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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 397 records · Page 22

Quantum Communication Networks for Energy Applications: Review and Perspective

Abstract The energy sector is expected to undergo significant changes in the coming decades with the advent of new technologies, including smart grid development, microgrid expansion, increasing electric vehicle and renewable energy usage, and enhanced measures to minimize greenhouse gas emission, among others. In tandem, these changes are expected to create new opportunities for the deployment of quantum technologies within the energy sector. Building on the authors' previous reviews on the current state of and future opportunities for quantum sensing, quantum computing and quantum simulations for energy sector applications, this work provides an overview of recent progress in quantum networking and communications for the energy industry, with a focus on platforms, devices, and protocols, including quantum teleportation and quantum key distribution. Specific areas of relevance to the energy sector are then analyzed, including the role of quantum networks for greenhouse gas monitoring, secure data collection and transmission in smart grids, nuclear power plants’ safety, facilitating oil and gas exploration, and other energy‐relevant applications. This review concludes with a brief overview of areas for future innovation, including the need for platforms for simulating quantum networks, quantum material and platform design, and computational approaches to accelerate quantum protocol discovery and development.

Paudel, Hari P.↗

Field test of continuous-variable quantum key distribution with a true local oscillator

A continuous-variable quantum key distribution (CV QKD) using a true local (located at the receiver) oscillator (LO) has been proposed to remove any possibility of side-channel attacks associated with transmission of the LO as well as reduce the cross-pulse contamination. Here we report an implementation of true LO-CV QKD using “off-the-shelf” components and conduct QKD experiments using the fiber optical network at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. A phase reference and quantum signal are time multiplexed and then wavelength division multiplexed with the classical communications that “coexist” with each other on a single optical network fiber. Importantly, this is the first demonstration of CV QKD with a receiver-based true LO over a deployed fiber network, a crucial step for its application in real-world situations.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Advancing Electric System Resilience with Distributed Energy Resources: A Review of State Policies

Severe weather, cyber-attacks, geomagnetic disturbances, and other hazards and threats have caused or have the potential to cause substantial levels of damage to electricity infrastructure and the global economy. Growth in distributed energy resources (DERs) and increasing attention to the resilience of the electric grid - its ability to "anticipate, absorb, adapt to, and/or rapidly recover" from disruptions, according to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC, 2018) - have created an opportunity for energy stakeholders to develop and deploy "resilient DERs," resources in the distribution grid that improve the ability of a customer, critical facility, and/or the distribution system in general to anticipate, absorb, adapt to, and/or rapidly recover from disruptions. This paper explores how existing state regulations intersect with resilience and highlights opportunities where state regulators can employ DERs to advance resilience.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

The Distribution System Operator with Transactive (DSO+T) Study

The Distribution System Operator with Transactive (DSO+T) study investigates the engineering and economic performance of a transactive energy retail market coordinating a high penetration of customer-side flexible energy assets. The study seeks to answer whether such an implementation is cost effective for customers, recovers sufficient revenue for DSOs, and is equally applicable and beneficial to a range of flexible asset types, renewable generation scenarios, and market assumptions. Using a highly interdisciplinary co-simulation and valuation framework, this assessment encompasses the entire electrical delivery system from bulk system generation and transmission, through the distribution system, to the modeling of individual customer buildings and flexible assets (including heating, ventilation, and air conditioning [HVAC] units, water heaters, batteries, and electric vehicles). The study exercises a transactive energy retail market coordination scheme designed to integrate with an existing day-ahead and real-time competitive wholesale electricity market. Software decision-making agents are designed for the retail market operator as well as various price-responsive flexible assets. The engineering and economic performance of the transactive energy scheme is studied for two separate flexible asset deployments: flexible loads (HVAC units and residential water heaters) and behind-the-meter batteries. The results of each transactive case are compared to a business-as-usual case. These cases are subject to two different renewable generation scenarios, a moderate renewable generation scenario, representative of current levels of renewable generation deployment, and a future high renewables scenario, including the increased deployment of rooftop solar photovoltaic and electric vehicles. The transactive coordination scheme is shown to produce effective and stable control and decrease peak loads 9–15%. The resulting annual demand flexibility provides net economic savings of $3.3–5.0B per year for a region the size of Texas. Detailed analysis shows that net benefits were seen for a range of distribution system operator, customer, and flexible asset types. Both participating customer (with transactive flexible assets) and nonparticipating customers (with nonflexible assets) see reductions in annual utility bills and net annual energy expenses in the range of 10–16%.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

