The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced $45 million to 16 projects across six states to protect the nation’s energy sector from cyber attacks. Managed by DOE’s Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER), selected projects will help develop new cybersecurity tools and technologies designed to reduce cyber risks and strengthen the resilience of America’s energy systems, which include the power grid, electric utilities, pipelines, and renewable energy generation sources like wind or solar.
The announcement underscores the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to bolstering America’s energy and national security and ensuring power continues to flow safely and reliably to communities across the nation.
“DOE is committed to strengthening the nation’s energy sector, including protecting it against current or emerging cyber threats that would threaten Americans’ access to secure, reliable energy,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm.
Cyber attacks can cause significant disruption to the reliable flow of energy to American homes, businesses, and communities. This investment will address a wide range of current and emerging cyber threats facing energy systems from generation through delivery. Accelerating investments in cybersecurity is critical to achieving President Biden’s ambitious clean energy and climate goals and essential to ensuring a secure, reliable energy supply for American families and businesses.
Selected projects will catalyze the development of innovative solutions to address cybersecurity issues across the energy sector, supporting the advancement of a secure, resilient, and reliable energy system for all. To deliver on these capabilities, DOE is partnering with industry stakeholders, vendors, national laboratories, and academic institutions to tackle some of the most pressing issues in energy cybersecurity. Examples of selected projects include:
- Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. (EPRI) (Palo Alto, CA) will develop an advanced artificial intelligence (AI) and data processing capability to detect and respond to cybersecurity incidents in control system endpoints at the grid edge.
- General Electric, GE Research (Niskayuna, NY) will develop an innovative ability using quantum communication to securely communicate time-sensitive coordination messages that are important to the resiliency of the power grid.
- Georgia Tech Research Corporation (Atlanta, GA) will develop “DerGuard,” a framework utilizing AI techniques for automated vulnerability assessment, discovery, and mitigation in distributed energy resources (DER) devices.
- Texas A&M University-Kingsville (Kingsville, TX) will research, develop, and demonstrate a zero-trust authentication mechanism with post-quantum cryptography to reduce the cyber-physical security risks to DER devices and networks.
- Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Ames, IA) will develop technical solutions to be incorporated within the initial stages of future DER-integrated grid infrastructure development lifecycle for a more resilient operation of critical control functions.
For more detailed information on and a full list of the selected projects, please click here.
Selection for award negotiations is not a commitment by DOE to issue an award or provide funding. Before funding is issued, DOE and the applicants will undergo a negotiation process, and DOE may cancel negotiations and rescind the selection for any reason during that time.
