U.S. DOE: $70 Million To Strengthen Vitality Sector Towards Bodily & Cyber Hazards

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All-Hazards Vitality Resilience Funding Alternative Will Help Analysis Tasks to Assist Make the Nation’s Vitality Methods Extra Safe, Resilient, and Dependable, Bolstering America’s Capability to Rapidly Get well from Vitality Disruptions

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Division of Vitality (DOE) right now introduced as much as $70 million in funding to assist analysis into applied sciences designed to extend resilience and scale back dangers to vitality supply infrastructure from a wide range of hazards, together with cyber and bodily threats, pure disasters, and climate-change fueled excessive climate occasions. This new aggressive funding alternative shall be accessible to private and non-private sector stakeholders, universities, and DOE’s Nationwide Laboratories and can assist advance next-generation improvements that strengthen the resilience of America’s vitality techniques, which embrace the facility grid, electrical utilities, pipelines, and renewable vitality technology sources like wind or photo voltaic. At this time’s announcement reinforces the Biden-Harris Administration’s efforts to construct robust and safe vitality infrastructure throughout the nation, which is vital to bolstering America’s vitality and nationwide safety and reaching President Biden’s aim of a net-zero emissions economic system by 2050. The Biden-Harris Administration has additionally made historic investments in local weather resilience and adaptation, together with greater than $50 billion from the President’s Investing in America agenda.

“Making sensible investments in America’s vitality techniques right now is important to making sure they’re extra dependable and resilient in opposition to tomorrow’s threats, whereas additionally reaching President Biden’s bold clear vitality and local weather objectives,” stated U.S. Secretary of Vitality Jennifer M. Granholm. “As we construct our clear vitality future, these investments will assist get monetary savings in the long term by figuring out and growing revolutionary options that guarantee our nation’s vitality infrastructure can face up to rising threats and the challenges of a altering world.”

Managed by DOE’s Workplace of Cybersecurity, Vitality Safety, and Emergency Response (CESER), the All-Hazards Vitality Resilience program seeks to handle future challenges in order that vitality can proceed to circulate safely and reliably to communities throughout the nation.

Because the local weather and expertise panorama is continually altering, this funding alternative is deliberately broad, and awardees are inspired to develop revolutionary and distinctive options that aren’t “one dimension matches all.” Awardees will span all varieties of vitality supply infrastructure and can tackle a various array of potential threats throughout vitality manufacturing, technology, transmission, and/or distribution. CESER is predicted to fund as much as 25 analysis, growth, and demonstration (RD&D) initiatives beneath this funding alternative starting from $500,000 to $5,000,000. DOE encourages various groups from universities, nonprofit and for-profit firms, nationwide laboratories, state and native governments, and Tribal Nations to use.

There are a number of proposed subject areas for the initiatives, together with:

• Cyber Analysis and Growth: The rising digital panorama places vitality techniques at higher danger of cyber-attacks. These initiatives will advance cybersecurity and scale back cyber dangers to vitality supply infrastructure.
• Local weather Mitigation Analysis and Growth: A world with extra excessive climate occasions, rising temperatures, and rising sea ranges takes a toll on vital vitality infrastructure. These initiatives will create and implement revolutionary options that can scale back the affect of local weather results on vitality transmission and reliability.
• Wildfire Mitigation Analysis and Growth: Wildfires are devastating to communities, ecosystems, and vitality techniques alike. These initiatives will determine alternatives to harden infrastructure in opposition to wildfires, enabling electrical utilities to construct resilience, function via excessive occasions, and improve speedy restoration.
• Bodily Safety Analysis and Growth: Utility energy stations face threats to their bodily safety considerations, similar to vandalism, sabotage, and ballistic injury. At this time’s approaches to stop these assaults, together with video surveillance techniques, entry management, and bodily boundaries, aren’t sufficient to attenuate intrusions and injury.
• College-Based mostly Analysis and Growth: These initiatives will enhance the cyber and cyber-physical safety posture of the electrical sector via the mixing of university-based analysis. Candidates should be Traditionally Black Schools and Universities in accordance with the White Home Initiative on Advancing Academic Fairness, Excellence, and Financial Alternative via Traditionally Black Schools and Universities. Along with educational establishments, groups should embrace vitality trade house owners, operators, and/or vitality sector answer suppliers.

For extra detailed data on and a full checklist of the subject areas, please click on right here.

For extra details about DOE’s efforts to safe and defend America’s vitality sector, go to www.vitality.gov/ceser.

Information launch from U.S. DOE.