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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 OSTI2025

Business Models for Scaling Demand Flexibility Volume IV – Program life cycle challenges and lessons learned from U.S. programs

Load growth at the grid edge is driving increased attention to the distribution system and its ability to enable customer technology adoption in an affordable and timely manner. Key industry stakeholders, including electric utilities and regulators, can benefit from strategies to manage and balance customer needs with infrastructure investments, such as demand flexibility. This report focuses on demand flexibility—the ability to reduce, shift, shed, generate, or modulate loads in response to building and grid needs—to reduce the need for costly grid upgrades by deferring investment needs and increase system reliability by shifting electricity usage during periods of high risk. Specifically, we focus on the emerging characteristics of business models for demand flexibility as a framework to understand how demand flexibility programs generate value. In this report, we focus on the life cycle of demand flexibility programs, which provides information on value creation and describes the various deployment phases program implementers navigate from initial program conceptualization through to program expansion and replication to new customer segments and regions. This report characterizes the key phases of the demand flexibility program life cycle, identifies existing challenges across the program deployment phases, and describes lessons learned. This report is part of a series that includes reports on customer relationship management strategies, stakeholder ecosystem management, and program life cycle.

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DOE OSTI2022

Signal-Based Fast Tripping Protection Schemes for Electric Power Distribution System Resilience

This report is a summary of a 3-year LDRD project that developed novel methods to detect faults in the electric power grid dramatically faster than today’s protection systems. Accurately detecting and quickly removing electrical faults is imperative for power system resilience and national security to minimize impacts to defense critical infrastructure. The new protection schemes will improve grid stability during disturbances and allow additional integration of renewable energy technologies with low inertia and low fault currents. Signal-based fast tripping schemes were developed that use the physics of the grid and do not rely on communication to reduce cyber risks for safely removing faults.

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DOE OSTI2021

Coordinated Modeling of Electric Grid and Natural Gas Network Operations

Presentation based upon full report of a Colorado case study and coordination framework, which is available at https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy20osti/77096.pdf. JISEA analysts Brian Sergi, Omar Guerra, and Bri-Mathias Hodge will present on recent JISEA work on coordination between the natural gas and electricity sectors. Power and gas are becoming increasingly interdependent but weren't designed to function together. How does greater coordination impact system operations with different levels of solar and wind penetrations? This free JISEA presentation will take place in a Webinar on Tuesday, May 11, 2021 at 12 p.m.: Learn how greater coordination between the natural gas and electricity sectors impacts system operations with different levels of solar and wind penetrations. Presentation information includes: Historical and projected data for natural gas consumption and power generation in the United States as demonstrated by 2014 East Coast Polar Vortex, 2021 Texas Winter Storm Uri. Showing coupling points, FERC identified need for better coordination, different levels of coordination (decision making and optimization control), coordination framework. Case study on Colorado Front Range, ramping requirements and gas nominations, real-time dispatch (June and December scenarios), results of analysis of impacts of coordination on unserved load. Total real-time gas offtakes by node, impacts on unserved gas, effect on CO2 emissions. Discussions on clusions drawn from Colorado Case study expanded co-simulation via HELICS, objectives of the HELICS+ natural gas use case, modeling of hydrogen blending, techno economic assessment of blending, and blending impacts on energy content and pressure.

analysis↗
DOE OSTI2021

Distribution System State Estimation With High Penetration of Demand Response Enabled Loads

Demand-side operations incentivize utility customers to take part in various grid services. A demand response enabled load (DREL) is a flexible grid asset that schedules electricity consumption in response to a time-of-use (TOU) energy price. Consequently, its energy profile differs from that of a conventional load that is insensitive to price. This difference may cause new challenges for distribution system state estimation (DSSE). It is well known that DSSE often needs to use pseudo-measurements based on historic load profiles to increase system observability. However, historic profiles of conventional loads are not representative of DREL behaviors. Additionally, the inaccuracy impacts DSSE results and other DSSE-dependent operations. In this paper, we propose an online pseudo-measurement generation approach for DSSE with DRELs. We formulate an optimization model to represent DRELs self-adjusting actions. Sampling-based stochastic optimization techniques are proposed to account for uncertainties in DRELs. A set of representative DREL behavior data corresponding to the samples are used to characterize DREL pseudo-measurements. Case studies with modified IEEE 123-bus test system verify the validity of the proposed work.

