Welcome to lesson 16. Let us move on now to the electricity portion of the energy sector. The US electricity segment is comprised of more than 6,413 power plants, with approximately 1,075 gigawatts of installed generation. They serve 143 million customers by means of 30,320 substations, 203,930 miles of high voltage alternating current transmission lines, 6,222 miles of high voltage direct current transmission lines. About 48% of electricity is produced by coal power, 20% by nuclear power, and 22% by natural gas generators. Less than 10% of the nation's electricity is provided by renewable sources, including hydroelectric, geothermal, wind, and solar power. The North American grid is segregated into four regions serving both the United States and Canada. The Eastern Interconnection, the Western Electricity Coordinating Council, the Electricity Reliability Counsel of Texas, and the Quebec Interconnection. The four power grids form an integrated system that has been described as the world's largest machine. There is no doubt that the loss of this system would be catastrophic. In August 2003, a power outage affected 50 million people in the northeastern United States and Canada for the most part of a week. The cause was accidental, but that didn't make the consequences any less severe. $4 to $10 billion in economic losses are attributed to the blackout, as was a 0.7% drop in Canada's gross domestic product. A John Hopkins study determined that 90 people in New York City died as a direct result of the power outage. In 2006 the Department of Homeland Security, together with the Department of Energy, conducted a joint experiment called Project Aurora. In this experiment, researches demonstrated how an electricity generator could be remotely commanded over the internet to self-destruct. The video can be found on YouTube. The implications were shocking, because it take months, or even years, to replace a generator. Consider the greater consequences if the 2003 blackout had lasted not just a week, but for months. As with the water sector, protection of the electricity sector is also covered under Presidential Policy Directive Number 21, Critical Infrastructure Protection. PPD-21 assigns the Department of Energy as the sector specific agency responsible for the Energy Sector, including electricity. DOE officials work together with industry representatives on the Electricity Sector Coordinating Council to implement provisions of the 2013 National Infrastructure Protection Plan. And update the corresponding sector specific plan. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 created the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, giving the Department of Energy regulatory authority over the Electricity Sector. The North American Electric Reliability Corporation, an industry cooperative, maintains reliability of the grid through eight regional reliability councils. FERC works closely with NERC. Security cooperation is also facilitated through the Electricity Sector Information Sharing and Analysis Center. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 gave FERC the authority to approve mandatory cybersecurity standards. Accordingly, FERC developed a set of critical infrastructure protection cybersecurity reliability standards. After President Obama issued executive order 13636 in February, 2013, FERC worked with the NIST to help develop the Cybersecurity Framework. The resulting product, released in February 2014, is very similar to the Electricity Subsector Cybersecurity Capability Maturity Model. We will take a closer look at the Electricity Subsector Cybersecurity Capability Maturity Model in our next lesson. For now, let us review the main points of this lesson. 1, the electricity sector is an essential infrastructure upon which many other infrastructures rely. 2, a 2003 blackout in the northeast United States and Canada, lasting only a week, cost $4 to $10 billion in damages, and at least 90 related deaths. 3, Project Aurora in 2006 demonstrated how an electricity generator could be commanded to self-destruct over the Internet. 4, federal officials worry that a coordinated cyber attack could shut down the North American grid for months, if not years. 5, the Department of Energy is the Sector-Specific Agency for the Energy Sector, including electricity. 6, the Department of Energy works with the Electricity Sector Coordinating Council to implement provisions of the National Infrastructure Protection Plan, and update its Sector-Specific Plan. 7, the Energy Policy Act of 2005 created the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. A DOE agency with regulatory authority over the Electricity Sector, including the authority to enforce cybersecurity standards. 8, FERC works with the North American Electric Reliability Corporation to maintain oversight on the reliability of the North American grid. 9, FERC developed a set of cybersecurity standards for the Electricity Sector. 10, FERC also helped the NIST develop the 2014 Cybersecurity Framework. 11, the NIST Cybersecurity Framework closely resembles the Electricity Subsector Cybersecurity Capability Maturity Model. Please join me next time as we take a closer look at the Electricity Subsector Cybersecurity Capability Maturity Model. Thank you.