A new Guidehouse Insights report has recommended specific configurations for microgrid deployments to reduce electrical components’ vulnerabilities to cyber exploitation and prevent cyberattacks on the U.S. power grid.
The report recommended that microgrid software developers and original equipment manufacturers incorporate protective measures as early as the design stage of the development, Guidehouse Insights said Tuesday.
Guidehouse Insights also suggested that vendors using pay-for-performance models develop value-based pricing for cyber resilience services that account for the benefits of deploying microgrids as cybersecurity countermeasures.
Microgrids, utilities and end users should also incorporate best cybersecurity defense practices in their microgrid deployment processes, the report added.
“The only safe harbor for manufacturers to avoid liability is to consider cybersecurity from the design phase of a transmission and distribution expansion, deploying microgrids in ways that enhance rather than undermine cybersecurity,” said Christopher Cooper, senior research analyst at Guidehouse Insights.
