NERC-compliant security at Manitoba Hydro | Genetec
Summary
Manitoba Hydro is the major energy utility company for the province of Manitoba, Canada. The utility company recently achieve NERC-compliance across 80+ critical sites after upgrading to Genetec Security Center for video surveillance, access control, and intrusion detection.
Manitoba Hydro is the energy utility company for the province of Manitoba, Canada. From its head office in downtown Winnipeg, the company serves 580,262 electric customers and 281,990 natural gas customers, and fulfills power sales to SaskPower, Wisconsin Public Service, Minnesota Power, Xcel Energy, Great River Energy, and the Basin Power Cooperative. About 96% of the electricity produced is renewable power. In total, the company has over 160 sites around the province, including generation, transmission, and converter stations, critical control centers, customer service facilities, office buildings, natural gas stations, and storage depots.
The company
In the United States and Canada, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) ensures the reliability of bulk power systems. One of NERC’s main physical security requirements is that utility organizations must record all access control activity, maintain logs for authorized access, and monitor critical facilities for unauthorized access 24/7. They must also implement the appropriate response plan within 15 minutes of an access breach alarm. While Manitoba Hydro monitored facilities using independent access control and video systems, the solutions lacked the capabilities that the utility company needed to achieve NERC compliance.
The challenge
“We’ve gone from zero intelligence to almost real-time event monitoring using the Security Center platform. We now have robust physical protection systems that help us keep our organization NERC compliant.”
Physical Security Supervisor, Manitoba Hydro
Results
Manitoba Hydro chose Security Center, the unified security solution from Genetec which combines Security Center Omnicast™ for video surveillance, Security Center Synergis™ for access control and other security systems into one intuitive platform. The system helps manage over 1,000 doors and 1,100 cameras across all its critical facilities to enhance security and minimize NERC compliance violations.
“Having both the Synergis and Omnicast systems combined in one platform is a tremendous benefit to our operations,” explained the Physical Security Supervisor. “We receive real-time alarms alongside the live video of the event, allowing our team to quickly investigate and classify alarms and to initiate the appropriate planned response to meet NERC compliance requirements.”