Distribution System Operator with Transactive (DSO+T) Study: Volume 1 (Main Report)

The Distribution System Operator with Transactive (DSO+T) study investigates the engineering and economic performance of a transactive energy retail market coordinating a high penetration of customer-side flexible energy assets. The study seeks to answer whether such an implementation is cost effective for customers, recovers sufficient revenue for DSOs, and is equally applicable and beneficial to a range of flexible asset types, renewable generation scenarios, and market assumptions. Using a highly interdisciplinary co-simulation and valuation framework, this assessment encompasses the entire electrical delivery system from bulk system generation and transmission, through the distribution system, to the modeling of individual customer buildings and flexible assets (including heating, ventilation, and air conditioning [HVAC] units, water heaters, batteries, and electric vehicles). The study exercises a transactive energy retail market coordination scheme designed to integrate with an existing day-ahead and real-time competitive wholesale electricity market. Software decision-making agents are designed for the retail market operator as well as various price-responsive flexible assets. The engineering and economic performance of the transactive energy scheme is studied for two separate flexible asset deployments: flexible loads (HVAC units and residential water heaters) and behind-the-meter batteries. The results of each transactive case are compared to a business-as-usual case. These cases are subject to two different renewable generation scenarios, a moderate renewable generation scenario, representative of current levels of renewable generation deployment, and a future high renewables scenario, including the increased deployment of rooftop solar photovoltaic and electric vehicles. The transactive coordination scheme is shown to produce effective and stable control and decrease peak loads 9–15%. The resulting annual demand flexibility provides net economic savings of $3.3–5.0B per year for a region the size of Texas. Detailed analysis shows that net benefits were seen for a range of distribution system operator, customer, and flexible asset types. Both participating customer (with transactive flexible assets) and nonparticipating customers (with nonflexible assets) see reductions in annual utility bills and net annual energy expenses in the range of 10–16%.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

Physics-informed heterogeneous graph neural networks for DC blocker placement

The threat of geomagnetic disturbances (GMDs) to the reliable operation of the bulk energy system has spurred the development of effective strategies for mitigating their impacts. One such approach involves placing transformer neutral blocking devices, which interrupt the path of geomagnetically induced currents (GICs) to limit their impact. The high cost of these devices and the sparsity of transformers that experience high GICs during GMD events, however, calls for a sparse placement strategy that involves high computational cost. To address this challenge, we developed a physics-informed heterogeneous graph neural network (PIHGNN) for solving the graph-based dc-blocker placement problem. Our approach combines a heterogeneous graph neural network (HGNN) with a physics-informed neural network (PINN) to capture the diverse types of nodes and edges in ac/dc networks and incorporates the physical laws of the power grid. We train the PIHGNN model using a surrogate power flow model and validate it using case studies. Results demonstrate that PIHGNN can effectively and efficiently support the deployment of GIC dc-current blockers, ensuring the continued supply of electricity to meet societal demands. Furthermore, our approach has the potential to contribute to the development of more reliable and resilient power grids capable of withstanding the growing threat that GMDs pose.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

Taming the wild edge of smart grid – Lessons from transactive energy market deployments

