IoT, blockchain and cybersecurity in a prosumer-grid
Escúzar, Spain
Lead: CUERVACIRCESchneiderComillasSIA
Blockchain technology IoT securitySecure distributed energy resource operationSecureBoxIDS/IPSRemote terminal unit (substation)
An area of the distribution network operated by Cuerva Energía S.L. is used as the main electricity infrastructure for the Granada Smart Grid Living Lab. The demo involves a substation, operated by Cuerva Energía S.L, connecting the MV distribution grid directly to the HV network. This distribution network feeds the village of Escúzar, which will serve as the demo-site for the micro grid and end-user level.
LV distribution grid serves mainly residential consumers, with 450 supply points and a peak load near 0.55 MW. Near the village, there are 2 PV plants of 4 MW and 1.8 MW, each connected to the MV grid. In the area, there are also a small number of residential households with self-generation.
Additionally, the plan is to deploy a small-scale PV plant around 60 kW for shared self-consumption between the public supply points owned by the city townhall.
Escúzar electrical substation, built in 2008, will be also used as a complementary demo-site to validate digital substation developments.
At the IoT (Internet of Things) level, the methodology for mitigating a massive attack on distributed resources will be applied. This will allow assessing the vulnerabilities of the CUERVA living lab, defining an action plan to prevent attacks, generating cybersecurity algorithms and simulating faulty conditions to test the response and resiliency.
At industrial level, the SecureBox, as part of the IDS/IPS system will be tested. It will be used for monitoring the status of industrial devices (security patches, alarms, etc.), such as smart meters, and its emergency functions.
Some of the developments performed in D4 will be replicated to modernise and secure the CUERVA substation, with attention to RTU (remote terminal unit) enhancements. The focus will be on user management and secure access, and activity monitoring, facilitating the direct integration of DSO custom systems in micro-grids and segments of the network.
