Mitigating Cyber Vulnerabilities in Distribution-Level Electricity Markets

Abstract

Improved management of the distribution level of the electric grid could allow faster and more reliable deployment of renewable energy sources, better support for electric vehicles, and greater resilience. Recent advances in computing and communications technology will enable many of these benefits to be obtained via decentralized, distribution-level markets for electricity. However, we show that such markets could be vulnerable to cyber attacks, and even unsophisticated attacks could create physical or financial risks to the grid and its participants. These risks are exacerbated by an unusual feature of electricity relative to other markets: technical limits and policy constraints mean buyers and sellers cannot be disconnected from the grid quickly, and thus the quantities they demand or supply cannot be restricted to the amounts in their bids in real-time. We present simulation results illustrating a number of these risks and discuss policy options to make the markets more robust and secure.

Keywords: Local Electricity Markets, Prosumers, Denial-of-Service, Cyber-Physical, Simulation, Cybersecurity