CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE PROTECTION AND RECOVERY

Abstract

ABSTRACTTwenty five years' experience observing and developing disaster and crisis recovery plans within the electric utility industry provided the impetus and knowledge to develop a software‐based single system strategic recovery algorithm for electric utilities utilizing systems engineering techniques. The threat of system failure resulting from solar flares (security management), electromagnetic pulse (EMP) (Savage, Gilbert, and Radasky 2010) or industrial control system (ICS) cyber interruption (Weiss) on the electrical utility system can cascade up from the distribution system and/or cascade down from the high voltage transmission system (Watson et al. 2015). Systemic electrical system failure, regardless of the type of catastrophic event, causes the same socio‐ economic disasters within the region of electrical failure. This paper will address the concept of single system recovery techniques utilizing existing recovery methodologies, titled the Common Recovery Model, as an approach to hedge against, and or recover from, the potential of cascading failure of the electrical transmission and distribution system. The premise for the need of a Common Recovery Model is that one or all three of the threats are imminent, thus the necessity of electric utilities to develop a Common Recovery Model prior to the actual outage event.