All right. This hearing will come to order, without objection the chair is authorized to declare recess at any time. Good afternoon, welcome to todays hearing. The future of electricity delivery, modernizing and securing our nations electricity grid. I want to thank all of our witnesses for joining us here today. This is such an important topic. Im a young guy as you can tell but i have read history about what it was like when we first started building the electric grid over a century ago now. I dont think we could have imagined the technologies that we would use to power or homes and businesses and hospitals and everything today. And i think the challenge is different, you know, back then the real challenge was just extending power itself throughout every corner of our society, and there was a challenge which was that those providing power knew they could make money in the cities in well Populated Areas in places with a lot of business and commercial opportunities, but it was not as profitable to take electric power out into the country side, into the hill country of texas, for example. And so the government made a basic deal, which was that they would provide essentially a monopoly over providing power in a lot of these areas. If i did would make quite a bit of money, utilities would and in exchange, they would carry their product everywhere it needed to be. And i thinks in 21st century, we have a similar dilemma on our hands but theres a similar deal to be made, the challenge is not just to provide power itself everywhere, but to provide power in a way that is clean and efficient and allows us to stay economically competitive, even as we become a society much less dependent on carbon, and although electricity demand has been flat, we should see electricity demand increase as we electrify more segments of our society in order to accomplish those goals. But to get there, its clear that we have to change the energy sector. We know that as we do that, for example, theyre going to be much more serious threats to our electric grid from Cyber Attacks and otherwise. We know that the economics of this whole thing are changing as Natural Gas Resources have come online. Thats good for constituents like mine who are saving money. But as all of this stuff changes, were going to have to invest to really upgrade the system that is meant to integrate all of these new sources of energy. And to strike a balance between them in realtime. Which has become one of the big challenges with Battery Storage especially. Thats a computing challenge. Its a technological challenge, its a challenge when it comes to making the basic Infrastructure Investment and thats what were here to talk about today. I was definitely alarmed to hear as im sure many of you were about the first serious cyber attack on our nations electric grid back in march, or at least it was reported in march. As far as we know, no customers lost power in that attack. But it obviously is a warning sign of the incredibly serious damage that could happen if we dont take action on this issue, and by the time one happens when somebody does lose power, it will be much too late, and so the choice facing all of us today is whether we can get the legislative machinery to work in such a way that we can really make a serious investment and try to protect folks from the Cyber Attacks that we all know are going to come. We know that russia and china and other adversaries, and they would love to have in their back pocket, the ability to shut down the grid when its convenient for them and the decision facing us is whether they will allow it to happen, and i think i speak for every member of the committee when i say they will not. Thats why im looking forward to talking about these subjects today. We have the draft, grid modernization and Development Act of 2019, which will allow us to set forth a wide array of Research Opportunities on topics like grid modernization, resilience, Emergency Response, modeling, which we know is going to be so important to be able to manage the new type of grid that we have, and better integration of buildings, vehicles and renewable sources. Several members of this committee, including mr. Cfoste have introduced legislation on these, and we are happy to incorporate elements of those in this draft and making sure we do that. We are looking at the grid Cyber Security research and Development Act of 2019 which updates a bill previously introduced by mr. Berra. This would authorize a cross Agency Research and Development Program to do exactly what i have discussed which is harden and mitigate the electric grid from Cyber Attacks. It will be carried out in partnership with the department of Homeland Security, the National Institute for standards in technology, and the National Science foundation would involve technical assistance, education and work force. One of the aspects of Cyber Security that i think is often underappreciated is the fact that it is also a work force issue. We dont have enough people trained in working in Cyber Security today as we need and there will be tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of more openings in the next few years. Many of which in my home area of pittsburgh, the great work done at carnegie melon, and the university of pittsburghs Cyber Law Institute among others, training people up for this. Thats what these kinds of programs are going to authorize. Were excited to talk about them. With that ill recognize the Ranking Member mr. Weber for an opening statement. Thank you, chairman lamb for hosting this hearing. I was asking what the population of pittsburgh is. The metro area is about 1 1 2 million. Is that about right . Thats a lot of electricity but we appreciate you hosting this hearing. This afternoon we will hear from expert witnesses on the existing strengths and weaknesses of our nations electric grid and the impact, the potential attacks could have on our grid reliability and National Security. Our Witnesses Today will also discuss advances in the research and development of new grid tools, and technologies. And provide hopefully insight, i know you will, into how the federal government can work alongside of American Industries to strengthen our energy sector. The reliability of americas power grid is one of our greatest economic strengths. I like to say that the things that make America Great are the things that america makes. How do we do that. We have a strong, Reliable Energy supply. Thats how we do it. In my home state of texas, reliable and affordable power serves a population that is increasing by more than 1,000 a day. Chairman lamb, thats why i was asking you, we literally get 30,000 people a month into texas. Now, multiple times 12 and you figure out what that does in a year. 1,000 people per day, and supports the industries that drive the United States consumption of energy. Texas is by far the nations largest producer and consumer of electricity. And keeping its power grid reliable and secure is absolutely key to maintaining the u. S. Economic growth. But even in texas, it is Common Knowledge that our electric grid faces significant and diverse threats to the reliability and the resiliency of power delivery. Put simply, we cannot predict when a cyber attack would threaten our power supply that you referenced