Workshop on cyber-physical systems applications to power grid, Boston, MA, July 16-17, 2016

Colorado State University, Fort Collins CO

Investigators

Abstract

The electricity grid of the 21st century is transforming into a complex cyber-physical system (CPS) with unprecedented innovations in architectures, technologies, participants and assets, controls, communications, and market mechanisms. While the benefits of the application of CPS technologies and philosophy to the emerging Smart Grid are self-evident, there are rising concerns of: a) associated cybersecurity; b) integration of renewable energy sources; c) the validation and verification of results from research before incorporating them in a critical infrastructure domain such as the electricity grid; and, d) the preparation and education of the next generation workforce in the power and energy area. These are new topics of research interest in the area of electric power systems engineering and elicits attention from academia, government, and industry alike. The participants will include experts in the power and energy area from the industry, government, and academia that are attending the IEEE PES conference as well as some selected experts general areas of CPS. This workshop is expected to generate synergistic research interests among researchers, while helping identify newer themes for future research funding this area. The workshop will also explicitly address the integration of current and best practices in the area into the education of the future workforce. The benefits of this workshop are germane to the strengthening of a critical infrastructure, i.e., the grid, and the preparation of an educated workforce. The goal and scope of this workshop includes the exchange of information on best practices, current trends, and topics for future research and education in the application of CPS technologies to power and energy systems. The physical and cyber security of the future electricity grid of the future is paramount. The future grid is also expected to be powered by cleaner sources of generation than in the past, such as renewable energy source that may exhibit inherent stochasticity. It is imperative to develop tools and techniques for assessing the impact of these new technologies on the power grid. The wide acceptance of academic research in these areas is dependent on the validation of the results using realistic environments. One of the enablers for conducting such validation studies and presenting highly reliable results to the industry is the use of testbeds. Lastly, all of the above themes relate to the preparation of a highly-trained workforce that will face the challenges of operating and managing the complex grid of the future.