July 2, 2008
DYONYX Energy Expertise Represents U.S. in Lisbon, Portugal
Houston, Texas – July 2, 2008 – local consulting firm, DYONYX LP has been selected to represent the U.S. electric utility industry, along with other industry experts in Lisbon, Portugal in November of this year to discuss burgeoning trends and security of the U.S. power grid operations. The European Utility and Telecommunications Council or EUTC event will host discussions around the concept of the “Intelligrid”, a new area of study fostered by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), a consortium whose members deliver more than 90% of the electricity in North America.
Multiple Smart Grid initiatives are creating the technical foundation for a smart power grid that links electricity with communications and computer control to achieve tremendous gains in reliability, capacity, and customer services. These programs will provide utilities with the methodology, tools and recommendations for standards and technologies when implementing systems such as advanced metering, distribution automation, demand response, and wide-area measurement.
DYONYX Director of Energy Services, Tom Kropp, is a co-author (along with colleagues from NIST and IEEE) of a paper on securing IntelliGrid, EPRI’s Smart Grid Initiative. Before joining DYONYX earlier this year, Mr. Kropp was the Program Manager of Security Research and Development at EPRI and, additionally, was a member of the EPRI IntelliGrid team. Among other international ties, Mr. Kropp is the designated United States representative to CIGRE’s SCD2 Study Committee. CIGRE is the International Council On Large Electric Systems, based in Paris.
According to Kropp: The first steps being taken toward an intelligent grid implement interactive communication between utilities and customers in the form of digital meters and remotely controllable thermostats. The security issues encountered in just these two technologies are substantial and critically important if we are to protect the utility, the customer, and society. It is, for example, not difficult to envision an adversary misusing a poorly secured communications system to either overload the local grid or to reduce load drastically and collapse the system.
Ron Blume, Vice President of Energy Services for DYONYX, noted that electric utilities carry significant responsibilities towards maintaining the ongoing reliability of the electric grid. As such, new technologies must be thoroughly evaluated from economical, operational, and especially security perspectives during the design phase. We continue to support our clients in these types of initiatives including the development of commensurate cyber and physical security programs.
In 2006, DYONYX was awarded a contract by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), to implement an education program to over 750 electric utility executives throughout North America for the Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) Cyber Security Standard, developed by industry participants to “ensure that all entities responsible for the reliability of the Bulk Electric Systems in North America identify and protect Critical Cyber Assets that control or could impact the reliability of the Bulk Electric Systems.”
About DYONYX
DYONYX LP, is a privately held information technology and management consulting firm dedicated to helping multi-national, critical infrastructure clients improve their productivity and security and reduce their cost and risk through a proven set of methodologies, extensive experience, deep skills and world class service. Founded in 1996 with offices in Houston, TX, (headquarters), Dallas and Washington DC, DYONYX supports city, state, federal agencies and Fortune 500 customers throughout the U.S. and Europe. Their website is: www.dyonyx.com. Contact: Tim Barto at 713.830.5910 or tim.barto@dyonyx.com.