Making the Grid Smarter through Internet

Making the Grid Smarter through Internet
 
Today, the power utilities are becoming increasingly concerned about cyber threat to power grids. Srikanth Chandrasekaran, Senior Regional Program Manager, IEEE Standards Association outlines the need of advancement in internet technologies in mitigating security lapse
 
Today, a growing number of professionals are beginning to realise that a number of myths (it’s not reliable enough, secure and it won’t be available when it’s most needed etc.) regarding the use of the internet for smart grid, are without basis. The billions of devices already connected to the internet are interoperable. This standardisation creates a competitive marketplace for products and services that is likely to drive performance up and prices down. Internet in reality is also self-healing, just like mesh network routing, where each node serves as backup for other nodes, which makes it potentially more reliable than the power grid itself. Skeptics have also been contending it will be too expensive and one can build their own networks more economically. But, the reality is that the internet is nearly ubiquitous and will continue to be so – especially now that wireless access is common. What skeptics have been ignoring is the enormous cost and delay in trying to build and operate separate proprietary communications networks that would come remotely close to matching the performance the Internet provides today. True – an internet-enabled smart grid will need some customisation – primarily in the areas of serving the last mile and maintaining cyber security. But those are also inherent challenges of the internet that all consumers and businesses are already aware of. It is also true that the same security threats would confront any smart grid control network and that the internet/cloud computing option has more minds bent on solutions than a proprietary one single-industry network could possibly assemble.
 

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