Stability impact of increased DER penetration in regard to the IEEE 1547 standard in the presence of cyberadversaries

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 1547 standard addresses the integration of distributed energy resources (DER) into area electric power system (AEPS). First released in 2003, with multiple revisions ongoing, the most recent version from 2018 is used in this thesis to develop several use cases to assess the stability risks in the presence of cyber adversaries. The updated standard specifies the need for more flexible settings, requiring DER to remain connected during certain disturbances and provide voltage support via active and reactive power modes. The advent of these functionalities also introduces possible risks where certain settings combinations, which, while allowable under the standard, may actually create instability. The notion that DER should be equipped with a communication interface to be able to communicate with the AEPS operator exposes DER to numerous attack vectors from cyber adversaries. This concern is amplified as DER penetration increases, where under a reasonable threat model, multiple DER could be attacked simultaneously. Through several illustrative use cases, this thesis addresses in detail how potentially adverse combinations of mode change, mode setting parameters, and ride-through and tripping settings could lead to instability. The use cases are then validated through simulations of a hypothetical AEPS with varying degrees of DER penetration. It was concluded that certain adverse mode changes or settings, whether through error or cyberattack, can lead to unstable conditions with DER penetrations as low as 24% of the AEPS system capacity. This is a motivation to look into possible mitigation strategies on both the cybersecurity and cyber physical sides of the problem