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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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DOE OSTI2023

Emulation and Adversarial Analysis of EV Charging Networks

In the effort of decarbonization and evolution of the modern electrical grid, electric vehicles (EVs) play a key part to transform the grid. However, due to the rapid adoption of EVs and the demand of the charging infrastructure required to power said EVs, risk of a cyber-attack may impose serious consequences. There is a need to analyze and protect the charging ecosystem infrastructure from cyber threats before it reaches wide-scale deployment. In an effort to secure vehicle to grid (V2G) communications, standardization is necessary for continued reliable system operation. The protocol ISO 15118 outlines controls and practices that should be implemented for secure vehicle to grid (V2G) communications. The standard is gaining momentum for American markets as the demand for EV infrastructure grows. The adoption of ISO 15118 in American markets poses several challenges: the deployment of a public key infrastructure (PKI) as outlined within the standard, interoperability of charging different EVs with chargers from different manufactures using the PKI, and scaling the ecosystem to meet the demand while managing risks. This project was created to understand potential cyber and scaling challenges of PKI for EV infrastructure through utilizing a series of emulated components mapping to what exists in the EV ecosystem today, and the components of the PKI that are under development. The key nodes within the emulation that are under development are: electric vehicle (EV), electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE), charge network operator (CNO), certificate authority (CA), and online certificate status protocol (OCSP) that must all interact using secure and trusted communications. With these emulated components and utilizing orchestration methods to rapidly deploy and scale the components, the ability to analyze risks of the ecosystem and address gaps before the PKI ecosystem is fully deployed to production should yield a more robust and mature production charging infrastructure. Our approach will use a modular architecture of virtual machines within an orchestration platform and will target scales of 100s, 1000s, and 10,000s of entities interacting. The core research questions trying to be answered with this scope of work are: what are the impacts of a rogue CA, what are the risks of certificate revocation list (CRL) management, what is the value of OCSP stapling, what components are vulnerable to DOS attacks, and what test effective payloads may impact the components.

charging ecosystem↗
DOE OSTI2021

Transmission Innovation Symposium: Modernizing the U.S. Electrical Grid

The foundation of the United States Department of Energy (DOE) Transmission Reliability research program was established 20 years ago by a series of commissioned white papers. Those white papers described the dramatic institutional and regulatory changes that the U.S. electricity transmission grid was undergoing at the time and articulated the technical challenges that these changes created. The challenges outlined in the white papers were the basis for the initial research goals of the DOE Transmission Reliability program. To a large extent, the reliability research needs outlined in the original white papers have now been met. As a result, now is an appropriate time to step back and review the technical challenges that the industry currently faces and to use those challenges as the basis for identifying the next set of targets for DOE’s transmission-related research and development (R&D) programs.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2020

RADIANCE Cybersecurity Plan: Generic Version

Under its Grid Modernization Initiative, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), in collaboration with energy industry stakeholders developed a multi-year research plan to support modernizing the electric grid. One of the foundational projects for accelerating modernization efforts is information and communications technology interoperability. A key element of this project has been the development of a methodology for engaging ecosystems related to grid integration to create roadmaps that advance the ease of integration of related smart technology. This document is the product of activities undertaken in 2017 through 2019. It provides a Cybersecurity Plan describing the technology to be adopted in the project with details as per the GMLC Call document.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2022

Advanced Technology and a Resilient Electric Grid

Making the electric grid cleaner and more resilient will require investing in a variety of new and emerging technologies. Advanced technologies including hydrogen, small modular nuclear reactors, and energy storage will all have a role to play in modernizing the electric grid. A diverse energy supply helps to keep the lights on and protects critical infrastructure, however it will also be important to assess the potential vulnerabilities and risks that come with unfamiliar and new technologies. This webinar will feature experts on resilience planning around advanced technologies from multiple sectors and share resources for states as they seek to modernize and decarbonize their electric grid.

