Enhancing Cyber-Resiliency of DER-Based Smart Grid: A Survey

The rapid development of information and communications technology has enabled the use of digital-controlled and software-driven distributed energy resources (DERs) to improve the flexibility and efficiency of power supply, and support grid operations. However, this evolution also exposes geographically-dispersed DERs to cyber threats, including hardware and software vulnerabilities, communication issues, and personnel errors, etc. Therefore, enhancing the cyber-resiliency of DER-based smart grid - the ability to survive successful cyber intrusions - is becoming increasingly vital and has garnered significant attention from both industry and academia. In this survey, we aim to provide a comprehensive review regarding the cyber-resiliency enhancement (CRE) developments of the DER-based smart grid, present a holistic CRE framework, and thoroughly discuss the research directions of the next-generation CRE methods. Firstly, an integrated threat modeling method is tailored for the hierarchical DER-based smart grid with special emphasises on vulnerability identification and impact analysis. Then, the defense-in-depth strategies encompassing prevention, detection, mitigation, and recovery are comprehensively surveyed, systematically classified, and rigorously summarized. A holistic CRE framework is subsequently proposed to incorporate the five key resiliency enablers. Finally, challenges and future directions are discussed in details. The overall aim of this survey is to illustrates the recent development of CRE methods and motivate further efforts to improve the cyber-resiliency of DER-based smart grid.