Utilities inherit every OT constraint and then add a regulatory overlay on top. Devices with twenty-year lives, annual patching windows negotiated against reliability obligations, a smart meter population in the millions, and a compliance regime that treats change itself as a risk.
This is a working day. You bring your own asset register and your own outage calendar, and you leave with a plan that fits inside both.
Who this intensive is for
Utility security architects, OT and control systems engineering leads, NERC CIP compliance staff, smart grid and AMI owners, and the engineering leadership who approve change. Electric, gas, and water all work in the same room, because the constraint shapes are the same even where the regulators differ.
Bring someone who owns the outage calendar. Sequencing in this sector is scheduling.
What you’ll be able to do afterward
- Map the cryptographic estate across generation, transmission, distribution, and the metering population
- Separate assets that can be migrated inside an existing maintenance window from those that require an outage or a replacement
- Work NERC CIP obligations into the plan as a constraint on change control rather than a separate compliance exercise
- Size the smart meter and AMI population honestly, including the part that will never be upgraded
- Write post-quantum requirements into procurement for assets being specified now that will still be running at migration deadlines
- Plan mitigation for the un-upgradeable population through segmentation, gateways, or planned retirement
What you leave with
Every participant receives the course handbook, a PDF of the full material with the instructor notes written out, and a PDF copy of Quantum Ready. The day itself produces an OT and IT cryptographic estate map, an asset triage covering migrate, gateway, isolate, and retire, a migration sequence mapped onto your outage and maintenance calendar, and procurement language for long-lived asset specifications. All are editable and yours to keep.
The day
Morning, first block. The estate. Cryptographic dependencies across the utility, from corporate IT through control systems to the meter. Where the boundaries actually fall.
Morning, second block. Constraints. Safety cases, reliability obligations, patching windows, and device lifetimes. What each one rules out.
Afternoon, first block. The un-upgradeable population. Triage. Gateway, segmentation, and retirement strategies for what cannot migrate, and how to defend each choice.
Afternoon, second block. The plan. Sequence against the outage calendar. Draft the change control and compliance narrative the plan will need.
Where this course fits
Quantum-Safe Energy and Utilities is the prerequisite in substance rather than in rule. It covers the same ground at overview depth, and participants who arrive having taken it start the day with the vocabulary already shared. Afterward, Quantum-Safe OT and Critical Infrastructure for teams wanting the broader OT treatment, and PQC Vendor Governance for the supplier conversations.
Why we teach this
The day is built on the OT/CNI Extension of the Applied Quantum PQC Migration Framework, published openly under Creative Commons at pqcframework.org. The instructors run migration programs in this sector, and that is where the constraints in this material come from.
Certificate of Completion
Upon completion, you will receive a Quantum Academy certificate of completion. This is not a professional certification.
Enrollment includes 180 days of access to the corresponding online on-demand course. Where that course is not yet published, the 180 days start on the day it is.
About this program
Quantum Academy credentials are private professional credentials issued by Quantum Academy, a trade name of Post-Quantum Institute. They are not government-issued licenses, accredited degrees, or academic credit, and earning one does not guarantee employment, promotion, regulatory approval, or any other specific outcome.
Quantum Academy programs are educational and informational only, and are not legal, compliance, or engineering advice.