By Ted Caddell
GridEx III, a drill to test the emergency response capabilities of the North American high-voltage power grid, highlighted several vulnerabilities in the face of a simulated cyberattack. The lesson: Responding to a wide-scale computer malware attack is completely different from overcoming a monster storm.
“Electricity system recovery and restoration would be delayed or may not begin until the nature of the cyber risks are understood and mitigation strategies are available,” said NERC’s final report on the November drill.
GridEx III drew 4,400 participants from grid operators, federal agencies and local, state and federal law enforcement. The two-day scenario hit the grid with cyber and physical attacks resulting in blackouts in several cities. Organizers sent waves of simulated malware to grid operators by email. Throughout the beginning stages of the drill, operators were also notified about simulated attacks on physical plants such as transmission lines and substations.
“We wanted to challenge the coordinators to be on that ragged edge … [to see what they need to do to] protect the reliability of the system,” Bill Lawrence, NERC associate director of stakeholder engagement, said during a press conference Thursday.
The scenario employed email delivery of simulated malware — a tactic used by hackers who attacked three utilities in Ukraine in December. (See How a ‘Phantom Mouse’ and Weaponized Excel Files Brought Down Ukraine’s Grid.)
The after-action reports showed that secure sharing of communication between parties and reporting methods remains a problem.
“Industry needs to coordinate with local law enforcement to identify and assess the physical risks to electricity facilities and workers,” the report said. “Unlike how industry responds to major storms through mutual assistance, industry’s capability to analyze malware is limited and would require expertise likely available from software suppliers, control system vendors or government resources.”
Another observation was that the information-gathering tools may be capturing too much. The NERC-run information portal captured reports in real time, but participants said they and the system quickly became overwhelmed.
NERC, the report said, “should continue to enhance the [information] portal to support real-time, searchable, urgent communication and collaboration.”
Another major observation gleaned from the simulated cyber and physical attack was that recovery would be prolonged and expensive. “Utilities will need unprecedented levels of financial resources in order to restore their facilities and eventually resume normal operations,” the report said.
The massive expense of a widespread restoration effort raised a question: Where is that money going to come from?
“There are certain regulations and laws out there that could be useful for grid restoration,” Lawrence said. “For example, the Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act is designed to deliver relief and funding to individuals that are impacted by a disaster.”
But the law doesn’t provide relief for private corporations, such as investor-owned utilities. “Obviously if the utility isn’t generating power, they can’t pay their employees, and that would be a severe impact,” Lawrence said.
GridEx III featured the first use of social media for communications purposes. The report also recommended lengthening the planning time for the next exercise.
In an eight-page, single-spaced 
According to the report, which covered December 2015 through February 2016, wind generation accounted for 17.7% of SPP’s energy, a 43% increase from last winter. Wind generation accounted for 12.4% of energy production last winter and 10.2% during the winter of 2014.
SunEdison, saddled with nearly $10 billion in long-term debt, is at risk of filing for bankruptcy protection, one of its affiliates said.
The two largest coal mines in the U.S., both in Wyoming, announced massive layoffs last week. Peabody Energy cut 235 people, or 15% of the workforce, March 31 at North Antelope Rochelle. Arch Coal said the same day it was cutting 15%, or 230 people, at its Black Thunder Mine.
PacifiCorp has abandoned plans to convert a coal unit at its Naughton Plant in southwestern Wyoming to natural gas, saying it will now retire the unit at the end of 2017. The company said the move is a result of declining electricity demand and reflects the costs of installing environmental upgrades to meet federal haze requirements.
Aerojet Rocketdyne, Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corp. and Ouachita Electric Cooperative Corp. formally commissioned a 100-acre solar project in southern Arkansas last week. The 12-MW array located in an industrial park will supply power to Aerojet’s nearby facility.
DTE Energy is proposing the development of a 10-acre solar array on a former playground in Detroit, which the utility said “could be one of the largest urban solar arrays in the U.S.”
Consumers Energy has reported that its natural gas commodity price has fallen to its lowest level in 18 years.
The Tennessee Valley Authority, together with the Tennessee Valley Public Power Association, has awarded 16.7 MW of solar capacity to four local power companies for projects expected to generate enough electricity to supply more than 1,300 homes.
Duke Energy is seeking permission to modernize its Markland Hydro Station on the Ohio River near Florence, Ind. The company wants to replace three hydroelectric turbines, generators and related equipment.
SandRidge Energy, an Oklahoma City oil and gas exploration company, has informed the Securities and Exchange Commission that it has talked with advisers about the possibility of filing for bankruptcy. Plunging natural gas prices and depressed energy demand have left a number of energy companies with onerous debt burdens.
The companies said that they believe that the CPP “reflects reasonable and attainable assumptions about the increasing availability of renewable generation in the nation’s power sector.”
More than a quarter of the bolts securing plates directing water around uranium fuel rods at Entergy’s Indian Point 2 nuclear reactor were found to be either broken, deformed or missing, according to a report released on March 29.
FERC has delayed the timetable to review two proposed Marcellus Shale natural gas pipelines, pushing the potential approval dates into early 2017.
The American Bird Conservancy says that three proposed wind projects near migration routes or important avian rookeries should not be built because they represent threats to endangered birds.
EPA and 41 energy companies announced a partnership to voluntarily reduce methane emissions from natural gas operations at the Global Methane Forum in D.C. last week.
NASA and the National Snow and Ice Data Center say the maximum ice buildup in the Arctic is coming in low this year. Ice growth for February was 1.16 million kilometers below average. And March’s reading, at 14.52 million square kilometers, was the lowest maximum extent on record.
The Department of Energy is considering shipping nearly 7 tons of weapons-grade plutonium from the department’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in Las Cruces, N.M.