RSVP

You are cordially invited to the September 16th Western Regional Partnership (WRP) Webinar on Blackstart and Black Sky/catastrophic events.  This webinar will begin at 10 am Pacific and conclude by 11:30 am Pacific.

Disruptions to energy infrastructure pose significant threats to the country. As a basic requirement for national security and economic vitality, this critical infrastructure must be able to avoid disruption in the first instance and rebound quickly and safely from any disruptions that do occur. WRP Partners noted the need for improved resiliency and reliability of energy infrastructure in the west. Subject matter experts from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER) and the Electric Infrastructure Security (EIS) Council will:

• Define blackstart capabilities and Black Sky/catastrophic events and explain why WRP Partners should be aware
• Share emerging trends, best practices, resources, and efforts under way to mitigate cascading events/catastrophic threats as well as enhance emergency preparedness and response
• Highlight areas for further collaboration and energy sector resilience

Background: Resilient Energy Infrastructure was identified by WRP as an important topic for a deep-dive in support of the current WRP Strategic Priority (Building Resilience in the West for America’s Defense, Energy, Environment and Infrastructure through Enhanced Collaboration among Federal, State and Tribal Entities).

Blackstart: Major power disturbances (caused by manmade or natural hazards) may cause multiple power plants to go offline. Blackstart refers to the restarting of electric power plants without offsite power (the grid) as part of the system restoration process following a partial or complete shutdown. While large-scale blackouts requiring blackstart resources to restart are rare, they have significant economic and societal consequences – thus creating a need for planning and investments in blackstart resources. Utilities subject to NERC regulation are required to have blackstart plans as part of their overall restoration plans.

Presenters:

DOE CESER

CESER leads the Department of Energy’s efforts to enhance the security of U.S. critical energy infrastructure to all hazards, mitigate the impacts of disruptive events and risk to the sector overall through preparedness and innovation, and respond to and facilitate recovery from energy disruptions in collaboration with other Federal agencies, the private sector, and State, local, tribal, and territory governments. Speakers from DOE CESER will include:

• Brandi Martin, State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial (SLTT) Program Manager
• Jason Pazirandeh, Energy Sector Specialist

Electric Infrastructure Security (EIS) Council

EIS Council has a mission of, “Addressing severe hazards to critical societal infrastructures.” They define “Black Sky Hazard” as “a catastrophic event that severely disrupts the normal functioning of our critical infrastructures in multiple regions for long durations.” Speakers from EIS include:

• Brigadier General (Retired) John W. Heltzel, Director of Resilience Planning
• Chris Beck, Chief Scientist and Vice President for Policy
• Frank Koza, Electric Sector Coordinator

Please Note: This webinar is limited to the first 100 people who provide a RSVP.  Please email amyduffy@westernregionalpartnership.org with any questions for the presenters to address during the webinar.