advanced technology↗
DOE OSTI2025

Packages of Distributed Energy Technologies Demonstrating Demand Flexibility at Community Scale

The combination of increased electric load growth across all sectors, deferred electrical infrastructure investment, and other factors resulting in variable electric power supply, has created technical challenges to maintaining a resilient and reliable grid. Many federal, regional, and local efforts are in play to modernize the electric grid, including advancing building technologies and distributed energy resources (DERs) that are utilizing smarter controls to become responsive to both occupant and grid needs. This report reviews ten pilot projects demonstrating how groups of buildings combined with behind-the-meter (BTM) DERs such as electric vehicle (EV) charging, battery storage, flexible HVAC and domestic hot water systems, and photovoltaic systems can reliably and cost effectively provide grid services. Each of the ten pilot projects aim to deliver both energy efficiency and demand flexibility (DF) while supporting load growth. The ten demonstration teams are piloting flexible DER packages across diverse communities of residential and commercial buildings to address a variety of regional grid needs. The outcomes of these pilot projects will be used to inform future scaling through utility program development. This paper characterizes the ten teams, showcasing the decision-making process used by each group to develop their packages (Section 2), the grid services they plan to deliver (Section 3), the types of DER packages selected for deployment within building sectors (Section 4) and trends between building sector, DER types, and grid services In order to achieve community scale benefits, the pilot projects must utilize aggregated control mechanisms for coordinating buildings and DERs together. Several types of coordinated control architectures have evolved amongst the teams, influenced by use type, existing market conditions, and integration type. Three coordinated controls architectures have been characterized, highlighting their use cases, benefits, challenges, and tradeoffs in their design. These insights can aid utilities, control vendors, and developers in scaling community-level energy systems (Paul, 2024). Ultimately, the technology packages selected by the ten teams will be coordinated to provide power system services, also known as grid services. Insights from these demonstrations will be useful for grid operators, regulators, aggregators and other stakeholders as they look to deploy demand flexible resources as grid services in the future. The grid services that each team is targeting for demonstration are described in Section 3 and Section 4. Methods for evaluating the grid services have been described in the paper Metrics for Evaluating Grid Service Provision from Communities of Grid-interactive and Efficient Buildings and other DER (MacDonald, 2023). To identify technology packages for demonstration, Section 2 shows that project teams used a range of analysis approaches, including building energy modeling, AMI data analysis, cost-benefit frameworks, and utility pilot data. Some teams emphasized technical modeling to quantify grid impacts and demand reduction potential, while others prioritized economic evaluations, stakeholder input, or exploratory pilots to inform deployment decisions. This diversity reflects the need to tailor selection methods to project goals, available data, and organizational context. Section 5 discusses trends between the DER technologies deployed and the grid service provisions from each team. Residential buildings (multifamily and single family) lean towards technologies that enhance energy efficiency (e.g. weatherization upgrades, smart thermostats) and onsite power generation integration (e.g. solar PV). Commercial building demonstrations prioritize technologies that ensure operational reliability (e.g. battery storage) and centralized energy management systems and optimization solutions. Teams that are deploying controllable storage-based technologies are more likely to provide grid services that require a near real-time response. Teams incorporating load shifting technologies like smart thermostats with HEMs are likely to include energy markets participation and customer bill management offerings. Campus demonstrations are adopting diverse sets of DERs to emphasize renewable generation, paired with centralized control. This section also describes technologies that were considered during project planning but ultimately excluded from final deployment. These demonstrations reveal that effective DER package design should be tailored to building type, customer segment, and construction vintage. Multifamily buildings benefit from centralized HVAC upgrades and supervisory controls, while single-family homes are well-suited for individualized technologies like solar, storage, and smart home energy monitors. Commercial and campus settings prioritize EMIS integration and load optimization. New construction enables cost-effective integration of DER-ready infrastructure, whereas retrofits require deployments aligned with owner and tenant value streams. For utility program planners, early coordination with developers and building owners, paired with segmented and modular program offerings, can improve adoption, scalability, and grid impact.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2026

