Smart Grid Advantages And Disadvantages

Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition System Network systems (SCADA), Distributed Control System (DCS) and Industrial Control Systems (ICS) are examples of controlling their Critical Infrastructure. Because once the hackers are able to gain access to the SCADA Network system and sabotage the system, then the Critical Infrastructure would lead to cyberwar and chaos.

Informational technology is difficult to secure because of many different factors: the attacks do not have to occur at the location of the attack, so they can happen from anywhere worldwide, there is little co-operation between existing cyber security groups, and it is difficult to find vulnerabilities and patch them before an attack. One pressing matter in cyber security now is infrastructure, such as power plants, which runs on old technology that is susceptible to complex attacks by hackers. Many actors, including government, individual groups, and businesses all spend time dealing with, or paying for a lack of, cyber security. A safer way to deal with these problems would be to co-operate, as these attacks could cause harm or disrupt businesses. In the worst case scenario, millions of dollars’ worth of information could be stolen or destroyed. These problems highlight the critical need for an improved

Without a doubling of Americas capacity to feed and house itself somewhere where there’s electricity, there is no way to see everyone through such a period. And no one is even trying, except for handfuls of survivalists/preppers. They are individually preparing for a Mad Max sort of post-apocalypse era, where bullets matter as much as dried food.

In Europe, around 300,000 houses are not interconnected to the main electricity grid (Lymberopoulos & Zoulias, 2008). These houses are located in remote areas such as islands and mountains. Currently, fossil fuel based generators do the electrification of these households. These generators are sometimes supplemented with renewable energy based systems (e.g. PV solar panels or wind turbines). The fossil fuel based generators face problems with onsite fuel availability, noise and local emissions. The renewable energy systems, on the other hand, face problems with the intermittency of the natural source, such as wind or sun. The disadvantages of both systems could be potentially overcome with the introduction of the artificial leaf technology

Summary: In this paper, I will introduce the Renewable Portfolio Standard and tell the audience what the Renewable Portfolio Standard is. And then I will list many different Renewable Portfolio Standard in many different countries and in different states in the U.S. Then I will analysis the advantages and disadvantages of this renewable energy policy. Finally I will make my own recommendations and suggestions.

“The potential for such attacks has risen sharply in recent years as many SCADA systems, including those at some very large public power companies, are increasingly integrated with networks with direct links to the Internet.” (Vijayan, 2010) It was stated by the Wall Street Journal that cyber spies in Russia, China and other countries had already taken advantage of such vulnerabilities to deeply penetrate the U.S electrical grid. This issue is not just a current problem but will continue to escalate in the future going forward along with advances in new technologies. “Thus the security for SCADA systems can no longer rely on obscurity or on being a function of locking down a system. These attacks can disrupt and damage critical infrastructural operations, cause major economic

It damaged centrifuges at a uranium enrichment facility in Iran [CITATION]. It commanded PLCs to speed up and slow down the spinning centrifuges, destroying some of them, while sending false data to plant operators to make it appear the centrifuges were behaving normally [CITATION]. Stuxnet has shown its ability to successfully attacked isolated devices and executed massive-scale subversion. It has demonstrated that a driven adversary with sufficient resources and funding has the capacity to damage critical infrastructure through a cyber-attack.

The danger of cyber-attacks on power plants are something that needs to be looked at closely to avoid costly deadly incidents. Cybersecurity has become a vital component of our world today and it needs to evolve fast to keep up in its protection from the outside. Cybersecurity protects us from unauthorized shutdowns, break-ins, financial and social ruin. We live in a world that has become completely reliant on computers for everything. They are able to cause chaos and even shutdown “nuclear centrifuges, air defense systems, and electrical grids.” (Hathaway, Crootof, Levitiz, Nix, Nowlan, Perdue & Spiegel, 2012) Cyber-attacks are more common today due to the increase capability of technology. Important information along with every aspect of people’s lives are kept on computers or cell phones which are vulnerable at all times. An example of this would be the leaked snapchat photos of celebrities, stolen identities and unauthorized access from an outside computer into a power plant.

Present day events have shown that cyber-attacks are becoming more prevalent and sophisticated on the internet especially against our nation’s Critical Infrastructures (CI). One of them being the U.S. electrical power grid is also a national security risk that is currently vulnerable to cyber threats from malicious actors on the intent of causing a power blackout. The lack of protection on the power grid can result in an operational nightmare that can cause other government entities or specific CI targets that rely on the power grid to be non-operational. The consequence of a blackout would cost billions and can affect millions of people in the United States by delaying essential services needed to keep the country operational, which is essential for the nation’s economy and security. The complexity to understand cyber threats is ever changing due to technological advances and methods being used by computer hackers. The nation’s electricity system consists of generators and regional networks of interconnected transmission lines that are vulnerable to a cyber-attack. However, with increased reliance to develop a smart grid to improve system operability such as supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) to monitor load balances remotely using internet protocols comes more risk for intruders. This paper will identify the risks associated with the electric grid and discuss the proposed new policy approaches that will help the electric industry which have been

What is SCADA and why do we as a society need it? Supervisor Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems are a distributed network over a large geographic area to control industrial automated services. Some examples are the electric energy systems, nuclear energy systems, water and sewage treatment facilities, and transportation systems. Think of a factory with a foreman overseeing production. The foreman is monitoring employee’s activities to ensure the production is as efficient, safe, and of the highest quality possible.

Electrical grids are controlled by computers. Until granting consideration to it, computers and the impact they have on individual lives, go undetected. Americans exist in cyber cocoons. Take airlines, for example, if a cyber attack were to succeed against an airline, airplanes could crash killing thousands. A neo 9/11 could occur without a single terrorist or foreign enemy ever having to touch U.S. soil. On the other hand, consider an attack against one of the 104 nuclear power plants in the United States (Dedman). A skilled enemy could hack into a nuclear power plants computer system, and within minutes overheat the volatile nuclear reactor.

Cyberterrorism, cyber campaigns, and cyber-warfare are all considered forms of cyber-attacks. Therefore, the spectrum of cyber-attacks will employ the gamut from computer viruses to data hacking targeting individual computers to organizations infrastructures and networks. These attacks have become more sophisticated and dangerous. McLaughlin (2011) Portends that international concern has intensified due to recent cyber-attacks. McLaughlin (2011), Stated that governments that known for being hostile could launch computer-based attacks on critical systems which are national and regional (McLaughlin, 2011). These systems include energy distribution, telecommunications, and financial services (McLaughlin, 2011).

Indian economy is forecasted to grow at 8 to 9% in 2010­2011 fiscal year, which in the

A smart grid is a modernized electrical grid that uses analogues or digital information and communications technology to gather and act on information, such as information about the behaviors of suppliers and consumers, in an automated fashion to improve the efficiency, reliability, economics, and sustainability of the production and distribution of electricity.

According to statistics made in recent years, it is found that almost 33% of the world‘s populations do not have access to electricity. Most of the non-electrified regions are found in developing countries like ours. These regions can be electrified either by extending the grids of the existing power systems or by constructing isolated new power systems, which are alternative energy sources. In general, it is preferred to go for the extension of the existing grids but they are not always affordable the fact that most of the non-electrified regions in developing countries are located in remote and difficult areas, like hilly regions, forests, deserts and islands or even too far from the grid location, which demand huge investment for grid extension (leake E. Weldmariam 2010, p.1).