For two decades, the idea of using market-based approaches in field deployments that coordinate the flexible operation of electricity customer assets has occupied the efforts of transactive energy practitioners. While the purported benefits of this distributed decision-making approach have been well explored, the practical aspects of implementing such a system to address real-world problems are just beginning to emerge. This report surveyed 24 field-deployed programs and interviewed experts instrumental in these deployments. The results of the survey and interviews reveal the diversity of designs and applications. They highlight the technical promise of the approaches as well as challenges with system integration, sustainable business strategy, and regulatory policy obstacles. Insights from the survey offer considerations to direct future effort and investment.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

An Extensible Software and Communication Platform for Distributed Energy Resource Management

This paper introduces a novel Distributed Extensible Grid Control (DEGC) software and communication platform to facilitate the control of distributed energy resources on electric grids. The DEGC software platform leverages state-of-the-art advances in secure, distributed communication and decentralized authorization and authentication. We discuss how these advances enable the kind of robust and secure communication required for a distributed grid control platform, and show how DEGC applies these technologies to the agile development and deployment of grid software through an extensible and flexible API. Here, we describe how DEGC can implement both Volt-VAR voltage magnitude control and Phasor-Based Control as sample applications and demonstrate the DEGC platform in hardware with the demanding Phasor-Based Control test case, and provide performance metrics.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

Design Considerations for Distributed Energy Resource Honeypots and Canaries

There are now over 2.5 million Distributed Energy Resource (DER) installations connected to the U.S. power system. These installations represent a major portion of American electricity critical infrastructure and a cyberattack on these assets in aggregate would significantly affect grid operations. Virtualized Operational Technology (OT) equipment has been shown to provide practitioners with situational awareness and better understanding of adversary tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs). Deploying synthetic DER devices as honeypots and canaries would open new avenues of operational defense, threat intelligence gathering, and empower DER owners and operators with new cyber-defense mechanisms against the growing intensity and sophistication of cyberattacks on OT systems. Well-designed DER canary field deployments would deceive adversaries and provide early-warning notifications of adversary presence and malicious activities on OT networks. In this report, we present progress to design a high-fidelity DER honeypot/canary prototype in a late-start Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

Volt-Var Curve Reactive Power Control Requirements and Risks for Feeders with Distributed Roof-Top Photovoltaic Systems

The benefits and risks associated with Volt-Var Curve (VVC) control for management of voltages in electric feeders with distributed, roof-top photovoltaic (PV) can be defined using a stochastic hosting capacity analysis methodology. Although past work showed that a PV inverter’s reactive power can improve grid voltages for large PV installations, this study adds to the past research by evaluating the control method’s impact (both good and bad) when deployed throughout the feeder within small, distributed PV systems. The stochastic hosting capacity simulation effort iterated through hundreds of load and PV generation scenarios and various control types. The simulations also tested the impact of VVCs with tampered settings to understand the potential risks associated with a cyber-attack on all of the PV inverters scattered throughout a feeder. The simulation effort found that the VVC can have an insignificant role in managing the voltage when deployed in distributed roof-top PV inverters. This type of integration strategy will result in little to no harm when subjected to a successful cyber-attack that alters the VVC settings.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

Deep learning-enabled probing of irradiation-induced defects in time-series micrographs

Modeling time-series data with convolutional neural networks (CNNs) requires building a model to learn in batches as opposed to training sequentially. Coupling CNNs with in situ or operando techniques opens the possibility of accurately segmenting dynamic reactions and mass transport phenomena to understand how materials behave under the conditions in which they are used. In this article, in situ ion irradiation transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images are used as inputs into the CNN to assess the defect generation rate, defect cluster density, and saturation of defects. We then use the output segmentation maps to correlate with conventional TEM micrographs to assess the model’s ability to detail nanoscale interactions. Next, we discuss the implications of preprocessing and hyperparameters on model variability, accuracy when expanded to other datasets, and the role of regularization when controlling model variance. Ultimately, we eliminate human bias when extrapolating physical metrics, speed up analysis time, decouple reactions that happen at 100 ms intervals, and deploy models that are both accurate and transferable to similar experiments.

