Press Releases
09/06/2023
Avangrid Named Top Innovator by Public Utilities Fortnightly
Avangrid Named Top Innovator by Public Utilities Fortnightly
Awarded Lewis Latimer Top Innovator in Design for Avangrid’s Cyber Security Simulation in Metaverse project
ORANGE, Conn. — September 6, 2023 — Avangrid, Inc. (NYSE: AGR), a leading sustainable energy company and member of the Iberdrola Group, announced today that is has been named a 2023 Top Innovator by Public Utilities Fortnightly. The company received the Lewis Latimer Top Innovator in Design Award for its Cyber Security Simulation in Metaverse project, which created cybersecurity simulations to help the team update and improve its proactive defense strategies.
The project built three interconnected virtual meta-worlds: an electrical substation, the electrical control center and a virtual cyber security collaboration meeting room. These meta-worlds were created in detail and included everything from overhead lines and transformers to an interactive control room. The pilot project then simulated cyber-attacks in the meta-worlds, such as a cybersecurity event in a substation that causes a fire and results in power outages. The Avangrid security team ran through these simulations using a virtual reality platform to identify, respond to and mitigate/eliminate the cyber threat.
“Imagine you hear an explosion, alarms are going off and there are employees scrambling to respond—what do you do?” said Carl Young, chief information officer at Avangrid. “This scenario is almost impossible to simulate in the real world, but in the meta-verse we can replay it over and over in a safe and controlled environment. This simulation can help us predict adversaries' behaviors and tactics as well as understand the impact on our infrastructure and the effectiveness of our processes and plans to mitigate and address these risks.”
The Avangrid team members who will be honored by Public Utilities Fortnightly are Carl Young, Mansur Mohammed, Robert Antonellis, James Fox, Crispin Gathuru, Jada Pinto and Ummi Rahman. The project was created in partnership with Microsoft and Bravent.
About Avangrid: Avangrid, Inc. (NYSE: AGR) aspires to be the leading sustainable energy company in the United States. Headquartered in Orange, CT with approximately $44 billion in assets and operations in 24 U.S. states, Avangrid has two primary lines of business: networks and renewables. Through its networks business, Avangrid owns and operates eight electric and natural gas utilities, serving more than 3.3 million customers in New York and New England. Through its renewables business, Avangrid owns and operates a portfolio of renewable energy generation facilities across the United States. Avangrid employs approximately 8,000 people and has been recognized by JUST Capital in 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 as one of the JUST 100 companies – a ranking of America’s best corporate citizens. In 2024, Avangrid ranked first among utilities and 12 overall. The company supports the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals and was named among the World’s Most Ethical Companies in 2024 for the sixth consecutive year by the Ethisphere Institute. Avangrid is a member of the group of companies controlled by Iberdrola, S.A. For more information, visit www.avangrid.com.
About Iberdrola: Iberdrola is one of the world's biggest energy companies and a leader in renewables, spearheading the energy transition to a low carbon economy. The group supplies energy to almost 100 million people in dozens of countries. With a focus on renewable energy, smart networks and smart solutions for customers, Iberdrola’s main markets include Europe (Spain, the United Kingdom, Portugal, France, Germany, Italy and Greece), the United States, Brazil, Mexico and Australia. The company is also present in growth markets such as Japan, Taiwan, Ireland, Sweden and Poland, among others.
With a workforce of nearly 40,000 and assets in excess of €141.7 billion, across the world, Iberdrola helps to support 400,000 jobs across its supply chain, with annual procurement of €12.2 billion. A benchmark in the fight against climate change, Iberdrola has invested more than €130 billion over the past two decades to help build a sustainable energy model, based on sound environmental, social and governance (ESG) principles.
