BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) - A top U.S. Department of Energy official toured Texas A&M's Smart Grid Center on Friday, highlighting research she says could help protect the power grid as electricity demand surges across the country.

Assistant Secretary Katie Jereza, who leads the department's Office of Electricity, visited the Center for Infrastructure Renewal on the RELLIS Campus in Bryan.

The facility's control room lab allows researchers to simulate cyberattacks, equipment failures and other disruptions before they can happen on the real electric grid."I particularly liked looking at the smart grid control lab," Jereza said.