Minimizing Air Force Vulnerability During Smart Grid Upgrades to Ensure Sustainment – Phase II
NCMS Project #: 140888
Problem: The Air Force has hundreds of installations supporting missions critical to national security. The electrical infrastructure sustaining many of these missions is at risk of untimely failure or disruption in service which in turn leads to mission failure. From losing sight of a high-value target in a theater of operations, to basic qualify of life missions, the Air Force’s greatest infrastructure vulnerabilities must be identified, assessed, and addressed through an energy assurance project that draws on the right set of hardware and software technologies to satisfy the requirements.
Benefit: A new, smarter grid will offer improved methods for gauging risks and the security posture of real-time distributed control systems, advancing the development and standardization of cyber security, including privacy, policies, measures, procedures, and resiliency in the grid.
Solution/Approach: In Phase I of the project, the Air Force Office of Energy Assurance now has specialized tools for identifying and prioritizing installations for energy assurance projects based largely on portfolio management. In addition, the Office was provided with cyber security evaluation tools and a risk management framework to address cyber concerns in a pilot procurement.
The Air Force’s needs will not be met until flights of energy assurance projects can be executed. In doing so the Air Force will need specialized tools and processes for project definition, scoping, and acquisition. Lessons learned will be documented and used for future energy assurance efforts.
Phase II will be exclusively aimed at developing the proper tools and identifying (with emphasis on acquisition) the first energy assurance project in the Air Force. The aim of this project is to achieve improved performance, reliability, and controllability of the electrical grid.
Impact on Warfighter:
- Reduced power costs
- Improved reliability
DOD Participation:
- U.S. Air Force, Assistant Secretary Air Force-Installations, Environment and Logistics
- Air National Guard
- Air Force Civil Engineering Center
Industry Participation:
- Booz Allen Hamilton
- NCMS
Benefit Area(s):
- Cost savings
- Maintenance avoidance and reliability
- Positive environmental impact
- Safety
- Improved readiness
- Reliability improvement
Focus Area:
- Reliability improvement