Five Years After 9-11, Electric Power System Just as Vulnerable
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
September 5, 2006
Contact:
Crystal Borde
cborde@vancomm.com
(202) 331-4323
Five Years After 9-11, Electric Power System Just as Vulnerable
Blackout Caused by Physical or Cyber Attack Could Cripple Nation’s Economy
Five years after the devastation of September 11th, experts say the nation’s electric power infrastructure remains as vulnerable as ever to an attack that could cripple the economy and cost countless American lives.
“There’s a general consensus among policy-makers and homeland security experts that investment in our electric power system is urgent if we are to keep our nation safe and strong,” said Kurt Yeager, executive director of the Galvin Electricity Initiative and one of the nation’s leading experts on electric power. “Yet there has been little or no movement toward putting that consensus into action. Today it is possible to plunge much of the country into the chaos of a power outage with the destruction of a critical transmission line or substation or a well-targeted cyber attack. Technology exists that could keep this from happening. It’s long past time to put that technology to use.”
The Galvin Electricity Initiative, launched by former Motorola chief Robert W. Galvin, is creating the business and technological blueprints to transform the nation’s outdated electric power system. While other groups and government agencies are researching the necessary changes, the Galvin Initiative is proactively evaluating sites to build commercial prototypes of a re-imagined system that will jumpstart the process of national electric power transformation.
Security is one of the key reasons why such transformation is urgent. Under the current system, destruction or even disruption of a single segment of the grid could result in a chain reaction that leaves as much as 70 percent of electricity consumers without light, heat and water. Transportation systems in the affected areas would virtually shut down as trains are stopped in their tracks, traffic lights go off-line and airports go dark. Virtually all communication would be stifled. Public safety would be severely compromised. Life saving medical equipment and facilities would be disabled. Business activity in every sector would come to a complete halt.
Existing “smart” grid technology could make an attack on a segment of the grid or the computer systems that help run it virtually unnoticeable to most electricity consumers. In a smart system, digital switches and sensors would instantaneously read the situation and respond by walling off the affected area from the rest of the grid and directing power line traffic around it to sections that could handle the load.
“The technology is there to keep the power system secure,” Yeager said. “What’s lacking now is the incentive and commitment to make it happen.”
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