Grid manager's review does not recommend more security for electric substations, says 'Cost was a major concern'

A string of attacks with at least two involving gunfire occurred at substations and other
power facilities last year. (Map by Claudine Hellmuth, Energy & Environment News)

Despite last year's electric-substation shootings and discussion focusing on the power grid it manages, the North American Electric Reliability Corp. is not recommending additional security measures at electric substations, reports Robert Zullo of States Newsroom. Zullo notes that the corporation's CEO, Jim Robb, "told the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission that cost was a major concern. 'We're not recommending a common minimum level of physical security protections at this time,' Robb said, adding that NERC was aware of the vulnerability of substations and other electric transmission infrastructure, particularly in remote areas. 'Physical security hardening of substations can be extraordinarily expensive. . . . It's important that the risk abated is commensurate with the capital required.'"

FERC ordered the national grid manager to do the review last year, after gunfire attacks on substations in North Carolina, Ohio, the Pacific Northwest and elsewhere, the commission tasked NERC with reviewing existing rules, which only currently apply to electric infrastructure, that, if knocked out, would pose a hazard to the broader bulk power system," Zullo writes. "The current regulation, known as the CIP-014 Reliability Standard, came into being in 2014 after a sniper attack on a California substation. [The standard seeks to prevent] the successive loss of elements on the electric system that results in widespread service interruption. . . . Many substations, like the ones targeted in Moore County, N.C., don't meet that threshold, but damaging them can still result in a loss of power for thousands."

"NERC also didn't recommend extending the applicability criteria under the existing regulations to other, less crucial substations, finding that the rule 'appropriately focuses limited industry resources on risks to the reliable operation of the (bulk power system) associated with physical security incidents at the most critical facilities," Zullo reports. "The review found that the language in the requirements should be 'refined' so that owners of substations that meet the threshold for the security standards conduct effective risk assessments."

FERC Chairman Willie Phillips told Zullo, "There is no greater priority for me and for this commission than making sure that we protect the security of our electric grid." A NERC spokeswoman "said that while the commission cannot create a security standard or tell NERC how to write one, 'They do have the authority to order us to establish a new standard or modify an existing one.' . . . . Robb added that NERC sets baseline standards and that utilities, working with their regulators, can 'invest in additional protections."