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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 199 records · Page 11
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2025

Regional Energy Hardware Innovation Accelerator

E4 Carolinas, Inc., along with the Joules Accelerator and Savannah River National Laboratory received a grant from the DOE Office of Technology Commercialization as part of its Energy Program for Innovation Clusters (EPIC) program to develop a Regional Energy Hardware Innovation Accelerator. The project objective was to create a regional energy hardware cluster innovation and accelerator ecosystem (Accelerator) to enhance commercialization opportunities for U.S. energy startups (Ventures) and Corporate Ventures (a new venture originating within an established company).

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2024

Multi-State Transportation Electrification Impact Study: Preparing the Grid for Light-, Medium-, and Heavy-Duty Electric Vehicles

Recent U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) notices of proposed rulemakings for GHG emissions standards for light-, medium-, and heavy-duty on-road vehicles would accelerate ongoing advancements already happening in the industry because of private investment, consumer demand, state-level policies, and federal incentives. As the EPA finalizes these regulations, questions persist regarding the cost of the requisite charging infrastructure and associated upgrades to the nation's electric grid. With support from the U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Joint Office of Energy and Transportation, and the EPA, a multidisciplinary team conducted a Multi-State Transportation Electrification Impact Study that quantitatively assesses the incremental investment necessary to enable the levels of vehicle electrification expected to be induced by pending EPA regulations and to estimate the potential value of deferred investments in electric distribution infrastructure stemming from proactive vehicle-grid integration planning and deployment. This study finds the simulated incremental capital cost of charging infrastructure (including grid upgrades) to be at least 2.5 times smaller than the lifetime net benefits of vehicle electrification (including fuel savings but excluding the value of avoided emissions). Additionally, the incremental distribution grid upgrade cost of the EPA Action-Unmanaged scenario was found to be approximately 3% of existing utility distribution system investments (on an annual basis). Finally, the potential for managed charging to defer distribution grid upgrades was found to be significant with costs found to decrease from $2.3 billion to an incremental cost of $1 billion across five states in the Action-Managed scenario (relative to the No Action-Unmanaged scenario).

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Study on Conversion from an Existing Alternating Current Medium-Voltage Line to a Direct Current Line: A Case of Load or Source Expansion

Simultaneous increase of power generation through renewable systems and load due owing to the rapid growth in electrified road transportation systems, leads to new challenges in the design, operation, and protection of distribution-level electrical power systems. This paper addresses challenges related to the integration of new sources or loads to a distribution grid through long alternating current lines. The International Council on Large Electric Systems medium-voltage benchmark model developed for North America was used for simulation studies. Use cases were developed to illuminate the issues related to long alternating current lines and the usefulness of medium-voltage direct current lines in a distribution network.

Jaldanki, Sreenivasa↗
DOE OSTI2020

Module-OT: A Hardware Security Module for Operational Technology

Increased penetration levels of renewable energy and other types of distributed energy resources (DERs) on the modern electric grid-combined with technological advancements for electric system monitoring and control-introduce new cyberattack vectors and increase the cyberattack surface of energy systems. According to the IEEE Std. 1547-2018, DERs must use Modbus, Distributed Network Protocol 3 (DNP3), or Smart Energy Profile 2.0 (SEP2) as their communication protocol. Previous research identified several vulnerabilities and security breaches in each one of these communication protocols; despite this, existing standards for DERs do not recommend cybersecurity measures. In order to reduce vulnerabilities in power distribution systems, this paper presents a novel open-source hardware security module that improves both information and operational security to better protect data and communications on the distribution grid. The security hardware is called “module for operational technology,” or simply Module-OT, and it has been validated and tested in an emulated distribution system application. Module-OT is integrated within a communication system in the transport layer of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model. It improves system security through encryption, authentication, authorization, certificate management, and user access control. The main advancement of Module-OT is the addition of hardware cryptographic acceleration that improves the overall communication performance in terms of end-to-end latency.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2021

