The U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Security adopted an amendment February 5 that would result in a comprehensive assessment of actions necessary to expand and strengthen the capabilities of the electrical power system to prepare for, respond to, mitigate, and recover from a natural disaster or cyberattack. The Payne amendment is backed by the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA).
Offered by Rep. Donald Payne, Jr. (D-NJ) to HR 3696 National Cybersecurity and Critical Infrastructure Protection Act and approved by voice vote, the amendment directs the National Research Council to conduct a study on the resiliency and reliability of the nation’s power grid and related issues.
“Cyber threats are a major challenge as we transition to a modern electric grid,” said NEMA President and CEO Evan R. Gaddis. “NEMA commends Chairman McCaul, Congressman Payne, and members of the Homeland Security Committee for adopting this important amendment.” NEMA is the association of electrical equipment and medical imaging manufacturers, founded in 1926 and headquartered in Rosslyn, Virginia.
Cybersecurity is only one threat facing the grid. Recent events such as Superstorm Sandy serve as a reminder that the grid is vulnerable to naturally-occurring events. A 2013 report released by the Executive Office of the President estimates that nationwide the annual cost of weather-related grid outages averages between $18 and $33 billion. A February 4, Wall Street Journal article details a physical attack on a transmission substation in California in 2013 in which snipers armed with AK-47s disabled 17 high-voltage transformers.
Supporters of the Act cite research by McKinsey projecting the potential value of a fully developed Smart Grid by 2019 to be $130 billion. They stress that “numerous barriers remain to transforming the grid into the truly reliable, resilient, and efficient machine that our society needs and this study would identify such barriers.”