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from the time-to-start-stockpiling-electricity dept.
Congress mobilizes on cyber threats to electric grid:
Lawmakers are zeroing in on the potential for foreign cyber attacks to take down the U.S. electric grid, with members in both chambers pushing hearings and a flurry of bills to address the issue.
Congressional interest in the issue is growing following reports that Iran has stepped up its cyber attacks against U.S. critical infrastructure, and as Trump administration officials cite threats from Russia and China against the electric grid.
A House Energy and Commerce subcommittee focused on threats to the grid during a hearing on Friday, as lawmakers look to get ahead of the issue.
[...] [Assistant secretary of the Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER). Karen] Evans highlighted the 2019 Worldwide Threat Assessment published by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) earlier this year on the threat.
The assessment found that Russia not only has the ability to execute cyber attacks against the U.S. electric grid, but is also "mapping our critical infrastructure with the long-term goal of being able to cause substantial damage."
On China, the ODNI warned that the country "has the ability to launch cyber attacks that cause localized, temporary disruptive effects on critical infrastructure."
Recent analysis has also shown that Iran is stepping up cyber attacks against the U.S., drawing the attention of Trump officials. Christopher Krebs, the director of the Department of Homeland Security's cybersecurity agency, said in a statement that officials "will continue to work with our intelligence community and cybersecurity partners to monitor Iranian cyber activity, share information and take steps to keep America and our allies safe."
The array of threats has Congress taking notice, and lawmakers from both parties have introduced a number of bills to combat cyber threats to the energy sector.
[...] Richard Mroz, senior advisor on state and government relations at Protect Our Power, said out a serious roadblock to legislation to secure the grid are concerns over costs.
"One challenge industry and regulators have is what is this all going to cost, and it isn't quite clear what those costs are yet," Mroz told The Hill. "Consumers need to understand that to protect these systems, it's going to cost something."
But Mroz underlined the overall threats to the grid and the urgency facing lawmakers. He warned that despite industry's efforts, in a worst-case scenario a cyber attacker could hack into a control system and endanger civilians.
"That is the issue, that an adversary could remotely turn off the power plant, turn off the wastewater treatment system, turn off the pumps or the switches for our cell tower," Mroz said.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by RS3 on Tuesday July 16 2019, @04:34AM
My dad waxes pedantic over "gas" vs. "gasoline". Reason I mention that: I strongly recommend a genset which runs on gas- natural (methane) or propane. A guy I occasionally work for has a small office building with a 15 KW propane-powered generator. It has had to run for days at a time. I don't know the total hours on it- I can check sometime. It's 15+ years old- maybe closer to 20. But the engine oil looks brand new, and we've never changed it. And propane burns less explosively so the exhaust sound is much less raspy than gasoline- kind of a smooth warm purr. A large gas bottle can store 2+ weeks worth of run time, and 15 KW is far more than you need.
You can buy manual transfer switches for your setup, either one big one (as you might have) or a sub-panel with individual circuit switches.
You'll have to analyze your heater pump power requirements. Pumps almost always draw significant / great power when starting up. The car-powered inverter might not work as well as you hope. You'll need to check your car's alternator output. You could drain the battery quickly if the car's engine is only idling. You'd have to rev the engine to get enough out of the alternator to keep the battery in charge and power anything significant. You could buy some extra deep-cycle batteries to buffer short runs of something that requires more than alternator's output. Smallish car alternators may only output 800W or so with engine @ 1500 RPM or so. Quite inefficient, but okay in emergencies. You might be able to upgrade the alternator, but 2 KW is nearly the max for larger engines. I'm sure someone will point out a bigger one, but I'm trying to be practical, IE., you can buy a 4 KW genset for less $ than a very high capacity car alternator. And you still need the huge inverter. And massive wiring. And never let the streams cross!