Burns, Kory (ORCID:0000000158019909)↗

The Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska: Advancing Clean, Resilient, and Sovereign Energy (Summary Report of Communities LEAP Activities)

The Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska (ITKN) is a federally recognized Native American Tribe located along the Missouri River on the border of northeast Kansas and southeastern Nebraska. There are over 800 residents (Tribal citizens and non-Tribal) who live on the reservation, as well as more than 500 people who visit or work on the reservation on a daily basis. The ITKN faces many energy challenges, including rising service costs and dozens of power outages annually that impact resident well-being and business activities on Tribal lands. Power service issues are made more challenging by the remoteness of the reservation, which is 20 miles from the nearest town. Despite this, the ITKN has a long history of cultural and economic resilience: Local self-reliance, environmental stewardship, respecting the carrying capacity of the land, and strengthening the community are Tribal communities' traditional strengths. Long-term energy goals for the ITKN are centered around achieving energy sovereignty. Priority actions include: (1) Establishing a Tribal Utility Authority (TUA) to promote social welfare and community development.; (2) Deploying renewable community microgrids with ground-mount solar arrays and sustainable energy storage systems to advance energy sovereignty, resilience, and reliability. To advance these goals, the ITKN partnered with the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Communities LEAP (Local Energy Action Program) pilot. From August 2022 to March 2024, the ITKN community coalition collaborated with technical assistance providers at DOE's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Sandia National Laboratories to evaluate TUA planning needs and microgrid deployment scenarios. This final report details the Communities LEAP technical assistance process, models and analysis performed, and results.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula Program (NEVI) Brief for State Public Utility Commissions

The National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program (NEVI program) is a funding opportunity for all 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, established by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL). The NEVI program instructs states to “strategically deploy electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure and to establish an interconnected network to facilitate data collection, access, and reliability.” The NEVI program allocates more than $\$$5 billion to states from Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 to 2026 on a formula basis. NEVI funds are available to private entities, including utilities, to build EV Supply Equipment (EVSE)1 and associated EV grid infrastructure.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

A Blockchain Based Co-Simulation Framework for Integrating DERs into Wholesale Electricity Markets

As the number of distributed energy resources (DERs) continue to increase across energy-delivery systems, there remains a need for integrating their capabilities into traditional grid operations. In this paper, a blockchain-based solution is proposed to facilitate FERC's Order No. 2222 implementations. The presented use-case enables small-scale DERs to participate in wholesale market operations through DER aggregators, while also enabling local distribution system operators to enforce distribution system constraints in a secure and traceable manner. The presented use case is built around the Unified Testing Platform (UTP) being developed as a part of the Blockchain for Optimized Security and Energy Management (BLOSEM) project. This is a multi-lab effort intended to simplify the deployment of blockchain-powered grid solutions by enabling the integration of simulation tools, and blockchain technologies through the use of system-agnostic interfaces that provide a modular, interoperable, and reusable connectivity layer.

blockchain testing↗

Distributed Energy Resources as an Equity Asset: Lessons Learned from Deployments in Disadvantaged Communities

For an Energy System to be truly equitable, it should provide affordable and reliable energy services to disadvantaged and underserved populations. Disadvantaged communities often face a combination of economic, social, health, and environmental burdens and may be geographically isolated (e.g., rural communities), which systematically limits their opportunity to fully participate in aspects of economic, social, and civic life.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

Nonlinear multiobjective and dynamic real-time predictive optimization for optimal operation of baseload power plants under variable renewable energy

