April 2013 1:00 a.m. San Jose, California. "Snipers open fire on a nearby electrical substation. Shooting for 19 minutes, they surgically knocked out 17 giant transformers that funnel power to Silicon Valley. A minute before a police car arrived, the shooters disappeared into the night." -NPR

The April San Jose shooting was covered by national media because substation security isn't a topic that typically receives a lot of public attention. However, individual power utilities have focused on security concerns for years, and are now adding to their list of scenarios the Silicon Valley incident.

Preparing the Site

The first line of defense should always be site selection. Cameras, fences, and manpower are supplemental securities to ideal site selection. An ideal substation site has plenty of natural barriers, offering effective protection. However, while some substations have fantastic natural barriers, older ones may no longer have those barriers and now sit exposed by a roadway.

How does surveying fit into all this? Security measures are heavily influenced by the surrounding topography, and should be the starting point for all recommendations. Geographically, is the utility more vulnerable from the north or south? From this hill or that hill? Perhaps a 20-foot concrete wall is needed on the substation's north and east sides, but sharp-angled rises to the south and west allow for only eight-foot walls.

Surveying from 1,000 feet outside the perimeter to identify every vantage point a sniper could exploit allows us to identify vulnerabilities inside the perimeter. We can also recommend simple solutions like rerouting overhead power cable lines or concealing distribution circuits. No matter the recommendation, all proposals must come with a deep understanding of the client's security systems, protocol, and personnel.

It's All About Strategy

The Silicon Valley attack included multiple shooters attacking from multiple angles and who methodically targeted specific instruments before slipping away into the night. This information tells us three distinct things: the topography surrounding the substation includes prime vantage points, important equipment lies in plain sight, and the security cameras may have blind spots.

The right answer is not always a 40-foot wall made of concrete and steel. Ballistic materials need to be used sparingly and only to protect the things that actually need protecting, like generators, transformers, transmitters, and other distribution systems.

For instance, in one of our more recent projects, we proposed installing a simple grey fence, which not only deters breaking and entering, but also greatly inhibits a sniper's depth perception. The light grey fence against the industrial substation background all but washes out the equipment into a haze of grey.

Using Technology to Understand Vulnerabilities

With the advent of 3-D laser scanning surveys, like the image below, we can better identify vulnerabilities at ground level, overhead, and even underground. The electromagnetic field produced by substation cables and housing make it dangerous to get too close with metal surveying equipment. Standing 25 feet away, 3-D laser scanning allows us to get a complete interactive image, without putting the crew at risk or needing an escort.

A Final Note - Communicating with the Public

As power utilities put more time and effort into substation security, the importance of a proper public relations strategy cannot be understated. Installing ballistic-grade walls around a small town's substation will probably cause alarm, so it's important to address the concerns with proper messages grounded in the truth: substation security measures like fences, gates, and cameras have always been in place, but the technology has gotten better and the risks are getting broader.