Towards a Collaborative Framework to Improve Urban Grid Resilience

Two trends will help to ensure resilient electricity supply in Smart Cities: a) the ongoing deployment of Smart Grid technology and b) the adoption of distributed energy resources. Unfortunately, the increased reliance on ICT in the Smart Grid will expose new threats that could result in incidents that might affect urban electricity distribution networks by causing power outages. Diverse specialists will need to cooperate to address these threats. This position paper outlines a methodology for establishing a collaborative framework that supports the definition of response strategies to threats. We consider the ongoing evolution of the electricity grids and the threats emerging while the grid evolves. After outlining possible scenarios of urban grid development, we highlight several threats and the strategies of attackers. Finally, we introduce a framework that aims to foster the collaboration of stakeholders involved in city resilience planning taking into account grid vulnerability and criticality from a city’s perspective.