Rolling Root Mean Square Based Multimodal Anomaly Detection for Real Time Monitoring of Smart Grid

Reliable real-time monitoring is valuable for maintaining the operational integrity of modern electrical smart grids. Deployment of heterogeneous sensing technologies in substations has enabled high-resolution, multichannel waveform monitoring, but also introduces challenges for anomaly detection due to noise, baseline drift, and modality-dependent signal characteristics. In this work, we present a computationally efficient unsupervised method for multimodal event detection based on Rolling Root Mean Square based Event Detection (RRMSED). The method is developed using in-house, field deployed sensors collecting data at a utility substation. The sensing system comprises voltage and current sensors, triaxial accelerometers, and magnetometers, collectively capturing electrical, vibrational, and magnetic waveform measurements at high temporal resolution. RRMSED operates by extracting rolling RMS energy features and their first-order temporal differences from consecutive waveform segments for each channel and then applying channel-specific statistical thresholds learned from historical data. A persistence-based exceedance logic is employed to robustly identify transient events while suppressing impulsive noise, and to provide precise temporal localization with high resolution. The framework is designed for continuous server-side operation and can be deployed in real time without requiring complex models. Experiments on simulated waveform data with known ground truth demonstrate low false positive (FP) and false negative (FN) rates. Application to real substation data shows RRMSED to identify events that are not captured by conventional monitoring indicators including fast transient detection algorithm currently deployed in the system. These results indicate that rolling RMS based features provide an effective and practical basis for real-time multimodal event detection in smart-grid substations.

Mukherjee, Subrata [ORNL] (ORCID:0000000309930338)↗
DOE OSTI2020

Electrification Annual Progress Report (FY2019)

During fiscal year 2019 (FY 2019), the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO) funded early stage research & development (R&D) projects that address Batteries and Electrification of the U.S. transportation sector. The VTO Electrification Sub-Program is composed of Electric Drive Technologies, and Grid Integration activities. The Electric Drive Technologies group conducts R&D projects that advance electric motors and power electronics technologies. The Grid and Charging Infrastructure group conducts R&D projects that advance grid modernization and electric vehicle charging technologies. This document presents a brief overview of the Electrification Sub-Program and progress reports for its R&D projects. Each of the progress reports provide a project overview and highlights of the technical results that were accomplished in FY 2019.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Electrification 2021 Annual Progress Report

During fiscal year 2021 (FY 2021), the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO) funded early-stage research, development, demonstration, & deployment (RDD&D) projects that address Batteries and Electrification of the U.S. transportation sector. The VTO Electrification Sub-Program is composed of Electric Drive Technologies, and Grid Integration activities. The Electric Drive Technologies group conducts R&D projects that advance electric motors and power electronics technologies. The Grid and Charging Infrastructure group conducts R&D projects that advance grid modernization and electric vehicle charging technologies. This document presents a brief overview of the Electrification Sub-Program and progress reports for its R&D projects. Each of the progress reports provide a project overview and highlights of the technical results that were accomplished in fiscal year (FY) 2021.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Benefit-Cost Analysis for Utility-Facing Grid Modernization Investments: Trends, Challenges, and Considerations

In recent years, many electric utilities have submitted grid modernization plans for review by state public utility commissions. A central objective of these plans is to demonstrate that grid modernization investments will provide net benefits to customers, be reasonable and be in the public interest. The plans typically include some form of benefit-cost analysis, but the assumptions, methodologies and frameworks vary considerably between utilities. This report: -Describes utility-facing technologies and projects for modernizing distribution systems, including interdependencies of grid components -Highlights benefit-cost considerations related to grid modernization -Summarizes recent trends in benefit-cost analysis for grid modernization based on a review of 21 plans by U.S. electric utilities -Discusses challenges state public utility commissions face in reviewing utility plans and provides options for addressing challenges

