COCOON · COoperative Cyber prOtectiON for modern power grids

The convergence of Information Technology (IT) with Operational Technology (OT) environments for digitising mission-critical stability and flexibility of Electrical Power and Energy System (EPES) operations as well as new Ancillary Services (AS) business markets through Distributed Renewable Energy Sources (DRES), has undoubtedly expanded the cyber-attack spectrum in modern power grids with intrinsic cyber-physical properties. To achieve a pragmatic and cooperative cyber-physical protection, COCOON brings an inter-disciplinary approach consisting of the synergy between networked systems and power systems engineering research with system operations over real setups. Through COCOON, cyber protection in EPES should a) function optimally and securely, b) natively provide inter-domain secure information exchange, c) address real-time power systems requirements for timely cyber-physical threat detection and mitigation, d) enhance operator training for grid protection operations. The bottom-up systems-oriented approach offered by COCOON will enable the composition of practical data-driven cyber-physical protection mechanisms to operate if needed on real-time and enhance (i) cyber-physical anomaly diagnosis, (ii) vulnerability assessment and risk profiling, (iii) cyber threat mitigation and (iv) trustworthy information exchange. COCOON will be demonstrated in four distinct pilot studies focusing on detecting, classifying and mitigating composite cyber-vectors targeting (i) AS instrumentation in energy communities through their interface with a DSO (Greece), (ii) cross-TSO grid stability data updates within the EU South East network coordinator (regional, based in Greece), (iii) DSO substations (Netherlands), and (iv) DRES aggregators interfacing with a DSO (Spain).