Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • Videos
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Library
    • Research
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
STEM
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
Sections
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • Videos
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Library
    • Research
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
STEM

Multidisciplinary Team Wins NSF Award to Study Distributed Energy Markets

Friday, October 14, 2016, By J.D. Ross
Share
afasdfsadfasdf

Researchers from four schools and colleges at Syracuse University are researching two-way, distributed energy market designs.

As the traditional, centralized way of producing and distributing electricity gives way to a future of decentralized, “smart” energy production and consumption, policymakers, producers and regulators must understand the security and privacy risks inherent in “distributed” energy production and in encouraging consumers to better manage, even produce, their own energy.

That’s why an interdisciplinary team of Syracuse University cybersecurity, engineering, economics and law experts, led by School of Information Studies (iSchool) faculty member Jason Dedrick, are conducting research into various “two-way, distributed” energy market designs to assess potential security and privacy risks inherent in each, and the trade-offs between reducing risk and optimizing market performance.

researchers

Funded with a $344,184 grant from the National Science Foundation, the team is drawn from the iSchool, the College of Engineering and Computer Science, the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and the College of Law. It will employ mixed methods to conduct the market assessment, including interviews, market structure and data flow modeling, simulations using real world electricity use data and security threat analysis.

“In the ‘smart grid,’ electricity and information will flow back and forth among households, businesses and small producers,” explains Dedrick, Professor of Information Systems and the project’s principal investigator (PI). “Consumers will be able to create their own power and sell it back to the grid, while information about demand, supply and performance will flow to and from appliances, electric cars and solar cells and other local generators.”

But, observes Dedrick, there are significant risks associated with the two-way, distributed smart grid. Networked appliances could be vulnerable to cyber attacks. High-speed, decentralized electricity trading will make it harder to identify fraud. And there might be opportunities for market manipulation, privacy breaches and even physical damage to the national infrastructure.

“The wide range of new participants and devices in a two-way, distributed smart grid creates many new cybersecurity vulnerabilities. Our goal in this project is to determine the degree of vulnerability of different market configurations and to identify resilient approaches,” says Co-PI Professor Peter Wilcoxen, Director of the Center for Environmental Policy and Administration at the Maxwell School. “Our research focuses on the different effects of privacy, security and integrity measures on the operation of the grid and energy markets, including impacts on the stability of the gird, the privacy of participants and the trustworthiness of the market—that is, can participants be confident that payments are fair and that prices are not overly volatile?”

The results of this two-year project will provide guidance to policymakers, regulators and market participants so that an effective market can be designed for a two-way, distributed smart grid, one that incorporates necessary security and privacy protections without burdening the market’s function.

Dedrick will take the lead in collecting data on current and planned distributed energy markets and security policies, while Wilcoxen will lead the development, testing and analysis of market simulation models. Cybersecurity risks will be analyzed by Co-PI Steve Chapin, associate professor of computer science in the College of Engineering and Computer Science; and Keli Perrin, assistant director of the Institute for National Security and Counterterrorism, will draft privacy impact assessments for proposed markets.

  • Author

J.D. Ross

  • Recent
  • “Syracuse University to rename the Carrier Dome – what name would fans choose?”
    Wednesday, May 25, 2022, By Lily Datz
  • Digital Badges at Syracuse University: Recognizing and Authenticating Microcredential Moments in Higher Education
    Wednesday, May 25, 2022, By Lyndy McLaughlin
  • Social Work Student Bre’Yona Montalvo Receives First Sunflower Scholarship
    Wednesday, May 25, 2022, By Matt Michael
  • 5 Things to Know About the JMA Wireless Dome
    Wednesday, May 25, 2022, By Jen Maser
  • NBA Player Shares Personal Experience With Stuttering With CSD Students
    Wednesday, May 25, 2022, By Dan Bernardi

More In STEM

Matt Cufari Named as a 2022-23 Astronaut Scholar

Matt Cufari, a senior physics major in the College of Arts and Sciences (A&S), a computer science major in the College of Engineering and Computer Science, a Coronat Scholar and a member of the Renée Crown University Honors Program, has…

Dean Rajiv ‘Raj’ Dewan to Step Down as Dean of the School of Information Studies

Rajiv “Raj” Dewan, dean of the School of Information Studies, has announced he will conclude his deanship on June 30, 2022. Dewan plans to return to full-time faculty duties while continuing his research. David Seaman, dean of Syracuse University Libraries…

Biology and Earth and Environmental Sciences Departments Come Together on Diversity and Engagement Initiatives

In 1948, Professor James Hope Birnie became Syracuse University’s first African American faculty member in biology, teaching here until 1951. He was also one of its first biology faculty members to be supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH)….

Black Hole Image Shows Einstein Was Right, Once Again

Today a team of astronomers announced they successfully captured the first direct image of the black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy. Duncan Brown is the Charles Brightman Endowed Professor of Physics at Syracuse University’s College of…

Biomedical and Chemical Engineering Professor’s Research Team Receives Multiple Awards at Society for Biomaterials Conference

Biomedical and chemical engineering Professor Mary Beth Monroe attended the Society for Biomaterials (SFB) 2022 meeting in Baltimore, Maryland, with Ph.D. students Anand Vakil, Henry Beaman, Changling Du and Maryam Ramezani, master’s student Natalie Petryk ’21, G’22 and undergraduate students Caitlyn…

Subscribe to SU Today

If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.

Connect With Us

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
Social Media Directory

For the Media

Find an Expert Follow @SyracuseUNews
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • @SyracuseU
  • @SyracuseUNews
  • @SUCampus
  • Social Media Directory
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Campus Status
  • Syracuse.edu
© 2022 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.