SiC-Based 5-kV Universal Modular Soft-Switching Solid-State Transformer (M-S4T) for Medium-Voltage DC Microgrids and Distribution Grids

Medium-voltage DC (MVDC) grids are attractive for electric aircraft and ship power systems, battery energy storage system (BESS), fast charging electric vehicle (EV), etc. Such EV or BESS applications need isolated bidirectional MVDC to LVDC or LVAC converters. However, the existing Si-based solutions cannot fulfill the requirements of a high-efficiency and robust converter for MVDC grids. This paper presents a 5 kV SiC-based universal modular solid-state transformer (SST). This universal current-source SST can interface either a LVAC or LVDC grid with a MVDC grid in single-stage power conversion, while the conventional dual active bridge (DAB) converter needs an additional inverter. The proposed SST module using 3.3 kV SiC MOSFETs and diodes is bidirectional and can serve as a building block in series or parallel for higher-voltage higher-power systems. The topology of each module is based on the soft-switching solid-state transformer (S4T) with reduced conduction loss, which features reduced EMI through controlled dv/dt, and high efficiency with full-range ZVS for main devices and ZCS for auxiliary devices. Operation principle of the modular S4T (M-S4T), capacitor voltage balancing control between the cascaded modules, design of components including a medium-voltage (MV) medium-frequency transformer (MFT) to realize a 50 kVA 5 kV DC to 600 V DC or 480 V AC M-S4T are presented. Importantly, the MV MFT prototype achieves very low leakage inductance (0.13%) and 15 kV insulation with coaxial cables and nanocrystalline cores. Here, the proposed universal modular SST is compared against the DAB solution and verified with DC-DC and DC-AC simulation and 4 kV experimental results. Significantly, the MV experimental results of a modular DC transformer with each module at MVDC are rarely covered in the literature and reported for the first time.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2021

OCHRE: The Object-oriented, Controllable, High-resolution Residential Energy Model for Dynamic Integration Studies

Electrification and the growth of distributed energy resources (DERs), including flexible loads, are changing the energy landscape of electric distribution systems and creating new challenges and opportunities for electric utilities. Changes in demand profiles require improvements in distribution system load models, which have not historically accounted for device controllability or impacts on customer comfort. Although building modeling research has focused on these features, there is a need to incorporate them into distribution load models that include DERs and can be used to study grid-interactive buildings. In this paper, we present the Object-oriented, Controllable, High-resolution Residential Energy (OCHRE) model. OCHRE is a controllable thermal-electric residential energy model that captures building thermal dynamics, integrates grid-dependent electrical behavior, contains models for common DERs and end-use loads, and simulates at a time resolution down to 1 minute. It includes models for space heaters, air conditioners, water heaters, electric vehicles, photovoltaics, and batteries that are externally controllable and integrated in a co-simulation framework. Using a proposed zero energy ready community in Colorado, we co-simulate a distribution grid and 498 all-electric homes with a diverse set of efficiency levels and equipment properties. We show that controllable devices can reduce peak demand within a neighborhood by up to 73% during a critical peak period without sacrificing occupant comfort. We also demonstrate the importance of modeling load diversity at a high time resolution when quantifying power and voltage fluctuations across a distribution system.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2021

Opportunities for installed combined heat and power (CHP) to increase grid flexibility in the U.S.

Increasing use of renewable energy requires sufficient grid flexibility to address uncertainty and variability in electricity generation. Previous studies suggest that combined heat and power (CHP) systems may support grid flexibility but they do not consider operating hours. In this paper, we used CHP operating data and determined annual and monthly availability of the installed CHP capacity from various sectors (e.g., utility, independent power producer, commercial, and industrial) in all seven U.S. independent system operators (ISOs) and regional transmission organizations (RTOs). Also, we estimated hourly CHP availability installed in five facility types (i.e., hospitals, universities, hotels, offices, and manufacturing) in the state of New York. The results show that regardless of ISO/RTO, sector, or season, more than 40% of the installed CHP capacity (0.7–8.7 GW) was not fully utilized in 2019; the results are similar for 2018. This available CHP capacity accounted for up to 9% of the ISO/RTO's peak electric demand, which may yield cost savings up to $16 billion by avoiding installation costs of new natural gas combustion or combined-cycle turbines. To exploit the available CHP capacity to enhance grid flexibility, we recommend different policy implications including flexible contract lengths between CHP owners and grid operators, improved market designs, and simplified interconnection standards.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2023

