On the 23rd and 24th of September 2024, the COCOON 3rd Consortium Meeting was held at the KIOS Research and Innovation Center of Excellence premises. This meeting brought together key partners from across Europe to discuss the progress of the COCOON project, which focuses on developing a high Technology Readiness Level (TRL) unified cyber-physical systems solution to address the cybersecurity and cyber-resilience challenges faced by interconnected Electrical Power and Energy Systems (EPES) in Europe.
Over the two-day event, consortium partners reviewed the project’s progress, exchanged innovative ideas, and planned future actions. Within one year of collaboration, the project successfully achieved five key milestones:
- Establishment of the first in the history of Greece remote control and instrumentation channel between the Hellenic Electricity Distribution Network Operator (HEDNO) with energy communities in the area of Halkidiki, Greece.
- Establishment and configuration of pilot setups in real PhotoVoltaic (PV) deployments, energy communities and Transmission System Regional Security Coordination centres across South Europe, Greece, Spain and the Netherlands.
- Definition of the COCOON System Architecture, which details the entire implementation process, components and their interactions of the COCOON cyber solutions for EPES.
- Selection of technologies to be used for the development of the Control, Measurement and Monitoring layer of the COCOON Node, which are instrumental to ensure the feasible implementation of the COCOON high-level AI-based cyber security services without requiring any modifications in the current network topology of EPES (e.g., future proof solution with minimum investment costs).
- Detailed framework of the cyber threat models, vulnerability assessment and risk profiling tailored for EPES critical infrastructures. This milestone sets the ground for a robust and effective cybersecurity strategy for safeguarding the critical EPES infrastructure against evolving cyber threats.
According to the project’s coordinator, UCY/KIOS Asst. Professor, Angelos K. Marnerides, “COCOON’s innovative solutions will significantly enhance the prevention and detection of cyberattacks within the EU energy sector. This will not only reduce losses from blackouts and cascading failures in interconnected grid systems but also strengthen the assurance of continuous utility services for citizens”.
Project’s website: https://www.cyber-cocoon.eu/
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 101120221.