruptions to the power infrastructure create dire, potentially life-threating, situations. “As the world becomes more digitized, reliable electricity is increasingly important,” Mike Edmonds, chief commercial officer for S&C Electric Company, told TechNewsWorld. “Whether customers are experiencing a sunny day or are in the middle of a severe storm, they expect their power to remain on. “While metrics and regulatory standards encourage utilities to provide a high level of reliable power to their customers, those metrics often result in a disconnect between utility standards and what the customer is actually experiencing.”