UL 2941 provides testable requirements for energy storage and generation technologies in the distribution network. The new cybersecurity protocol provides a framework for solar inverters, electric vehicle chargers, wind turbines, fuel cells and other distributed resources.
Electrical standards provider UL Solutions has released a new cybersecurity protocol, UL 2941, covering distributed energy and inverter-based resources. Developed with the US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), UL 2941 provides testable requirements for energy storage and generation technologies in the distribution grid. The new cybersecurity protocol provides a framework for solar inverters, electric vehicle chargers, wind turbines, fuel cells, and other distributed resources that operate on a network connection.
The new UL requirement prioritizes cybersecurity standards for power systems handling high-penetration inverter-based resources, including those connected to bulk power systems during periods of momentary high wind, solar, and hybrid/storage generation. UL 2941 also promotes cybersecurity measures for all new inverter-based resources (IBRs) and distributed energy resources (DERs).
“The publication of UL 2941 is a milestone in securing the distributed generation industry,” said Denmark Saleem, senior energy systems cybersecurity engineer at NREL. “Equipment manufacturers, asset owners, regulators and government officials now have a solid starting point for strengthening the security of their equipment, including networked IBR devices, monitoring devices, and components of IBR systems that provide software-based and firmware-based controls.”
NREL is seeking additional funding from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Energy Technology Office (SETO) to support the new standard. With SETO, NREL will receive formal feedback on the listed requirements, develop test methods and beta test the equipment to the UL 2941 standard, Saleem said.
Products that comply with UL 2941 can be UL certified. The testing is designed as an additional service for inverters that complements UL 1741, the current standard for power inverters, converters, controllers and distributed energy resource connection system equipment.
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