NCCS is of fundamental importance to European citizens and businesses.
Several factors contribute to this:
Electricity is vital for European citizens and businesses.
The electricity sector within the Union is experiencing a significant transformation, marked by increasingly decentralised markets with a greater number of participants, a higher share of energy sourced from renewables, and more digitalised and interconnected systems.
The interconnected European electricity grid is unique because it enables the seamless transfer of electricity across multiple countries, enhancing energy security, efficiency, and the integration of renewable energy sources. Here you can find the grid map of the EU: Grid Map
Europe has set a clear goal of a fully-integrated internal energy market, which ensures non-discriminatory market access of existing and new actors and facilitates cross-border energy trading.
Digitalisation and cybersecurity are decisive to provide essential services and therefore of strategic relevance for critical energy infrastructure.
Digitalisation creates significant risks as an increased exposure to cyberattacks and cybersecurity incidents potentially jeopardises the security of energy supply and the privacy of consumer data. The digitalisation of the energy sector comes with a price: increased exposure to cyber incidents and attacks. Ubiquitous connectivity and data collection heighten the already clear need for vigilance with data security for customers, systems or assets. Many energy system assets have been operational since decades in times when communication interconnectivity layers were not considered, or purely monitoring based, or at least tailored for the specific application.
NCCS complementing and building upon NIS2 to include sector-specific cybersecurity requirements provides more precise instructions and procedures.
The goal of NCCS is to establish a comprehensive and unified cybersecurity framework for the European electricity sector, which is essential for ensuring the security and reliability of OT and IT systems in the digital age. This, in turn, guarantees the security of cross-border electricity supply.
This Regulation has been developed in close cooperation with ACER, ENISA, the ENTSO for Electricity, the EU DSO entity and other stakeholders, in order to adopt effective, balanced and proportionate rules in a transparent and participative manner.