National critical energy infrastructure protection in Europe - Germany training seminar

National Critical Energy Infrastructures vary within the different Member States of the EU, but they have at least one challenge in common. All are all obliged to ensure that they can continue to function in the most adverse conditions since their breakdown can have catastrophic consequences - as shown during the fatal Fukushima incident. How can National Critical Energy Infrastructures be protected against man-made or natural threats? What are the best strategies to manage major blackouts? How to assess and manage these risks for Critical Energy Infrastructures in the best way?

To add to these difficulties, the necessary Europe-wide cross-linking of energy infrastructures results both in an immense interdependency of the Member States’ energy infrastructures and in a high vulnerability of the entire energy system. It is intensified even more by the importance and utilisation of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for energy infrastructures – a critical infrastructure itself. But how to cope with cyber threats to Critical Energy Infrastructures? Furthermore, for private companies it is essential to guarantee the functioning of their energy infrastructure as damage can not only endanger personnel, but also cause loss in revenue, costs for recovery and renovation as well as a damage to their image.

What will you learn at this seminar?

• What are the new threats and how do you prepare your infrastructure for these challenges?
• How to protect a National Electricity Grid
• How to identify the interdependencies between CEIs of different sectors
• How to cope with cyber threats against vulnerable SCADA systems and networks
• Learn from UN and EU: get to know their recent CEIP activities and how they approach contingency planning as well as preparedness and management of disasters
• How Public Private Partnerships (PPP) can facilitate the protection of Critical Energy Infrastructures
• Learn about threats to gas supply networks and how to deal with them

Speakers

• Dusan Zupka, Former Deputy Chief of Emergency Preparedness Section, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA), Switzerland
• José Antonio Hoyos Pérez,  Policy Officer, Critical Energy Infrastructure Protection Unit, DG Energy, European Commission, Belgium
• Frank Umbach, Senior Associate and Head of the International Energy Security Programme, Centre for European Security Strategies, Germany; Associate Director, European Centre for Energy and Resource Security (EUCERS) of King‘s College London, United Kingdom & Non-Resident Senior Fellow, U.S. Atlantic Council, U.S.A.
• Óscar Ribeiro, Adviser to the Board of Directors, REN – Redes Energéticas Nacionais, Portugal
• Michael Gilbert, O.B.E. Associate Director, Steelhenge Consulting, United Kingdom