US DOE to fund resilience tech for energy infrastructure

The US Department of Energy (DOE) has announced $70 million in funding to support research into resilience technologies to reduce risks to energy infrastructure from a variety of hazards, including cyber and physical threats, natural disasters and climate-change fueled extreme weather events.

The funding opportunity will be available to public and private sector stakeholders, universities and DOE’s National Laboratories and will help advance innovations that strengthen the resilience of energy systems, including the power grid, electric utilities, pipelines and renewable energy generation sources like wind or solar.

“Making smart investments in America’s energy systems today is essential to ensuring they’re more reliable and resilient against tomorrow’s threats, while also reaching President Biden’s ambitious clean energy and climate goals,” said US Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm.

“As we build our clean energy future, these investments will help save money in the long run by identifying and developing innovative solutions that ensure our nation’s energy infrastructure can withstand emerging threats and the challenges of a changing world.”

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Proposed topic areas for projects include:

• Cyber research and development projects to advance cybersecurity and reduce cyber risks to energy delivery infrastructure.
• Climate mitigation research and development projects to create and implement innovative solutions that will reduce the impact of climate effects on energy transmission and reliability.
• Wildfire mitigation research and development projects to harden infrastructure against wildfires, enabling electric utilities to build resilience, operate through extreme events and enhance rapid recovery.
• University-based research and development projects to improve the cyber and cyber-physical security posture of the electric sector through the integration of university-based research.
• Physical security research and development. The US DOE cites threats to utility power stations, such as vandalism, sabotage and ballistic damage, as well as how current approaches to prevent these attacks, including video surveillance systems, access control, and physical barriers, are not enough to minimise intrusions and damage.

Awardees will span all types of energy delivery infrastructure and will address a diverse array of potential threats across energy production, generation, transmission and distribution.

Managed by DOE’s Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER), up to 25 research, development and demonstration (RD&D) projects are expected to win funding under this opportunity, ranging from $500,000 to $5 million.

DOE encourages diverse teams from universities, nonprofit and for-profit companies, national laboratories, state and local governments and tribal nations to apply.