India needs robust security measures to safeguard wind sector from cyber threats
Niti Aayog has said. Niti Aayog, in a report titled 'Domestic Manufacturing Capacity & Potential Cyber Security Challenges in the Wind Sector and Way Forward', said wind turbines' capability to exchange information through power plant controllers (PPC) poses a significant cybersecurity threat.
«The PPC software is of critical importance and associated with risks — used in the device which connects the wind farm directly to the national/state grid.
»PPC OEMs of foreign origin, especially neighbouring countries, need to be examined, and a call needs to be taken for their suspension while not adhering to the protocol," it said.
The report emphasised the potential risks associated with cyberattacks on wind turbines, including the compromise of grid operations, especially when managed remotely by owners stationed outside India.
«With China emerging as a major competitor in wind equipment exports...The need for robust security measures is crucial to safeguard national infrastructure,» the report said.
The primary focus is to raise specific concerns about cybersecurity due to the 'import (especially from China)' of the wind sector components by wind turbine original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).
«The main issues are OEMs data collection servers, which are situated outside of the country, vulnerabilities in data and power system network operations due to updating operating software's of wind plant devices by OEMs without any permission from grid-operator and MNRE etc,» it pointed out.
The report outlined the
