DOE has recognized that the electricity industry needs workforce development resources that can aid in the accelerating need for Secure Power Systems Professionals, while at the same time identifying capabilities and competencies to protect and enable the modernized grid currently being built.

In the spring of 2011 a project was initiated to identify those capabilities and competencies along with assessing the need and qualifications for a certification program for Secure Power Systems Professionals. The first phase of this project was to identify operational security functions for day-to-day power systems operations (but not development, engineering, and architecture), and power system environments. The project examined the technical, problem-solving, social and analytical skills identified by stakeholders as used by existing power systems cybersecurity staff in the daily execution of their responsibilities resulting in a comprehensive Job Performance Model (JPM) for Smart Grid.

The second phase of the project applied the JPM to ascertain the alignment and gaps among existing workforce development programs. The JPM from Phase 1 included 82 job responsibilities; 71 of these were assigned by the Smart Grid Cybersecurity Subject Matter Expert panel to 11 job responsibility areas. The summary and final report for phase two of the project are available below.