Infrastructure protectionOld-fashioned way to protect high-voltage substations
There are about 45,000 substations in the United States, but far fewer high-voltage substations like the one attacked last April in Metcalf. California. Americans could see what the loss of just one important power substation can have when, in 2003, a failure in one such substation knocked out power to fifty million people in the United States and Canada for days. Illinois-based IDT says that since Biblical times, the method of thick-walled fortifications to halt manned and artillery attacks remains the best technology for protecting lives and important assets. The company says that its METALITH, a several-feet-thick prefabricated steel barrier structure filled with sand, would offer the best protection to vulnerable power substations. “While most of the electrical industry has been focused on the threat of cyber-terrorism, the San Jose [Metcalf is near San Jose] attack points to the need for physical protection of strategic power grid assets as well,” says Tom Carlton, IDT’s CEO.
The 16 April 2013 attack on a Metcalf, California high-voltage station did not make the headlines until Jon Wellinghoff, who chaired the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) provided the Wall Street Journal with information which allowed the newspaper, on 4 February 2014, to publish a detailed and alarming repot about the attack (See “Attack on California power station heightens concerns about grid security,” HSNW, 7 February 2014; and “Former FERC chair calls for mandatory security standards for high-voltage substations, HSNW, 11 February 2014).
Wellinghoff has called the potential for additional attacks, similar to the one in San Jose, an indication of a “huge threat” and said that it represented, “the most significant incident of domestic terrorism involving the grid that has ever occurred.”
Others agree. “While most of the electrical industry has been focused on the threat of cyber-terrorism, the San Jose attack points to the need for physical protection of strategic power grid assets as well,” said Tom Carlton of Belvidere, Illinois-based Infrastructure Defense Technologies, LLC (IDT). “We’ve brought an important new component to a traditional protection method that is an effective solution for future attacks.”
IDT says that since Biblical times, the method of thick-walled fortifications to halt manned and artillery attacks remains the best technology for protecting lives and important assets. The company’s physical barrier system is called METALITH. The prefabricated steel barrier structure is filled with sand and is several feet thick. IDT says the structure has proven to be resistant to bullets, explosives, and vehicle ramming. IDT has installed its barriers at strategic U.S. and foreign nuclear and military sites since the September 2001 attacks. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has designated METALITH to be a 90th percentile solution to ground-based attacks, and the product is now a component of the U.S. military’s force protection program worldwide.
“I believe that the threat of armed attacks against our nation’s power grid is real,” said Carlton. “IDT offers a cost-effective solution that can be easily installed to significantly reduce the threat of an attack such as the one in San Jose.”
There are about 45,000 substations in the United States, but far fewer high-voltage substations like the one attacked last April. Americans could see what the loss of just one important power substation can have when, in 2003, a failure in one such substation knocked out power to fifty million people in the United States and Canada for days. A coordinated attack on a small number of critical substations and other grid-related assets could have a major negative impact on Internet, financial, petrochemical, and military services. The U.S. Department of Energy noted in a 2009 report that “physical damage of certain system components on a large scale could result in prolonged outages.”
“The cost of posting 24-hour guards at important substations can be avoided and the sites can be more effectively protected by using a proven barrier system that eliminates the need for a guard force being stationed at these sites,” Carlton said. “Installing a METALITH system is a one-and-done solution that can be an effective protection against an attack for decades.”
“Americans have become accustomed to hearing about U.S. military deaths from IEDs, suicide bombers in vehicles and RPG attacks,” Carlton said. “IDT has been an important force in reducing those casualties with their barriers. We’ve learned what works, and METALITH has proven itself to be the most formidable anti-terrorism barrier available.”
Carlton, though, doubts that the lesson of the attack on the Metcalf substation has been absorbed. He warned that the utility’s planned security upgrades might not be nearly enough.
“PG&E will do as little as it possibly can,” Carlton told the San Jose Mercury News. “The wall, the lights, the cameras — they will do nothing to really fortify a site against an attack. With respect to Metcalf, PG&E will need a perimeter protective system that prevents forced entry and stops a breach by a vehicle.”
