Yet Another Report: U.S. Power Grid At Risk
I’ve reported in the past about how vulnerable power grids are – that they could be down for months if a massive solar storm strikes. This isn’t just conspiracy theory or pseudo science. The information has come from reports funded by U.S. government agencies, including NASA.
In 2007 the Dept of Homeland Security sponsored a National Research Council study titled Terrorism and the Electric Power Delivery System. This study was classified, but this week a non-classified version has been released. Presumably they have left out the technical details terrorists might desire, yet this week’s version still has plenty of info that could inspire a terrorist attack.
…the physical capabilities of much of the transmission network have not kept pace with the increasing burden that is being placed on it— subsequently many parts of the bulk high-voltage system are heavily stressed. In addition, many important pieces of equipment are decades old and lack improved technology that could help limit outages. This makes the stressed, aging system especially vulnerable to the multiple failures that might follow, for example, a coordinated attack on the power system by terrorists.
If carried out in a carefully planned way, by people who knew what they were doing, such an attack could deny large regions of the country access to bulk system power for weeks or even months.
…Unlike hurricanes, however, terrorists may strike with no warning and selectively destroy the most important facilities, such as major substations. Some of the lost equipment may take months or even years to replace.
The report also mentions that power companies could be infiltrated via terrorists getting jobs with them – especially because they are starting to find it difficult to recruit skilled staff. Few students are interested in learning about such antiquated technologies.
The final paragraph points out a familiar problem. Governments have handed over the running of utilities to corporations. Corporations only care about profits, while utilities need many dollars spent to protect them from attacks. And nobody with a strong enough voice is telling the governments to face their responsibilities.
Overall, the level of protection for and resiliency of the electric power grid against terrorist attacks needs to increase. However, the level of security that is economically rational for most infrastructure operators will be less than the level that is optimal from the perspective of the collective national interest. Therefore, the DHS should develop a coherent plan to address the incremental cost of upgrading and protecting critical infrastructure to that higher level.
