Mitigating Cybersecurity Risks in Grids with a High Penetration of Distributed Renewables

Distributed energy resources (DER) such as rooftop solar, batteries, and electric vehicles are now changing the system of today’s power grids. While these new technologies have substantial potential to improve reliability and improve customers’ lives, they have the potential to lead to major security risks. The exponential growth of communicating and controllable DER has provided significant benefits, but it has also made the electric grid system more vulnerable to possible cyberattacks. Furthermore, there is currently an insufficient level of security oversight and regulation in DER standards, and inverter manufacturers may not possess adequate cybersecurity capabilities to defend against a cyber-attack, in particular a coordinated cyber-attack of DER. This research explores the impact of a coordinated cybersecurity attack of distributed renewables, among the largest and fastest growing forms of DER, on the electric grid and proposes a novel approach to reduce the disruption to customers. This approach is anchored on a shift from centralized multi-party control to decentralized nodal-based control. It also provides a starting point to address the overall framework for connecting, controlling, and securing distributed renewables, which could improve cybersecurity protection levels while maintaining the reliability of connected energy assets.

Author

• Green, Matthew Benjamin

Language

• en

Keyword

• Grid risk mitigation
• Distributed renewable integration
• Energy grid security
• Power system resilience
• coordinated cyberattack
• Smart power grid cybersecurity

Date created

• 2025

Type of Work

• Dissertation

License

• All rights reserved

Rights statement

• In Copyright

GW Unit

• Systems Engineering

Degree

• Ph.D.

Advisor

• Sarkani, Shahram
• Mazzuchi, Thomas A.

Committee Member(s)

• Etemadi, Amir
• Grenn, Michael
• Eveleigh, Tim

Persistent URL

•  https://scholarspace.library.gwu.edu/etd/g158bj295