Cybersecurity as a prerequisite for tomorrow's energy grid
Electric vehicles are increasingly becoming part of the energy grid. They not only charge electricity, but also play a role in storage and feed-back. Within the DITM (Digital Infrastructure for Future-Proof Mobility) programme, inQuisitive is investigating how this development can take place safely and reliably.
The company analyses and tests the cybersecurity of the interaction between vehicles and the EnergyPod, and identifies where risks may arise in the chain. Because, as founder Christiaan Bouwmeester puts it: ‘If you can hack an EnergyPod via a vehicle, it will ultimately affect the entire energy grid.’
Christiaan Bouwmeester naturally looks at what can go wrong: systems that don't quite work together properly, software that looks good on paper but proves vulnerable in practice. With inQuisitive – the company he founded, which now has around thirty specialists – he spends his days testing and questioning digital systems. ‘Everything related to software and hardware, and certainly the combination of the two, carries risks,’ he says. It is precisely this way of thinking that brought inQuisitive to the heart of the DITM project.
From car to energy grid
Within DITM, work is underway on a solution whereby mobile storage capacity can be used as a buffer for the electricity grid. Once that storage becomes part of the electricity grid, safety becomes a prerequisite. ‘Then you have to be able to rely on the entire chain,’ says Bouwmeester. In the initial phase of the project, the term “battery” was still interpreted broadly. Vehicle batteries were also included. That got him thinking. ‘What if you extend that chain further?’ he says. ‘When solar panels also communicate with the grid in the future, you want to be sure that this is done safely.’
That thought marked the moment when inQuisitive became involved in the project. Its task was to take a close look at cybersecurity, chain security and system behaviour, and thus contribute to solutions that would also stand up in practice. ‘We were asked to look ahead,’ says Bouwmeester, ‘to the scenarios that you would rather consider now than when a system is live.’
Work package three: mobile storage and stability
inQuisitive is primarily involved in work package three, which revolves around mobile storage capacity and stabilising the electricity grid. ‘The aim of work package three is to demonstrate that we can use mobile storage capacity to prevent or remedy congestion on the grid,’ explains Bouwmeester. The EnergyPod – a mobile energy storage system that can charge, discharge and communicate with the energy grid – plays a central role in this.
The physical EnergyPod is not yet fully ready, but a lot is already possible in terms of software. ‘We can simulate controlling, charging and discharging the pod and run all kinds of scenarios on it,’ says Bouwmeester. ‘That's really cool.’ The idea of mobile storage is not limited to a single device. An electric city bus also fits into that picture. ‘Such a bus is in fact also a mobile battery,’ says Bouwmeester. ‘It simply has a very large battery in it.’
The EnergyPod is part of a larger ecosystem, in which the Energy Hub also plays a role. ‘An Energy Hub is a convergence of different energy flows,’ explains Bouwmeester. ‘Cars, solar panels, mains power. In the middle, there is a switch box, as it were, that determines where the energy comes from and where it goes.’ The EnergyPod is an independent device within that system. ‘You can say: you now need to charge or discharge. That's what the EnergyPod does.’
Variety as the biggest challenge
According to Bouwmeester, the biggest technological challenge is not so much in the hardware, but in the enormous variety of software. ‘In particular, keeping it secure,’ he says. ‘There are predictions that people will soon have forty devices connected to the internet in their homes.’ Many of these devices are connected to the power grid and control other systems. In doing so, they influence the energy grid. ‘These are all systems with software from different suppliers,’ says Bouwmeester. ‘You don't know exactly what that software does, and who might be able to influence it.’
His example is commonplace. ‘One of my neighbours has solar panels from China, the other from Germany,’ he says. ‘They come from all over the place, but we connect them all to the same energy network.’ That makes the playing field complex and difficult to oversee. That challenge is partly in the future, but according to him, it is already relevant today. ‘The market is not fully controlled. We want to keep the ecosystem safe. That is a major challenge.’
