Applying the principles of cyber-physical management to enhance cybersecurity of the Demand Response Aggregator structure

Abstract

In 2019, on the initiative of the Unified Energy System System Operator (UES SO), a pilot project was launched in Russia to create a structure of the Demand Response (DR)-Aggregator. The main goal of the project is to involve active consumers (AC) of electricity in the DR-mechanism that are not included in the wholesale market, but have the opportunity to reduce their consumption during peak hours. The DR-Aggregator has a hierarchical structure and consists of clusters that combine the regulatory capabilities of active consumers into a block (cluster) that meets the market requirements in terms of the amount of unloading. As the number and diversity of ACs involved in the DR-Aggregator increases, there is a need for a coordinated exchange of information and management commands between the ACs and clusters of different hierarchy levels, which leads to increased vulnerability of the DR-Aggregator structure to cyber attacks. To increase the cybersecurity of the DR-Aggregator, the report proposes to consider it as a cyber-physical system consisting of technological, information and communication and control subsystems, and to use the principles of cyber-physical management (CPM). The CPM structure creates intelligent nodes and protective loops at the lowest level of the hierarchy, which, in case of cybersecurity threats, will carry out a protective mission, blocking the upper levels and the main control center from cyber attacks. The possibility of placing new measuring devices (μPMU) on objects included in the DR-Aggregator structure is being considered. To reduce the impact of cyber attacks on the quality of DR-Aggregator management, it is proposed to use statistical methods of processing information used in the management of the EPS (State estimation technique).