In an age where electricity is as vital as the air we breathe, the sanctity of power infrastructure is non-negotiable. At the heart of this infrastructure lies the substation, a critical piece in our quest for uninterrupted power supply. However, substations face daunting security challenges that threaten to plunge our lives into darkness.
In this article, we explore the challenges of substation security, explain the complexity behind safeguarding these power centers, and discover how Walney Substation ensured operational continuity through substation security.
Key Takeaways
- Substations are essential nodes in national power distribution and require strict protection.
- Their remote nature and accessibility make them vulnerable to physical and cyber threats.
- A layered approach consisting of fencing, surveillance, access control, and cybersecurity, is the most effective defense.
- Real‑world examples like Walney Substation reinforce the importance of proactive security investment.
Key Security Challenges Facing Substations
Managing Security Across Diverse Environments
Substations operate in remote rural locations and dense urban settings. Each setting presents unique risks. Remote sites may face limited oversight and slower response times, while urban substations contend with higher foot traffic and constrained perimeters.
This diversity makes adaptable substation security essential. Scalable substation fencing, intelligent monitoring, and robust substation access control help ensure only authorized personnel can enter, whether the substation is surrounded by farmland or positioned near busy commercial zones.
Balancing Accessibility with Secure Boundaries
Utility operators must balance operational access with strong protection, ensuring maintenance teams can work efficiently while restricting public intrusion. Purpose-built substation access control solutions support safety, compliance, and operational integrity.
Rising Cyber Threats
The cyber threat landscape facing utilities is intensifying at an unprecedented rate. A recent Trustwave SpiderLabs report highlights that ransomware incidents targeting utilities have surged by 80% since 2023, making cyber physical resilience a top priority for operators. Even more concerning, 47% of all global cyberattacks on the utilities sector target the United States, signalling that high value energy infrastructure remains a prime focus for threat actors.
Modern access control solutions are designed with integrated cybersecurity features, helping safeguard substations against both physical and cyber threats. By embedding cybersecurity into access control systems, these solutions provide a unified defense that addresses vulnerabilities at the intersection of physical and digital security.
Overcoming Fragmentation and Operator Load
Fragmented point solutions increase complexity and alarm fatigue. Consolidation into a single platform reduces operator workload, eliminates duplicate data, and strengthens compliance reporting.
How to Secure a Substation: A Layered Approach
Any disruption or damage to the operation of these services can have devastating and far-reaching impacts across many aspects of our daily lives.
Because of their importance, a robust physical security solution is required, and an effective way to protect a critical infrastructure site is to use a layered approach beginning with substation fencing, through to cybersecurity.
Substation Fencing: The First Line of Defense
Substations are critical infrastructure, and as such require a robust substation security solution to protect and ensure minimal interruption and performance inefficiencies.
Securing substations requires a complete solution, one that starts from the outside in, with substation perimeter fencing.
Substation security fencing includes the installation of a monitored pulse fence around the edge of a site which has two functions; to provide intruder deterrence and ensure awareness if someone does try to enter a site.
Gallagher pulse fences boost substation security through energized, high-tensile wires that can be constructed inside a new fence or added to an existing one. The wires are monitored and will trigger an alert as soon as they are touched.
Gallagher’s perimeter fence security is configured and controlled using the powerful software at the heart of the solution, Command Centre, providing fence hardware solutions that can be managed and monitored across multiple sites from one central location.
Access Control & Intrusion Detection
Substation access control solutions ensure that access is only available to authorized personnel, those with the necessary competencies and permissions to be in a designated area at any one time.
One example of this is utilizing an access control system to manage user privileges and assigning different access permissions for employees. Entry control points can be easily established to only allow authorized individuals initial access to a facility or within specific areas. The rule of least privilege ensures that users are given the minimum levels of access or permissions needed to perform their job. This can be a fundamental layer in protecting high-value assets or data.
