Physical Security Assessment
On March 7, 2014, FERC issued an order directing NERC “to submit for approval one or more Reliability Standards that will require certain registered entities to take steps or demonstrate that they have taken steps to address physical security risks and vulnerabilities related to the reliable operation of the Bulk-Power System.” PowerWorld Simulator can easily display MW and MVar through-flow for buses and substations, which can help identify and prioritize the parts of the network for which a physical attack might be most disruptive.
To display this information:
- Open a bus or substation display in the Model Explorer
- Right-click anywhere on the grid and choose “Display/Column Options…”
- Open the “Net Injection” folder
- Choose the “Throughflow of MW” field, “Throughflow of MW” field, or both.
- Drag them to the displayed fields on the right, or click “Add ->”.
- Click “OK”.
Taking the analysis a step further, contingencies can be created to examine the impact of outages on these buses.
March 12, 2014