DER Communication Networks and Their Security Issues

Distributed energy resources (DERs) make up a small percentage of energy generation, however, it has increased significantly in recent years in the United States, mainly due to government policies to reduce emissions and advantages of engaging end-users in demand response, lower electricity cost and strengthen the power system. As the popularity of DERs grows for renewable energy, standardized real-time and secure way of communication and coordinate control to all DERs are in demand. In this paper, we examine the concept of smart grid, traditional grid, the background of DER, some DER architectures, international implementations of DERMS, DER communication protocols, potential attacks on DER, and some mitigation strategies.