First cohort of Clean Energy Cybersecurity Accelerator providers begin technical assessment

Blue Ridge Networks, Sierra Nevada Corporation, and Xage – the first cohort of solution providers from the Clean Energy Cybersecurity Accelerator (CECA)- recently began technical assessment of their technologies.

The selected solution providers – which offer authentication solutions for distributed energy resources- will participate in a six-month acceleration period, where solutions will be evaluated in the Advanced Research on Integrated Energy Systems (ARIES) cyber range.

The initiative is managed by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and sponsored by DOE’s Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER) as well as utility industry partners in collaboration with DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE).

“We are thrilled to welcome and work with the first participants to the secure energy transformation,” Jon White, director of NREL’s Cybersecurity Program Office, said. “These cyber-solution providers will work with NREL, using its world-class capabilities, to develop their ideas into real-world solutions. We are ready to build security into technologies at the early development stages when most effective and efficient.”

In this first cohort of CECA, Blue Ridge Networks was selected for its LinkGuard system, which “cloaks” critical information technology network operations from destructive and costly cyberattacks. The system overlays onto existing network infrastructure to secure network segments from external discovery or data exfiltration.

Sierra Nevada Corporation was tapped for its Binary Armor, which is used by the U.S. Department of Defense and utilities to protect critical assets, with the help of subject matter experts to deliver cyber solutions. SNC currently helps secure heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems; programmable logical controllers; and wildfire detection, with remote monitoring for two different utilities.

In addition, Xage has developed technology that uses identity-based access control to protect users, machines, apps, and data, at the edge and in the cloud, enforcing zero-trust access to secure operations and data universally.

Currently, three major U.S. utilities are partners with CECA: Berkshire Hathaway Energy, Duke Energy, and Xcel Energy. However, more are expected to join. At the end of each cohort cycle, cyber innovators will present their solutions to the utilities to make an immediate impact.

Applications for the second CECA cohort will open in early January 2023 for providers offering solutions that uncover hidden risks due to incomplete system visibility and device security and configuration.