Govt Mulls Creating Power Islanding Systems In Several Cities To Protect Electricity Infra Against Cyberattacks

Union Minister for Power RK Singh has said that the government is discussing a plan to create power islanding systems in several cities to protect the electricity infrastructure from potential cyberattacks, reports Livemint.

Singh told the lawmakers in the Parliament that that the cities being considered for the establishment of such systems include Bengaluru and Jamnagar. While the former is a state capital and a hub of technology companies and startups in the country, the latter is home to two of India's largest oil refineries.

Singh also shared that the existing systems in Delhi and Mumbai are also being revamped.

It should be noted that the plan follows a major power outage in India’s financial hub Mumbai last year that brought the city to a grinding halt. The event had then prompted a lot of speculation about a possible cyberattack.

Also, a year before that, computer systems at one of Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL)'s generation plants had also been attacked by malware.

In this backdrop, islanding systems can provide protection by automatically isolating the generation capacity from the main grid in the event of an outage.