Qatar’s National Research Foundation (QNRF) has given a $3.2 million grant to an international research collaboration between academia and industry-led by Texas A&M University at Qatar towards a cluster project for smart grid cybersecurity infrastructure in the country with the ultimate goal of providing more safer, more reliable energy supply for the nation.
The international research team which is led by Dr. Haitham Abu-Rub, a professor in Texas A&M at Qatar’s Electrical and Engineering Program and Managing Director of the TEES Smart Grid Center extension in Qatar, includes researchers from Qatar University, the Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, and the Qatar General Electricity & Water Corporation (KAHRAMAA).
The initiative also incorporates international collaborators from Texas A&M’s main campus in College Station, Texas (USA) and Kansas State University (USA).
The KAHRAMAA supported collaboration will also have contributions from the Ministry of Transport and Communications, Qatar Mobility Innovations Center and some companies in the industry from the United States (AllCell and Typhoon HIL).
The project, “Multi-layer Cybersecurity and Situational Awareness to Enhance Resiliency in Qatar’s Power Grid,” (NPRP12C-0814-190012) was awarded as part of QNRF’s National Priorities Research Program-Cluster track for a duration of four years.
The Cluster track aims to develop solutions to real-world challenges in Qatar that produce tangible societal and economic impact. Through this Cluster program, QNRF supports multi-institutional and interdisciplinary research to solve significant and complex problems that need an unconventional approach.
Abu-Rub said that this cluster project will help to create cyber-physical security infrastructure for Qatar’s smart grid which will also address the challenges associated with cyber-physical security and situational awareness of Qatar’s power grid.
In short, the research will aid in protecting Qatar’s smart grid and critical infrastructures from cyberattacks, damage and energy disruption, thereby ensuring the energy security of Qatar’s critical infrastructure.
The collaborators said that residential, commercial, institutional and industrial sectors throughout Qatar will benefit from this research. All these sectors need an electric energy supply with improved reliability and enhanced resiliency from Qatar’s power grid. Various stakeholders will gain huge benefits from the acquired knowledge, skill and transfer technologies that will be created during the project. This project can result in a significant impact on Qatar’s national electric grid security and economic savings.
