Should We Include Cyberdefense Functionalities in Electrical Power System Protections?: A Proposed Approach

Smart grid technologies are evolving, especially in distribution systems. Distributed energy resources (DERs) are increasingly controlled by cloud platforms by using the public Internet, and this exposes them to cyberattacks; these attacks can cause severe issues to the power grid, and usually, there are no automatic responses, but rather, cyberdefense is delegated to manual operations despite the very rapid dynamics of the power system. This article discusses the possibility of using cybersecurity functions in electrical protection as an attack-response tool, making electrical protections able to trip after the detection of an ongoing attack; these functions have the aim of guaranteeing the continuity of the power system under cyberattacks. The article details this approach, provides a use case, and simulates the effects of the implementation of the proposed solution in the power system.