Vis-SAGA: Visual Analytics for Situational Awareness of Grid Anomalies: Preprint

We describe supporting near real-time situational awareness of the electric distribution system by visualizing novel data from voltage sensors deployed on existing broadband cable television network equipment. Our scalable web-based visual analytics platform supports interactive geospatial exploration, time-series analysis, and summarization of grid behavior during potentially anomalous events. The broadband cable television sensor network provides observability of the electrical distribution system at a higher local spatial resolution than is typically available to most utilities, revealing the operational state of the network and aiding in the detection of abnormal behaviors or deviations from expected patterns, particularly across electric utility service areas. We outline the design and development of interactive geospatial and time-series visualization components and the scalable data services that supply metadata, historical, and real-time streams of sensor data across the network. We evaluate our platform during periods of extreme weather, demonstrating its ability to assist in detecting patterns of operation that affect power availability, quality, resiliency, and service restoration.

cable television↗
DOE OSTI2022

Advanced Metering Infrastructure for Distribution Planning and Operation: Closing the Loop on Grid-Edge Visibility

In the recent history of electric utilities, the potential to have visibility of the grid edge is gaining significance for the reliable planning and operation of a clean energy smart grid. Before the recent large-scale customer adoption of distributed energy resources (DERs), distribution networks were planned with a simpler fit-and-forget philosophy. The importance of customer-sited DERs to achieve climate change goals marks a major shift for utility operations. Changes to traditional fit-and-forget planning paradigms require better availability of grid-edge data. Smart metering is an enterprise-wide tool that is enabling visibility when and where it has been most needed. As of 2020, the rollout of smart metering, or advanced metering infrastructure (AMI), had reached more than 100 million meters in the United States, and nearly half of all electricity customers are now equipped with a smart meter (Figure 1). Smart meters are quickly becoming a ubiquitous data capture feature of smart grids. AMI enables utilities to record and measure electricity usage and power-flow metrics at a minimum of hourly intervals and at least once a day. At a minimum, AMI enables interval metering, automatic meter reading enabling accurate and time-interval billing, and the ability to provide feedback on customer energy consumption.

advanced metering infrastructure↗
DOE OSTI2021

A Review of Current Research Trends in Power-Electronic Innovations in Cyber–Physical Systems

Here, in this article, a broad overview of the current research trends in power-electronic innovations in cyber–physical systems (CPSs) is presented. The recent advances in semiconductor device technologies, control architectures, and communication methodologies have enabled researchers to develop integrated smart CPSs that can cater to the emerging requirements of smart grids, renewable energy, electric vehicles, trains, ships, the Internet of Things (IoT), and so on. The topics presented in this article include novel power-distribution architectures, protection techniques considering large renewable integration in smart grids, wireless charging in electric vehicles, simultaneous power and information transmission, multihop network-based coordination, power technologies for renewable energy and smart transformer, CPS reliability, transactive smart railway grid, and real-time simulation of shipboard power systems. It is anticipated that the research trends presented in this article will provide a timely and useful overview to the power-electronics researchers with broad applications in CPSs.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2022