Considering the increase of disruptive variable renewable energy penetration into the power grid, this article focuses on the investigation of a multiobjective and dynamic real-time optimization framework to address the cycling of large-scale power plants under renewable penetration. In this framework, a parallelized particle swarm optimization step is first performed to generate feasible initial points. Then, a multiobjective and dynamic real-time optimization formulation generates optimal trajectories. Further, the benefit of predictive capability is investigated for the dynamic component, which introduces the novel nonlinear multiobjective and dynamic real-time predictive optimization approach. Two multiobjective formulations to obtain Pareto front optimal in real time are explored: the modified Tchebycheff-based weighted metric and ϵ-constraint methods. Economic and environmental objectives are considered in this study. A novel topical discussion on the intersection of dynamic real-time optimization with model predictive control is also presented. The developed framework is successfully applied to a baseload coal-fired power plant with postcombustion CO 2 capture. Results indicate that the approach can be deployed for a large-scale system if automatic differentiation, model reduction, and parallelization are adopted to improve computational tractability, with computational improvement up to 120-folds after performing these steps. Finally, market and carbon policies showed an impact on the optimal compromise between the objectives with an additional 63 ton of CO 2 captured under favorable market conditions.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

A New Miniaturized Acoustic Transmitter for Marine Animal Tracking

Most marine renewable energy (MRE) technologies are still in their infancy. Many uncertainties remain regarding MRE systems’ impacts on the marine environment and species where they are deployed, which is one of the major hurdles for these systems to be widely adopted at a commercial scale. Currently, the primary technologies to monitor marine animals’ behavior around existing or potential MRE deployment sites are optical and acoustic imaging. However, these methods cannot identify individual animals and thus are less useful in identifying protected species and studying their behavior. Implantable acoustic transmitters with unique identification codes could serve as a complementary technology. To minimize potential bias introduced to the study results, the implanted transmitters must be sufficiently small and light to not affect the animals’ behavior while still having acceptable signal strengths and service life. Recently, we developed a new miniaturized acoustic transmitter that offers a significantly improved signal strength and service life (140 days [projected value] at a 5-s transmission interval) in a smaller and lighter package (0.45 g in the air), compared to the existing technologies. The detection range and detection efficiency of the new transmitter were tested in an actual marine environment and demonstrated a detection range of up to 330 m, a 65% improvement over the existing commercial counterparts operating at similar frequencies. Here, we report the design principles, performance, and manufacturing procedure of the transmitter. Finally, theoretical estimates of the detection range, the actual range, and detection efficiency results from the field testing are presented.

acoustic telemetry↗

Open Source Platform for Live Processing of High Data Rate Electron Microscopy (SBIR Phase I Award Topic 15, Subtopic B, Final Scientific / Technical Report)

4D scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) is experiencing a revolution both in terms of data size, and data veracity, as are many other areas of experimental data acquisition. This presents enormous opportunities to make new scientific discoveries, but is also hamstrung by aging software that is no longer fit for purpose. Experimental data acquisition platforms must make the same investments in software infrastructure that the simulation community made decades ago to take advantage of high-performance computing (HPC) if they hope to realize the full potential of the latest advances made in detector technology. This requires rethinking the design and deployment of hardware, moving away from small, fixed commodity computing capabilities with closed interfaces to open, modular, scalable systems designed for parallelism and throughput. The technical approach will leverage best-in-class open source technologies, and develop new approaches strategically to build an open source platform for experimental data acquisition targeting high data rate electron microscopy. The project will develop a software platform that uses the power and performance of modern HPC resources to ingest the large volume of data produced by electron microscopes using direct electron detectors. A set of configurable pipelines will be used to enable the processing to be tailored to the problem being investigated with builtin visualization of data at interactive rates. This project will leverage investments made by the DOE and other agencies to provide a powerful software platform for the experimental data community working with most powerful electron microscopes, such as 4D STEM detectors. It will create a platform that serves as a reference for the community. Permissive open source licensing will make the platform available to all, with a simple deployment strategy offering the ability to keep data close to where it is generated. This advanced software platform will require customization for each deployment, creating opportunities for software services that are typically offered to extend open source software platforms.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