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DOE OSTI2023

A review of privacy in energy applications

As the distribution system continues to experience an increase in distributed energy resource (DER) and electric vehicle (EV) penetration, so does the need for new solutions that can help grid operators manage and leverage their capabilities. This will undoubtedly lead to new operational schemes and business opportunities that will transform the traditional consumer into a prosumer who will be more actively engaged in grid operations. Although the field is still under active development, many of the potential use cases presented in literature or industry are built upon edge computing, two-way communications, and other innovative computational constructs to attain their goals. However, at their core, many use cases assume a great level of data access to aid with the decision-making process, an assumption that may need to be revised to ensure fair and equitable operational processes are maintained. This may be particularly true as edge resources are predicted to participate in retail-side, many-to-many, or peer-to-peer markets and thus may lead to financial impacts if data access considerations are ignored. The need to revise data access mechanisms can be further justified by the introduction of new participants into the operational process, who do not have the same level of trust, nor the incentives to focus on energy delivery as their primary objective. At the same time, more consumers are becoming aware of their own data, and the potential impacts of its abuse. To help solution developers better understand these risks, this report has been developed to offer an initial introduction to the topic of privacy. This is achieved by 1) Highlighting the need for privacy-aware solutions; 2) Encouraging system designers to be inquisitive about the status quo; 3) Documenting the existing threat space; 4) Presenting and evaluating tools that may be helpful towards enabling better privacy postures; and 5) Making recommendations to encourage the adoption of better practices. From a technical perspective, the report focuses on evaluating two potential techniques by applying them to the Transactive Energy Space. Based on the obtained results, it can be established that differential privacy (DP) methods may have limited applicability when highly correlated, time-series data records need to be protected. However, DP may be a powerful tool when it is used to aggregate and analyze mid-size and large-size data sets in a more traditional statistical environment. The second tool under evaluation is threshold cryptography, which can guarantee complete secrecy (and thus privacy) but requires the establishment of key management procedures and dedicated communication channels for key coordination. Therefore, due to its increased computational overhead, the use of threshold cryptography must be weighted using a cost/benefit analysis on a per-application basis.

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DOE OSTI2023

The Energy Transition: Advanced Nuclear Needed but Address Climate Vulnerabilities Now

The term “Energy Transition” is an attempt to capture an elaborate set of activities related to the modernization and decarbonization of energy grids. Performed concurrently and often in an ad hoc manner across local, state, regional and national boundaries, it is bringing chaos to what should arguably be one of the most conservatively managed of all critical infrastructure sectors. What’s more, with climate change producing an increasing tempo of extreme events, confidence in the intended resilient and redundant structure of the electric grids is likely to ebb. Even without these climate induced stressors, the nation’s electric grid was built for an earlier century. In addition to a drive towards greater efficiency via digitization and a continuing price decline in distributed energy resources (DERs), one could argue that climate change concerns are the primary driver of the energy transition. Non-CO2 emitting generation sources like wind and solar have become an important part of the overall generation fleet, albeit ones that cannot be counted upon to provide dispatchable power. Current projections indicate deployment of even larger percentages of DERs in coming years. Until far better storage capabilities arrive, the variability of wind and solar, inconsistent performance of traditional thermal generation plants, and energy delivery failures associated with natural gas pipelines will reinforce mounting reliability concerns. This pertains to both electric transmission and distribution. The recent shuttering of nuclear power plants in Germany, Japan, the US and elsewhere are also putting more downward pressure on dispatchable generation. Russia’s attack on Ukraine has roiled energy markets worldwide and forced some countries to return to coal as a primary fuel. In view circumstances such as these, it is essential that significant changes be made to policies and planning criteria, and to the standards and code on which they are based. Given the accelerating pace of extreme weather events, this needs to occur as soon as possible.

