The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is aware of the potential cloud computing could have on the energy sector but is wary of allowing utilities to adopt these technologies without a full understanding of the risks involved.
American power companies are using cloud services for many back-office processes but have yet to utilize the technology for power delivery and management systems. The overriding standards governing power companies’ use of technology—the Critical Infrastructure Protection, or CIP, Reliability Standards—don’t offer any guidance on the use of cloud and virtualization for bulk energy systems. FERC is interested in changing that and wants energy sector experts to weigh in on exactly what changes should be made.
As with the rest of government, FERC is interested in moving to the cloud to reap the benefits of “scalability, greater flexibility and lower capital investment,” according to a notice of inquiry posted Thursday to the Federal Register. “Other potential benefits from the adoption of cloud computing services include enhanced access to data and applications due to the inherent redundancy and multiple pathways used to access cloud computing services.”
With regard to virtualization, FERC officials see promise in the ability to “reduce capital and operating costs, increase the efficiency of existing computing assets and improve incident recovery,” according to the notice. Virtualization is also necessary for implementing modern cloud-based cybersecurity systems, “since a customer choosing to migrate one or more on-premise systems to the cloud will need to virtualize those systems for use in the cloud.”
However, as with anything new, FERC officials are wary of implementing these technologies without fully understanding the ..
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