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2026

Hybrid geothermal-wind integration in the US energy grid

Here, we combine US wind generation—a cheap yet intermittent source of electricity—with the latest geothermal resource estimates to understand the technoeconomic possibilities of pairing enhanced geothermal systems (EGSs) with existing wind farms to develop a hybrid energy system. Using observed generation data from 583 wind farms, generation gaps are quantified and geographically paired with the latest EGS estimates. Results demonstrate that EGS potential within a 1 km 2 footprint can supplement wind generation at 56% of onshore wind farms. Each wind farm can be supplemented by EGSs when 10% of its surface-occupying footprint is available. The cost of EGSs at wind farms is lowest in the western US and southern Texas border and highest in the central US. While further experiments are warranted, a wind + EGS hybrid system offers an opportunity to increase power output from the same land footprint while maximizing the use of existing electrical infrastructure.

EGS↗
DOE OSTI2023

On Distribution Grid Optimal Power Flow Development and Integration

Due to changes in electric distribution grid operation, new operation regimes have been recommended. Distribution grid optimal power flow (DOPF) has received tremendous attention in the research community, yet it has not been fully adopted across the utility industry. Our paper recognizes this problem and suggests a development and integration procedure for DOPF. We propose development of DOPF as a three step procedure of 1) processing the grid, 2) obtaining a tractable solution, and 3) implementing multiple solution algorithms and benchmarking them to improve application reliability. For the integration of DOPF, we demonstrate how a DOPF federate may be developed that can be integrated in a co-simulation environment to mimic the real-world conditions and hence improve its practicality to be deployed in the field. To demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed methods, tests on IEEE 123 bus system are performed where the usage of tractable formulation in DOPF algorithm development and its comparison to the benchmark solution are demonstrated.

Hanif, Sarmad↗
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 OSTI2023

SCUC-DER Integration Report: Integrating Distributed Energy Resources (DER) Using Advanced Unit Commitment Models and DER Aggregation Methodologies

Distributed energy resources (DERs) are continuing to grow due to regulatory, policy, and market shifts, and it needs to be ensured that small DERs are given a level playing field with traditional resources. Legacy market processes such as unit-commitment problems were designed for a power grid consisting largely of centralized power plants. In contrast, DERs consist of many small devices with distinct operating characteristics that may or may not be connected at the transmission interconnection points, limiting their visibility to the independent system operators (ISOs) who operate wholesale electricity markets. This report details the development and initial results from a simulation platform that integrates state-of-the-art security-constrained unit commitment software, detailed feeder models, and a DER aggregator model to quantify potential DER integration issues. Quantitative results to date illustrate potential infeasible scheduling solutions from SCUC when the DERA includes aggregations of energy-limited energy storage resources. Likewise, if aggregations are not penalized for dispatch deviations, they may have incentives to deviate from the SCUC-determined resource schedules. Assumptions about the amount of aggregated demand response resources (DRRs) and the ability of DERAs to follow profit incentives have an important impact – DRRs have significant flexibility and can typically feasibly meet their SCUC schedule, but on the other hand, their profit incentives can cause unscheduled increases in load before and after DRR dispatch. Computation time results on the SCUC solver and simulation platform only show a modest increase in SCUC solution time as the number of DERAs is increased, but results to date only reflect the RTS-GMLC test system; results may show more significant solver slowdown in larger transmission systems. The largest contribution to simulation time is attributed to the DERA offer generation method, which is suggested for future improvements.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2024

Energy Storage Participation Algorithm Competition Overview: Market simulation, divisions, stages, storage attributes, and scoring

The Energy Storage Participation Algorithm Competition (ESPA-Comp) aims to assess the performance of participants’ battery storage offer algorithms on their ability to maximize the value of battery storage resources under three different market designs: two-settlement, multi-settlement, and rolling horizon forward markets. This document describes the overall design of the competition at a high level.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2023

