Building a hardware-in-the-loop (HiL) digital energy station infrastructure for cyber operation resiliency testing

Critical infrastructure protection is essential for a well-functioning modern digitized society. Power grid is amongst the most essential critical infrastructures, and stable energy production, transmission and distribution are core part of power grids. The modernization of the power grid and the introduction of smart grids have resulted in increased digitalization and a larger uptake of information technology. Substations are core to the power grid, and safe and secure operation of digital substations are essential for a stable smart grid. To better understand, evaluate and prepare for future cyber-attacks, there is a need to leverage a representative information technology and operational technology testbed that are flexible enough to support testing and evaluation of cyber-attacks, evaluation of vulnerabilities, and that can be used for training and testing of incident response procedures. This paper presents such an infrastructure for digital substations.