U.S. DOE: $70 Million To Strengthen Power Sector In opposition to Bodily & Cyber Hazards

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All-Hazards Power Resilience Funding Alternative Will Help Analysis Initiatives to Assist Make the Nation’s Power Techniques Extra Safe, Resilient, and Dependable, Bolstering America’s Capability to Rapidly Recuperate from Power Disruptions

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Division of Power (DOE) immediately introduced as much as $70 million in funding to assist analysis into applied sciences designed to extend resilience and cut back dangers to power supply infrastructure from quite a lot of hazards, together with cyber and bodily threats, pure disasters, and climate-change fueled excessive climate occasions. This new aggressive funding alternative might be accessible to private and non-private sector stakeholders, universities, and DOE’s Nationwide Laboratories and can assist advance next-generation improvements that strengthen the resilience of America’s power techniques, which embody the facility grid, electrical utilities, pipelines, and renewable power era sources like wind or photo voltaic. At this time’s announcement reinforces the Biden-Harris Administration’s efforts to construct sturdy and safe power infrastructure throughout the nation, which is vital to bolstering America’s power and nationwide safety and reaching President Biden’s aim of a net-zero emissions economic system by 2050. The Biden-Harris Administration has additionally made historic investments in local weather resilience and adaptation, together with greater than $50 billion from the President’s Investing in America agenda.

“Making sensible investments in America’s power techniques immediately is important to making sure they’re extra dependable and resilient towards tomorrow’s threats, whereas additionally reaching President Biden’s formidable clear power and local weather objectives,” stated U.S. Secretary of Power Jennifer M. Granholm. “As we construct our clear power future, these investments will assist get monetary savings in the long term by figuring out and growing modern options that guarantee our nation’s power infrastructure can stand up to rising threats and the challenges of a altering world.”

Managed by DOE’s Workplace of Cybersecurity, Power Safety, and Emergency Response (CESER), the All-Hazards Power Resilience program seeks to deal with future challenges in order that power can proceed to circulate safely and reliably to communities throughout the nation.

Because the local weather and expertise panorama is consistently altering, this funding alternative is deliberately broad, and awardees are inspired to develop modern and distinctive options that aren’t “one measurement suits all.” Awardees will span all sorts of power supply infrastructure and can handle a various array of potential threats throughout power manufacturing, era, transmission, and/or distribution. CESER is anticipated to fund as much as 25 analysis, improvement, and demonstration (RD&D) tasks underneath this funding alternative starting from $500,000 to $5,000,000. DOE encourages various groups from universities, nonprofit and for-profit corporations, nationwide laboratories, state and native governments, and Tribal Nations to use.

There are a number of proposed subject areas for the tasks, together with:

• Cyber Analysis and Growth: The rising digital panorama places power techniques at larger threat of cyber-attacks. These tasks will advance cybersecurity and cut back cyber dangers to power supply infrastructure.
• Local weather Mitigation Analysis and Growth: A world with extra excessive climate occasions, growing temperatures, and rising sea ranges takes a toll on essential power infrastructure. These tasks will create and implement modern options that can cut back the affect of local weather results on power transmission and reliability.
• Wildfire Mitigation Analysis and Growth: Wildfires are devastating to communities, ecosystems, and power techniques alike. These tasks will establish alternatives to harden infrastructure towards wildfires, enabling electrical utilities to construct resilience, function by excessive occasions, and improve speedy restoration.
• Bodily Safety Analysis and Growth: Utility energy stations face threats to their bodily safety considerations, equivalent to vandalism, sabotage, and ballistic injury. At this time’s approaches to stop these assaults, together with video surveillance techniques, entry management, and bodily obstacles, should not sufficient to reduce intrusions and injury.
• College-Based mostly Analysis and Growth: These tasks will enhance the cyber and cyber-physical safety posture of the electrical sector by the mixing of university-based analysis. Candidates should be Traditionally Black Schools and Universities in accordance with the White Home Initiative on Advancing Academic Fairness, Excellence, and Financial Alternative by Traditionally Black Schools and Universities. Along with educational establishments, groups should embody power trade house owners, operators, and/or power sector answer suppliers.

For extra detailed info on and a full record of the subject areas, please click on right here.

For extra details about DOE’s efforts to safe and shield America’s power sector, go to www.power.gov/ceser.

Information launch from U.S. DOE.