Geochemical characterization of lithium deposition in fossil energy wastes

Lithium is a critical mineral used in rechargeable batteries for electric vehicles (EVs) and future modernization of electric grids with sensitive supply chains that are subject to volatility. Therefore, methods to recover lithium from domestic unconventional sources are actively being pursued in the United States. Herein, we report on the lithium recovery potential from four fossil energy waste feedstocks: oil and gas drill cuttings (sample number n = 16); oil and gas produced waters (n > 200) from Marcellus, Bakken and Permian basins; coal byproducts (n>20), such as coal ash; and acid mine drainage treatment solids (AMD solids). Select solid samples underwent sequential extraction to explore lithium hosting phases and simple organic and inorganic acid extraction to explore lithium recovery potential. Our preliminary results found lithium concentrations up to 440 mg/kg in select AMD treatment solids and up to 300 mg/L in Marcellus Shale produced waters, demonstrating these sources have lithium yield potentials comparable to conventionally mined lithium ores and brines. Sequential extractions revealed that lithium is mostly associated with clay and silicate phases in shale drill cuttings, whereas lithium resides in Fe,Mn-oxide reducible phases in AMD solids. Further, the lithium content in produced waters has a strong linear relationship with total dissolved solid (TDS) levels in three separate oil and gas basins. At the same TDS level, Marcellus Shale produced waters contain more lithium compared to Bakken Shale and Permian Basin waters, with higher percentages of Ca and Mg, major cations that might impact lithium recovery efficiencies. Our study demonstrates the heterogeneity of lithium hosts from different fossil energy wastes. Characterization results will inform future lithium recovery from these different feedstocks.

Stuckman, Mengling↗
DOE OSTI2025

Valuing the Future Electric Grid: A Bid-Based Approach

Energy storage resources (ESRs) and other zero marginal cost (ZMC) resources have unique characteristics that are not fully captured in today’s electricity planning and operations modeling tools. Because the modeling assumptions used in these tools are simplified approximations of how operations and investment decisions occur in the real-world, accurately representing cost and operational characteristics are key for determining how these resources impact price formation. Questions such as—Where should we build new transmission? Will a small modular reactor earn enough revenue to participate in the future electric grid? Is retrofitting a coal plant with carbon capture technology economically feasible?—all require accurate electricity prices, which aren’t available from today’s electricity planning and operations modeling tools. As an example, production cost models (PCMs) are heavily utilized tools that determine the cost and reliability of the electric system. However, as PCMs were developed to help thermal generators manage their fuel inventories, production cost modeling is largely based on fuel prices. Because ESRs do not incur fuel costs, they are often modeled as ZMC resources. In reality, ESRs incur opportunity costs as well as technology-specific (degradation) costs that are non-trivial to calculate but are important for price formation. In this research, we identify options to incorporate more realistic opportunity and degradation costs in ESR bidding algorithms. Expanding available bidding assumptions allows energy system modelers to develop more accurate economic valuations for ESRs, leading to more accurate price formation from leading energy system modeling tools.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2023

All Hazards Approach to Grid Modernization

Resilience hazards for electric power systems are on the rise, exacerbated by both a rise in extreme weather events and manmade physical and cyber attacks. At the same time, grid modernization challenges plague the United States, covering everything from increased electrification and ambitious renewable energy targets to aging infrastructure and regulation that lags behind today’s challenges. This talk will cover an all-hazards risk based approach that addresses both rising resilience and grid modernization challenges. Examples of this approach taken for national laboratory research projects will be discussed, including a deep dive into a project that addressed black start, resynchronization, distributed control, and cybersecurity challenges for an operational microgrid up to sub-transmission voltages. As takeaways from this project are translated from demonstration scale to real-world exercises, key lessons are noted on the translation from research into practice and how this can inform risk-based research moving forward

17 WIND ENERGY↗