Dive Brief:

• A new report from the Congressional Research Service finds a strategic attack on the U.S. electricity grid would be "crippling" and have "serious economic and social consequences."
• The report recommends Congress review utility and state grid security plans for electricity infrastructure and facilities. 
• The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has already asked utilities to develop new security protocols this year to help bolster the grid's physical security after a leaked report in March claimed an attack on 9 key substations has the potential to bring down large portions of the U.S. grid. 

Dive Insight:

The report reflects widespread concern over the security of the grid following the attack on a Pacific Gas & Electric substation in California in 2013. During the unexpected attack, gunshots were fired into the substation's transformers, causing them to shut down.

The utility has subsequently put $100 million aside to invest in substation hardening. The report singles out transformers as particularly vulnerable infrastructure, quoting one Mitsubishi Electric Power Products engineer who said it is "surprisingly simple" to take out a transformer. 

Late last month, the head of the industry security group Electricity Sub-Sector Coordinating Council and Southern Company CEO Tom Fanning said the Wall Street Journal report was inaccurate. As generation and distribution hubs are changing constantly, there can be no definite set of power facilities critical to the grid at all times, Fanning said.