November is Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience (CISR) Month, a time to renew our focus on the assets, systems, facilities, and networks that provide our economic vitality, public health, and safety.

The Office of Electricity (OE) has a number of programs and activities that highlight the Department of Energy's (DOE) commitment to increasing the resilience and security of our critical energy infrastructure.

  • This month DOE announced the results of the 2019 Grid Modernization Lab Call with funding of approximately $80 million over three years. This funding aims to strengthen, transform, and improve the resilience of energy infrastructure to ensure the nation’s access to reliable and secure sources of energy now and in the future.
  • Winners of OE's inaugural "Electricity Industry Technology and Practices Innovation Challenge" continue develop their projects and ideas to make the nation's electric grid stronger and more resilient. In particular, International Business and Technology Service Corporation’s sensor technology will enhance real-time grid data collection, and Southern California Edison will use the concept of virtual substation components to improve cybersecurity.
  • Assistant Secretary Bruce J. Walker, in a November article with Fortnightly Magazine, explained that OE places special emphasis on mitigating threats against Defense Critical Electric Infrastructure (DCEI) to help assure the U.S. government’s ability to defend our country, empower military forces, and maintain essential civilian functions during crises.
  • Recently Charles P. "Chuck" Kosak joined OE as our newest Deputy Assistant Secretary leading OE's Transmission Permitting and Technical Assistance division. A major focus of his work will shape strategies to mitigate threats against U.S. critical energy infrastructure. Chuck will draw on his 24-year career with the Department of Defense (DoD), where he worked to develop plans to ensure that the DoD can continue to execute core functions, even in the face of military and natural hazard threats to installations and infrastructure.
  • OE released a request for information (RFI) seeking input on cost-effective ways to enhance the resilience of electric infrastructure systems and oil and natural gas infrastructure systems against severe weather events. The public responses are now available for review here: /oe/information-center/library/reports-and-other-documents
  • The electric grid of the future will have to address increased levels of complexity and the uncertainty presented by technological evolution, policy shifts, changing customer expectations, as well as resilience and security needs. Faced with these constraints, the emerging discipline of grid architecture can help grid designers address system complexity while minimizing unwanted consequences. OE's Joseph Paladino authored an article on how DOE is working with state regulators and utilities to apply grid architecture to their grid modernization planning processes.
  • OE's annual Energy Storage Peer Review brought a broad portfolio of energy storage technologies to Albuquerque, New Mexico. The four-day review of OE-funded projects focused on utility-scale and standalone energy storage applications as well as studies on reliability, performance, and economic benefits for grid integration and off-grid applications. Presentations from the event are available for download.