mr. Chairman, and we do not know when the next Natural Disaster might occur. In 2017, we were reminded of this fact by the impact of hurricane harvey, a devastating category 4 hurricane that hit the texas gulf coast and caused significant generator and transmission line outages for many on the texas coast and the texas interconnection. However, due to proper planning and management by what we call the electric Reliability Council of texas, the texas grid was able to recover quickly from this devastating storm. Its not a question of if, but a question of when that same power grid will face significant physical and cyber threats, the modernization of the National Electricity system must be our priority. According to the department of energy, doa, the u. S. Electric grid must be updated within the next decade to address challenges including ageing u. S. Energy infrastructure, changes for demand in energy, emerging threats and fundamental shifts in the u. S. Energy supply portfolio, as Energy Sources rightfully so, like renewables and nuclear increase. Again, we can see these changes taking place in my very own home state where today Nuclear Generation is our most reliable source of energy. In fact, running at more than 93 of the time over the last three years. And where we also lead the nation in wind energy, and were number five in solar energy, by the way. As next Generation Energy technologies continue to come online and as Cyber Security capabilities continue to grow and evolve, we must take our action to counter our abilities and provide necessary updates to this very critical and necessary infrastructure. Thankfully, doe funds broad research and Development Programs to support grid modernization and Security Technologies through Department Wide collaborations like the Grid Modernization Initiative or gmi, and the Grid Modernization Lab consorts gmlc. D. O. E. Also funds Robust Research in novel grid technologies and computational modeling efforts through its office of lelectricity, and cybr Security Technology through Energy Delivery systems through its office of Cyber Security, Energy Security and Emergency Response. We are grateful to have two witnesses representing these important efforts here this afternoon, the honorable karen evans and juan torrez at the National Laboratory and cochair, welcome to both of you. Welcome to all of you. Modernizing our grid will require these important programs. Along with cooperation from many federal agencies, states and industry, i hope our witnesses, i trust our witnesses can share their expertise and provide valuable insight on how congress can best support these very collaborative efforts. I want to thank the chairman again for holding this hearing. I look forward to productive and electrifying discussions and mr. Chairman, i yield back. It couldnt be the first time that electricity was powered by a lot of hot air from texas. Or the last. Had to include that for the Ranking Members granddaughter in the audience, and we welcome her. I think it is important to note the bipartisan nature of this discussion as it often is on this committee, on these subjects, mr. Weber and i are big supporters of Nuclear Energy and all of the above strategy. Its one thing that doesnt break through the headlines but a beacon of hope in washington some days. At this time, i would like to introduce our witnesses, the honorable karen evans is assistant secretary of the office of Cyber Security, Energy Security and Emergency Response caesar at the u. S. Department of energy. Before leading, she was the National Director of the u. S. Cyber challenge, a Public PrivateProgram Designed to help address the skills gap in the Cyber Security field. She also worked for the george w. Bush administration where she was an i. T. Official at the office of management and budget, and served as department of energys commander in chief information officer. Mr. Juan torres is the associate Laboratory Director for Energy Systems integration at enrel and cochair of the Grid Modernization Laboratory consortium which is a partnership of 14 National Labs to advance modernization of the u. S. Power grid. Prior to joining enrel he held a variety of positions where he rkd worked on securing our Energy Infrastructure. Ms. Kelly speaks bachmann is the ceo of the Energy Storage association. Kelly has spent 20 years working in energy and Environmental Issues in the public, ngo, and private sectors, including united technologies, sun edison and alliance to save energy. She is a former commissioner of the Maryland Public Service commission where she also served as chair of the board of directors of the regional Greenhouse Gas initiative, covicechair of the naruc committee on Energy Resources and the environment and a member of the epri and grid modernization public add voviso group, and Katherine Hamilton, a Public Policy consultant si, specializing in clean energy and innovation, and the executive director of the advanced Energy Management alliance. She previously ran the grid wise alliance, was policy director to the Energy Storage association and worked at the National RenewableEnergy Laboratory. Katherine worked in Buildings Research and government relations. She also spent a decade at an investor owned utility designing Electrical Systems for commercial and residential developments. As our witnesses should know, you will each have five minutes for your spoken testimony, your written testimony will be included in the record. When you have completed your spoken testimony, we will begin with questions, and each member will then have five minutes for questions. We will start with the testimony of ms. Evans. Chairman lamb, Ranking Member weber and members of the subcommittee, it is an honor and a privilege to serve at the department of energy as the assistant secretary for the office of Cyber Security, Energy Security, and Emergency Response. Thank you for the opportunity to testify on behalf of the department. One of the most Critical Missions at d. O. E. Is developing the science and technology to successfully counter the ever evolving increasing threat cyber and other attacks on our networks, data, facilities and infrastructure. D. O. E. Works closely with our federal agencies, state and local, tribal and territorial governments, industry and our National Laboratory partners to accomplish this mission. Another Critical Mission for d. O. E. Is ensuring the resilience of our electric grid and successfully countering the ever evolving, increasing threat of physical and Cyber Attacks. D. O. E. Recently announced an 8 Million Investment in innovations that will enhance the reliability and the resiliency of our Nations Energy infrastructure. This r and D Partnership opportunity will spur the development of the next generation of tools and technologies that will become widely adopted throughout the energy sector. As we protect our infrastructure from cyber threats, we are also working to improve and complete the resilience of our electricity systems. Our office of electricity also supports Transmission System resilience and generation diversity. And is exploring new architecture approaches for the electric grid. This includes the development of the north American Energy resilience model that aims to provide unique and Ground BreakingNational Scale