A collaboration between the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore (IISc), the Foundation for Science, Innovation, and Development, and the Power Grid Corporation of India Limited is being formed to create a centre of excellence for cybersecurity in power transmission and grid operations.
“This will be a nodal centre and a think-tank where cybersecurity experts from academia, national research and development labs and the industry will work together to address cybersecurity concerns related to power grids,” an IISc statement said.
Cybersecurity in transmission and grid operations is essential in the current digital world, according to Power Grid Corporation CMD K Sreekant. The creation of effective cybersecurity defences is of utmost importance for preserving a steady supply of electricity. The need of the hour, according to him, is to conduct ongoing, collaborative research involving academia and industry for the creation of cyber resilient systems as well as capacity building.
“POWERGRID is committed to providing funding to the extent of Rs 119.02 crore over the next 10 years and also depute its industry experts to this centre to bolster research in this area,” Sreekant said.