Smart Microgrids

The Nation’s electrical power depends on one bulk power grid to support security and economic prosperity. According to the Department of Homeland Security’s Homeland Threat Assessment of 2020, the largest cyber threat to homeland security is potential disruption to critical infrastructure, including power grids. Critical infrastructure includes the physical and cyber systems which generate, transmit, and distribute electricity with an impact on economic security, public health, or safety. The surety of the Nation’s power grid is vital for providing essential services and would put the population at risk if disrupted. Power outages can have catastrophic consequences for critical organizations such as hospitals and military installations. Additionally, the current fossil-fuel dependent power grid is extremely fragile and vulnerable to overloads, storms that destroy power lines, and cyber-attacks.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2026

Estimating the impact of tariff-driven behind-the-meter storage operation on distribution grid investments

Increasing growth of distributed solar photovoltaics (PV) and electric vehicles (EV) can strain local distribution networks and require costly upgrades. Distributed battery storage, often deployed alongside PV, can be used to mitigate those costs, depending on how batteries are operated. This study evaluates the potential deferral value of distributed battery storage across a range of tariff structures, focusing on the rate structures most commonly available to residential customers today and related variants. Deferrals are evaluated with a least-cost distribution grid expansion optimization model to identify requirements on line reconductoring, transformer upgrades, and voltage regulator installations under each tariff. Results show that TOU rates and net billing tariffs can yield meaningful deferral value, depending on specific tariff structure features. Under the best performing tariff structure tested, storage produced a median annualized deferral value of $7.18 per kW of storage capacity ( kW S ) across all feeders in the sample, though deferral values were considerably larger for feeders with peak loads that coincide with utility system peak, i.e., timing of TOU peak period. In contrast, under an unrestricted TOU design with no restrictions on grid charging or discharging, the median deferral value was $0/ kW S illustrating the critical importance of tariff structure details.

Rodriguez-Garcia, Luis↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Analysis of the Electrical Grid for UAM

A wide range of challenges must be overcome to conduct Urban Air Mobility (UAM) operations at scale with electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft. This presentation is on an initial analysis of one potential infrastructure challenge for UAM: available electrical grid capacity. The success of UAM is dependent upon the availability of electricity, which will be increasingly impacted by the proliferation of ground electric vehicles over time. Under the best-case assumption that electricity can be transmitted and distributed as needed within each major interconnection (i.e., electrical grid), it is estimated that the maximum number of UAM aircraft that can charge simultaneously in the continental United States will decrease by 20% from 594,878 today to 475,177 in the year 2050.

electrical grid↗
DOE OSTI2026

Satellite-based Investigation of Power-Line Vegetation Encroachment in the US (SILVANUS)

Rapid wide-area assessments of vegetation encroachment on transmission and distribution line rights-of-way (ROW) is a highly desirable capability for understanding risks to the power grid during severe weather and wildfire events. Conventional assessments are time-consuming and expensive due to the need for in-situ inspections and the use of aerial assets. Performing conventional assessments on a wide area would require immense resources and time that might not be available within the horizon of an expected adverse event. Developing a capability to accurately assess vegetation encroachment into ROWs will enable faster analysis of potential grid vulnerabilities in NAERM. This project sought to develop a prototype capability for rapid ROW vegetation encroachment assessments by using Puerto Rico as a test case. Puerto Rico is a heavily forested island territory frequently impacted by tropical cyclones that threaten the electric grid by downing trees across transmission and distribution lines. Multispectral satellite imagery (MSI) enable very high resolution (i.e., 0.5 - 2 meter) assessment of vegetation conditions at scale and with revisit times appropriate for regular monitoring (e.g., weekly to quarterly, depending on cloud cover) of the entire island. Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data from satellites was also investigated as solution to the cloud-cover issue as they are active sensors that emit and receive a microwave signal rather than relying on solar illumination, and are therefore unaffected by cloud cover and can collect data during day or night. Finally, MSI-derived digital surface models (DSMs) map the height of objects relative to sea level, and were assessed for their ability to estimate the height of forest canopies relative to coincident transmission lines. The results of the mapping investigation are described in this report.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2025

Plug-in Electric Vehicle Charging Response Characterization for Grid Integration: Implications for Smart Charge Management