Standards and certification
Within DITM, there is therefore a strong focus on standardisation. ‘Suppose you want to use a car to balance the energy grid,’ says Bouwmeester. ‘Then we want that car to meet certain quality requirements and certifications.’ The same applies to chargers and other components in the chain. The key question is always the same: how do you get all these components to work together safely? ‘If the charging station is certified, what requirements must the car meet? And what does that mean for the service provider?’ Bouwmeester wonders. ‘Ultimately, these are human systems and nothing is 100% safe. But we have definitely made progress in this area.’
The ecosystem within the project has been deliberately kept limited. ‘We are working with VDL, Heliox and NXP,’ he says. ‘Within work package three, we want to be able to say: this works and it works safely.’ Security tests and simulations must demonstrate this.
From Eindhoven to Europe
The project is currently being implemented in Eindhoven and the surrounding area. Bouwmeester: ‘Ultimately, we want to move towards a European system. The faster we take steps, the stronger the signal we can send.’ According to him, that signal is not only important for the market, but also for governments. ‘Then at some point you can say: these are the conditions you have to meet if you want to charge here.’
The urgency of this is evident from practical examples. ‘Recently, thousands of cars were immobilised because a server was unavailable,’ says Bouwmeester. ‘That may have been a supplier's mistake, but you don't want someone from outside deliberately causing such a situation.’ That risk is real. That is why he advocates clear standards and legislation. ‘These kinds of projects are not only suitable for developing products,’ he says, ‘but also for establishing standards and use cases.’
Cables, hacks and everyday choices
Cybersecurity sometimes lies in unexpected details. ‘A lot of communication takes place wirelessly,’ says Bouwmeester. ‘Whereas communication via a cable is often more secure.’ At the same time, he warns against underestimated risks. ‘One of the most commonly used tricks by hackers is to swap cables.’
He also believes that charging cables should meet certain standards. ‘You can buy a charging cable for four to five hundred pounds,’ he says, ‘or one from AliExpress for a few tens of pounds. Many people make the latter choice. And that's where it gets exciting.’
Social impact
For the average Dutch person, the impact of the EnergyPod is still limited. But that is going to change, Bouwmeester expects. ‘If we can demonstrate the use cases and roll this out on a larger scale, you will hear fewer calls not to cook or charge your car around six o'clock.’
He sketches such a future in simple images. ‘Suppose there is a lot of solar energy in Eindhoven and a residential area in Helmond has too little power,’ he says. ‘Then we drive a bus with storage capacity there, plug it in and supply that neighbourhood with power.’ That would reduce grid congestion and speed up the connection of homes and businesses.
Legislation as a brake
At the same time, current legislation leaves little room for energy sharing. ‘If I charge my car with solar energy and my neighbour has too little power, I am not allowed to share that power,’ says Bouwmeester. ‘Then I suddenly become an energy supplier.’ Whereas for him, the idea of sharing is self-evident. ‘If I have food left over, I take it to my neighbour,’ he says. In his view, this shows what society is all about: using what we have more intelligently and helping each other where we can. Projects such as DITM demonstrate how this could also work for energy.
He knows that legislation changes slowly. ‘The market moves first, then the legislator follows.’ That is precisely why he sees the value of projects like this, which use concrete examples to explore how sharing, collaboration and flexibility can find a place in the energy system of the future.
Learning together in the chain
The end of the programme is in sight, and testing the entire chain is central to this. ‘We hope to have the EnergyPod physically ready in time,’ says Bouwmeester. ‘Then we can show that everything works together and that breaking in is not possible.’ The first chain tests are planned for March, followed by the big presentation day in June.
What comes next? ‘First, we will celebrate that we have achieved this together,’ he says. ‘And then we will see how we can take this further.’ For inQuisitive, this also means learning how to share their knowledge more effectively. ‘We are a small company and have learned a lot here.’
What has perhaps stayed with him most is the interaction between the different parties. ‘Sometimes you're in meetings and you think: this is way over my head,’ says Bouwmeester with a laugh. ‘For example, when it comes to cryptography. Then I'm really blinking my eyes.’ That's precisely what makes the project valuable to him. ‘Everyone looks at things from their own area of expertise, and together you discover how everything fits together.’