PJM is planning a system-wide drill Sept. 23 to simulate simultaneous physical attacks on critical substations, cyber attacks and the loss of supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA).

The drill will assess PJM’s and transmission operators’ readiness to respond to nation-state sponsored attacks.

It will incorporate lessons learned from the North American Electric Reliability Corp.’s GridEx II, an exercise that drew participation from 200 organizations, including PJM, in November. Some participants complained that the GridEx “injects” were introduced too rapidly and that communications between participants didn’t use real-world methods. (See Grid Exercise `Like a Disaster Movie.’)

“GridEx was a good exercise, but sometimes they used communication paths that were not traditional,” said LeRoy Bunyon, PJM manager of business continuity planning. He said the PJM drill will feature communication “not between planner and planner, but operator to real operator.”

According to a presentation to the Operating Committee last week, the drill will test the communication channels between PJM and transmission owners and their ability to respond to attacks by implementing emergency procedures.

Bunyon said PJM will participate using its Dispatcher Training Simulator and asked transmission owners to consider simulator use, as well, instead of using the drill as a tabletop exercise. He asked transmission owners to designate planners to help develop drill materials and conduct training.