The rapid expansion of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) has created a unique challenge for electrical grids due to their significant power demand. At the same time, PEVs also create a unique opportunity to ease their own burden on the power grid, as they create a growing fleet of distributed energy resources capable of providing grid services such as demand response, frequency regulation, and renewable balancing. For aggregators and grid operators to effectively integrate PEVs into grid management, it is essential to first understand and characterize how they would respond in such situations. This study examines 25 models of PEVs across 25 makes, spanning model years from 2013 to 2025, to characterize their responses to the basic controls used in vehicle-grid integration (VGI): stopping, starting, and modulating the charge rate. Each vehicle was tested in a controlled laboratory setting to evaluate its performance in response to varying the maximum allowable current via the SAE J1772 control pilot signal, as well as its response to wake-up commands outlined in SAE J1772. Results show measurable differences across vehicle makes in the accuracy, latency, and precision with which PEVs respond to changes in ampacity, as well as varying sleep and wake-up behavior. The test results show that all vehicles respond to changes in ampacity, though with varying accuracy, precision, latency, and resolution. Wake-up behavior also differs across makes and models. These findings indicate that effective grid integration strategies must account for these differences. The results provide a foundation for understanding current vehicle behavior and advancing smart-charging methods while also highlighting the need for further testing, broader standardization, and manufacturer collaboration to ensure the successful integration of PEVs into the electrical grid.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2025

Quantum Key Distribution Applicability to Smart Grid Cybersecurity Systems

To meet the increasing demand for electricity and to have a more reliable and resilient electric grid against conventional and extreme events, grid modernization is more crucial now than ever before. This will require the development and deployment of devices that provide advanced communication capabilities. The overall efficiency, reliability, and resilience of the smart grid will be inextricably linked to the exchange of information between these devices. Unfortunately, the increased information flow will increase the potential attack surface and introduce new vulnerabilities. While a smarter grid will depend critically on information flow, these benefits will be accrued only if that information can be protected. Nowadays, information is secured in smart grids primarily through cryptography. However, with the increasing number of sophisticated attacks as well as the increasing computational power, the security of the “classical” cryptographic algorithms is threatened. Quantum information science offers solutions to this problem, specifically quantum key distribution (QKD), which provides a means for the generation and secure distribution of symmetric cryptographic keys. The security of QKD stems ultimately from the very nature of quantum physics. In this paper, we investigate the applicability of QKD to the various smart grid sectors and specific use cases. We have identified 18 smart grid use cases of interest for QKD suitability together with 7 QKD factors used for the assessment of the various use cases. For each use case, the impact to security of the loss of confidentiality, integrity, and/or availability is specified. In addition, the suitability of QKD is assessed for each use case with respect to multiple factors.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2025

Advanced Intelligent Sensor Development and Demonstration for Future Distribution Systems with High Penetration DERs

The nation’s electric grid is evolving to supply the electricity needed for economic growth, health, and quality of life. As the DOE has pointed out “Old Tools Won’t Solve New Problems” This project conceived, designed, built, and demonstrated a new tool that promises to make the emerging grid dependable at a lower cost. The tool is a smart sensor with the sensitivity and the bandwidth to measure actionable information about grid health that was unmeasurable.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2025

Real-Time Dispatcher for a Distributed Energy Resource Power Plant to Provide Grid Services [SWR-25-17]

This software dispatches the aggregated power of a distributed energy resource (DER) plant located on an electrical distribution network. It is designed to provide the following services to the grid in real-time: (i) voltage support of the distribution network, (ii) virtual power plant at the substation with power factor support, and (iii) operating reserves for automatic generator control for the transmission system. This dispatcher integrates with the local power plant controller and utilizes the battery energy storage system (BESS) to smooth the volatile net power output from the DERs. It can also integrate with a day-ahead scheduler to strategically charge and discharge.

Comden, Joshua [National Renewable Energy Laborato↗