Quantum Security for Microgrids

Communication has always played a vital role in microgrids in maintaining reliable operations and achieving great benefits and will be even more critical with the increasing deployment of renewable energies, information technologies, and real-time automation and control systems. However, existing classical cryptographic methods for securing microgrid communication are based on mathematical assumptions, which are vulnerable to attacks from quantum computers. This chapter reviews the current status of developing quantum-secure microgrids, namely, microgrids that are secure against attacks from quantum computers. Specifically, it introduces why implementing quantum security is important, how quantum security can be integrated into a single microgrid and networked microgrids (NMs), respectively, and how quantum-secure microgrid and NMs testbeds are established. It also discusses some potential issues associated with applying existing quantum cryptography methods in the context of microgrids and provides future perspectives to make quantum security more practical in microgrids.