Experts want plan to make electric grid resilient to attacks
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Protect Our Power, founded in 2016, is a not-for-profit organization that seeks to unite key industry groups, utilities, security experts, government, military authorities, and public policy influencers to expedite efforts toward fortifying the grid against all threats, foreign and domestic.
The coalition gathered to launch a collective effort among diverse stakeholders to address the vulnerabilities of the grid and to illuminate the path to successfully securing the power infrastructure from physical harm and cyber threats.
"Electricity is the essential component that sustains the American way of life," said Jim Cunningham, executive director of Protect Our Power. "We must defend our electric infrastructure against all threats."
The nation's electric grid is comprised of both private and public generation and distribution companies, which are under both federal and state regulation.
This complexity poses additional challenges to creating effective resiliency solutions and the funding methods that will be required.
Two nationwide surveys conducted by Protect Our Power revealed that more than two-thirds of Americans were concerned about the resiliency of the grid. ■