The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has rejected a proposal to improve electric grid security, sending the proposal back to the North American Electric Reliability Corp. for revision. The group must strengthen its rules about how utilities should assess and protect power substations and systems, the ruling says.
Federal energy regulators plan to impose new security rules on electric utilities to make sure they protect major substations and other facilities critical to the operation of the electric grid.
Electric utility substations require continual protection from economic, human and legal liability risk, but these often isolated stations have unique security needs.
If terrorists or other extremist groups attacked an electrical substation, thousands could be without power for months, possibly resulting in hundreds or thousands of deaths in the event of extreme weather.
In an effort to improve the cyber security of electrical substations, a $24,000 donation and $210,000 in hardware and software was awarded to engineer Chee-Wooi Ten.