"Researchers Protecting Solar Technologies From Cyberattack"

A new study conducted by researchers at the University of Georgia (UGA) proposes the use of a novel approach to protecting the nation's solar farms from cyberattacks. A team at UGA's College of Engineering developed a sensor system capable of monitoring an essential electrical component of solar farms for signs of cyber intrusion in real-time. WenZhan Song, the study's lead investigator, emphasized that hackers' exploitation of the converters that connect solar farms with the power grid is a growing concern. In today's grid-connected solar farms, it is possible to remotely control power electronics, but this Internet connection has increased the likelihood of cyberattacks. In order to safeguard solar farms against cyber threats, the UGA researchers developed a system that can detect anomalies in the operations of power electronic converters in real-time through the use of a single voltage sensor and a current sensor. The system also applies deep learning methods to distinguish between normal conditions, open-circuit faults, short-circuit faults, and cyber intrusions. A small passive sensor device is connected to the power converter to collect data on electrical waveforms and feed the information to a computer monitor. Even if an attack evades the firewall or security software, the sensors will still detect unusual activity in the power electronics device's electrical current. According to the researchers, their system can also run diagnostic tests to determine what type of problem occurred. Compared to other existing detection methods, which only detect abnormal waveforms, the UGA researchers say their system has been proven to be more accurate in identifying cyberattacks in testing using a solar farm model. They also say their system can identify new types of cyberattacks that have not been programmed into deep learning algorithms. This article continues to discuss the UGA research team's sensor system designed to protect solar farms from hackers. 

UGA Today reports "Researchers Protecting Solar Technologies From Cyberattack"