High security zones often have a dual authority rule, which requires two authorized individuals to be authenticated simultaneously before access is granted. For areas where two people must be present, a no-alone zone can be employed. If the individuals fail to leave within the allotted grace period, an alarm will be generated. Access control systems with more advanced capabilities can modify this rule to require at least one person of a supervisor role to be present.
Video Surveillance & Monitoring Technologies
Video surveillance is another essential tool in boosting substation security. Command Centre is capable of integrating with a wide range of best-in-class video systems allowing substation security operators to be equipped with a single solution on the control room, increasing efficiencies and reducing costs.
Cybersecurity Integration
A crucial layer in every physical access control strategy that is sometimes overlooked, is cybersecurity. Unfortunately, cyber-attacks are becoming increasingly prevalent and as such are a very real threat to every organization, although especially consequential for critical sites. When it comes to the protection of substations, cybersecurity is one of the most important things you can invest in.
Gallagher’s security solutions are highly specialized and designed to meet the needs of critical sites with some of today's highest security requirements. A significant component of this design is having cybersecurity protection built-in at every stage. End-to-end encryption and authentication, external and internal vulnerability testing, system hardening and configuration advice, fully trained and certified installers all help to ensure your security system is as cyber secure as possible.
Case Study: How Walney Substation Ensured Operational Continuity
When commissioned in 2018, the Walney Extension was set to power over 590,000 UK homes from a total capacity of 660 MW. Covering an area of reclaimed marsh land, the substation required an innovative perimeter and internal security fencing package to be designed to offer the highest levels in security and electrical safety.
Partnering with Gallagher, the substation installed five systems in total from the CLD Fencing Systems range of rigid mesh fencing and security gate solutions and combined this with a Gallagher Monitored Pulse Fence to add an extra layer of security to the site.
The Gallagher solution provides reliable detection and prevention of unauthorized access to the site, ensures operational continuity, avoiding significant costs associated with loss of supply, while protecting the site's assets from theft and damage.
The Importance of Substation Security
By ensuring substation security is up to task, operators can be confident they have the necessary measures in place to mitigate risk and protect critical infrastructure from attack. By engaging substation security solutions fit for purpose, operators can best support an uninterrupted and reliable power supply to consumers, a necessity when maintaining public safety.
Substations are critical necessities in the distribution of electricity to power our homes, our hospitals, schools, manufacturing plants and keep life operating on a daily basis.
Ensuring substations remain secure and protected from possible attacks or threats is of the utmost importance. Protection starts from the outside in with substation perimeter security, the first step in a line of defense designed to ensure uninterrupted operating.
Additional layers of security including CCTV, access solutions, and cybersecurity fortify protection and create a cohesive and robust barrier to compromising activity.
Gallagher’s award-winning security solutions are used to protect some of the world’s most critical infrastructure and locations, and are sought after for their levels of protection, regulatory compliance, and efficiency.
Substation security is and continues to be about protecting what matters most and with Gallagher Security and access solutions operators can be confident their system is up for the task now, and into the future.
Ready to Unify Substation Security Across Your Network?
When your essential services are safeguarded by a unified security ecosystem, your teams can redirect their focus toward continuity, efficiency, and long term growth.
Ready to see how a proactive approach to access control can strengthen your security posture? Contact Gallagher Security for a personal consultation today.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is substation security critical for national infrastructure?
Because substations regulate and distribute electricity, security breaches can result in significant outages and safety risks.
Why is substation fencing so important?
It establishes an intelligent perimeter that deters threats, enables early detection, and channels movement through verified access points.
How does substation access control reduce risk?
By authenticating identities, enforcing role based permissions, preventing tailgating, and logging events for audits, substation access control minimizes unauthorized entry and accelerates investigations.
How do we secure remote, unmanned, or off network sites?
Use remote management tools like OneLink to maintain visibility, capture events, and coordinate responses, even without traditional connectivity.