Guidehouse Insights Explores How Microgrids Can Reduce Vulnerability to Cybersecurity Risks

Microgrids can operate as cybersecurity countermeasures

BOULDER, Colo., May 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- A new report from Guidehouse Insights reviews recent regulatory efforts to address emerging cybersecurity threats and explores how microgrids should be configured to reduce their vulnerability to cybersecurity risks, as well as how they can be deployed as active cybersecurity solutions.

In March 2023, the Biden administration released in March 2023 the U.S. National Cybersecurity Strategy, which envisions a broad network of networks approach to cybersecurity that distributes protective capabilities across digital topologies—much like microgrids—and makes sabotaging the bulk power grid as difficult as taking down the internet.

According to the new report, specific configurations for microgrid deployments can better protect power system components from external and internal cyberattacks. Deploying microgrids this way is also consistent with the White House's new cybersecurity strategy, which holds software vendors and original equipment manufacturers accountable for leaving their products vulnerable to cyberattacks and even envisions creating a legal cause of action permitting victims of cyberattacks to recover damages from software vendors and manufacturers.

"To address the growing cybersecurity threats against critical components of the US power grid even as the federal government embarks on the largest expansion of US infrastructure since establishing the interstate highway system, the new National Cybersecurity Strategy shifts responsibility for cybersecurity defense from individual consumers to the private sector," says Christopher Cooper, senior research analyst at Guidehouse Insights. "The only safe harbor for manufacturers to avoid liability is to consider cybersecurity from the design phase of a transmission and distribution expansion, deploying microgrids in ways that enhance rather than undermine cybersecurity."

Guidehouse Insights recommends that microgrid vendors and OEMs adopt cybersecurity-by-design concepts, incorporating protective functions at the design stage of microgrid controllers, equipment, and software; When deploying microgrids, utilities and other customers should follow best cybersecurity defense practices; and microgrid vendors utilizing energy-as-a-service (EaaS) financing models should develop value-based pricing for resiliency services that accounts for the direct and indirect benefits of deploying microgrids as cybersecurity solutions, according to the report.

The report, Deploying Microgrids as Cybersecurity Solutions, reviews recent regulatory efforts to address emerging cybersecurity threats and explores how microgrids can be deployed as active cybersecurity solutions, eliminating cybersecurity threats, mitigating damages, and helping stakeholders meet new, more stringent cybersecurity regulations. An executive summary of the report is available for free download on the Guidehouse Insights website.

About Guidehouse Insights
Guidehouse Insights, the dedicated market intelligence arm of Guidehouse, provides research, data, and benchmarking services for today's rapidly changing and highly regulated industries. Our insights are built on in-depth analysis of global clean technology markets. The team's research methodology combines supply-side industry analysis, end-user primary research, and demand assessment, paired with a deep examination of technology trends, to provide a comprehensive view of emerging resilient infrastructure systems. Additional information about Guidehouse Insights can be found at www.guidehouseinsights.com.

About Guidehouse
Guidehouse is a leading global provider of consulting services to the public sector and commercial markets, with broad capabilities in management, technology, and risk consulting. By combining our public and private sector expertise, we help clients address their most complex challenges and navigate significant regulatory pressures focusing on transformational change, business resiliency, and technology-driven innovation. Across a range of advisory, consulting, outsourcing, and digital services, we create scalable, innovative solutions that help our clients outwit complexity and position them for future growth and success. The company has over 16,500 professionals in over 55 locations globally. Guidehouse is a Veritas Capital portfolio company, led by seasoned professionals with proven and diverse expertise in traditional and emerging technologies, markets, and agenda-setting issues driving national and global economies. For more information, please visit www.guidehouse.com.

*The information contained in this press release concerning the report, Deploying Microgrids as Cybersecurity Solutions, is a summary and reflects the current expectations of Guidehouse Insights based on market data and trend analysis. Market predictions and expectations are inherently uncertain and actual results may differ materially from those contained in this press release or the report. Please refer to the full report for a complete understanding of the assumptions underlying the report's conclusions and the methodologies used to create the report. Neither Guidehouse Insights nor Guidehouse undertakes any obligation to update any of the information contained in this press release or the report.

For more information, contact:

Cecile Fradkin for Guidehouse
+1.646.941.9139
[email protected]

SOURCE Guidehouse Insights