Workshop: Electric Power Grid Resilience

Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the
Naval Postgraduate School Center for Homeland Defense and Security

Monterey CA, May 17-19, 2010

Electric power is essential to the modern industrial and information society. We cannot have economic security without electricity. Unfortunately, the infrastructure used to generate, transmit and distribute power to all Americans and much of the Canadian and Mexican populations is largely based on decades-old technology, much of it designed, built and installed in the 1940's. With the advent of ubiquitous computing and the Internet, and soon the rise of electric-powered automobiles, demands on this infrastructure will outstrip its ability to deliver. In addition, power grids have evolved into a state of criticality due to a nexus of technology, economics, and regulation, leaving them even more vulnerable to "100-year flood" consequences. The interconnected grid is losing its resiliency and as a result is highly vulnerable to small fluctuations that cascade into large system-wide failures.

The purpose of this workshop is to convene the brightest technical, scientific, and policy thinkers available to discuss challenges and possible solutions to the "grid resiliency problem." The 3-day workshop will focus attention on how best to reshape the sector into a much more resilient and robust system. Specifically, we will address transmission, distribution, and cyber security resiliency; architectural and regulatory policies shaping the grid; and potential future technologies that may have a major impact on grid capacity, safety, and security.

Topics of special interest are: So-called Smart Grid technologies (sensors, computer control, superconductor corridor, distributed generation), cyber security (networking, systems homogeneity, malware, information assurance, risk assessment, standards), complex adaptive systems theory (highly optimized tolerance - HOT, self-organized criticality - SOC), social and economic issues (demand from electric vehicles, impacts of regulatory policy, and speculation on the future of the grid), and security and resiliency analysis methods and tools.

Format

The meeting will commence on Monday 17 May 2010 at 1pm with an opening Keynote address by Richard Reed, Special Assistant to President Obama on Resilience Policy, and end Wednesday 19 May 2010 at 12pm. Presentations will be recorded on video, which will be distributed to all participants in June 2010. Participation is by invitation, only, due to limited space. Written papers are optional, but must be submitted by May 3, 2010.

Please submit your talk title and abstract with short bio prior to the workshop (due date: May 3, 2010]. Once you have access to the collaborative working space, you can submit your abstract and bio online.