Now in its Third Year, the CECA Program Shifts its Focus to Fill Critical Technology Gaps within the Marketplace
Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response
January 16, 2025
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As the Critical Energy Cybersecurity Accelerator (CECA) program concludes its pilot, the program’s researchers and scientists are switching gears to focus on critical technology gaps within the current marketplace. These tech and cyber specialists are now analyzing and testing the technology readiness levels of new, cutting-edge cyber tools that are designed to bolster and strengthen the cybersecurity of our electric grid.
In partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER), the CECA program accelerates the viability of emerging cybersecurity technologies for the energy sector by rigorously testing new tools and reducing barriers to market entry. This work is a critical element of the White House's National Cybersecurity Strategy, contributing to a more secure and resilient energy future for all Americans."
CESER and its partners started implementing the first program track in December 2022, and since then, the program has delivered valuable insights into reliability of cyber tools and system configurations by testing them in realistic threat scenarios.
“There’s interesting cybersecurity research and technologies being worked on across the national labs, but they aren’t always built in such a way that they can be easily used by industry,” said Nik Urlaub, principal investigator for CECA at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). “This new track aims to help these emerging cybersecurity technologies within the national lab complex have a greater impact.”
Technologies in the new track receive iterative laboratory testing in realistic critical energy environments, commercialization support, and resources for industry engagement. They are also benchmarked, pre- and post-evaluation, against the DOE’s Technology Readiness Assessment Guide and Adoption Readiness Assessment.
Read more about how CECA is advancing cyber innovation to defend modern, renewable energy technologies against high-priority cybersecurity risks to the energy sector.
DOE CESER and utility partners sponsor CECA in collaboration with DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. CECA is also sponsored by NREL.