Cost Impact Simulation of Blackouts within the Electrical Grid

Abstract:
A successful attack to the critical infrastructure of utility providers or distribution system operators (DSO) may cause tremendous costs and severe damage to individuals, society, industry, or public or legal entities. However, mitigating the risk by implementing security technology requires a costly up-front investment and ongoing maintenance. In this paper, we explore costs from power outages in order to justify investment into reasonable security measures. The simulation tool described here has been developed to support these studies. The Blackout Simulator can be used by utilities or DSOs to plan and upgrade their grid infrastructure to grant reliability of supply. Municipalities, investors, and insurance companies would receive a risk assessment by evaluating attack or blackout scenarios, which provide damage cost figures and potential losses in terms of revenue or taxes.