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DOE OSTI2024

State Requirements for Electric Distribution System Planning

Utilities have conducted distribution planning since they first began building and operating electricity systems. But filing these plans for regulatory and stakeholder review is a relatively recent phenomenon. This report summarizes legislative and regulatory requirements for regulated electric utilities to file some type of distribution system plan in 20 U.S. jurisdictions. Some plans focus on expedited cost recovery for certain types of distribution system improvements; other plans focus on investments for grid modernization or distributed energy resources. Increasingly, states are adopting requirements for Integrated Distribution Plans. Such plans provide holistic grid investment strategies that address state and local policies and increasing complexity at the grid edge. The report covers the following topics for distribution system plans, highlighting advanced practices: -State goals and objectives -Procedural requirements -Forecasting loads and distributed energy resources -Hosting capacity analysis -Baseline information requirements -Grid modernization strategy -Grid needs assessment -Non-wires solutions -Reliability and resilience analyses -Stakeholder engagement -Equity -Pilots -Coordination with other planning processes The report includes links to legislation; regulatory requirements, proceedings, and orders; and filed utility plans. The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Electricity provided funding support.

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DOE OSTI2025

Accelerating Resilience of the Community through Holistic Engagement and use of Renewables (ARCHER) Planning Framework

The primary objective of the Accelerating Resilience of the Community through Holistic Engagement and Use of Renewables (ARCHER) initiative was to identify and incorporate the unique variations in energy burden, social vulnerability, living conditions, and access to essential services that differ across communities. By accounting for these localized factors—down to the neighborhood level—the project supports more targeted and effective investments in community resilience. The framework seeks to establish practical planning guidance, methods, and performance measures for community energy resilience, integrate community-level and electric utility system resilience planning, and assess its effectiveness through comparison with conventional and operational planning approaches. A key component of the project was its data exchange platform, which is used to evaluate and demonstrate the tools, methodologies, and planning approaches developed through ARCHER. This open-source platform enables developers and vendors of distribution and outage management systems to build upon the research by incorporating its concepts into their own tools and workflows. This capability is enabled by the transparent availability of data, functional requirements, and the underlying information model. The project yielded several important insights. First, meaningful engagement with communities is essential to achieving comprehensive resilience outcomes. Second, resilience planning is most effective when electric grid considerations and broader community needs are addressed in a coordinated manner. Third, the use of platforms that allow for real-time input from communities can enhance utility responsiveness during restoration activities. Fourth, a structured and systematic planning approach can successfully translate ARCHER concepts into practice. Fifth, the development of an integrated metric that reflects both grid performance and community impacts provides a more holistic basis for evaluating resilience. Finally, incorporating community engagement and equity considerations into grid operations is critical, particularly during severe weather events that result in extended outages.

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DOE OSTI2022

Characterizing local rooftop solar adoption inequity in the US

Abstract Residential rooftop solar is slated to play a significant role in the changing US electric grid in the coming decades. However, concerns have emerged that the benefits of rooftop solar deployment are inequitably distributed across demographic groups. Previous work has highlighted inequity in national solar adopter deployment and income trends. We leverage a dataset of US solar adopter household income estimates—unique in its size and resolution—to analyze differences in adoption equity at the local level and identify those conditions that yield more equitable solar adoption, with implications for policy strategies to reduce inequities in solar adoption. The solar inequities observed at the national and state levels also exist at more granular levels, but not uniformly so; some US census tracts exhibit less solar inequity than others. Some demographic, solar system, and market characteristics robustly lead to more equitable solar adoption. Our findings suggest that while solar adoption inequity is frequently attributed to the relatively high costs of solar adoption, costs may become less relevant as solar prices decline. Results also indicate that racial diversity and education levels affect solar adoption patterns at a local level. Finally, we find that solar adoption is more equitable in census tracts served by specific types of installers. Future research and policy can explore ways to leverage these findings to accelerate the transition to equitable solar adoption.

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DOE OSTI2022

Grid Edge Visibility: Gaps and a Road Map

Behind-The-Meter (BTM) resources at the grid edge are rapidly becoming an important component of the electric grid, requiring a substantial reconfiguration of traditional grid practices, such as policy changes, market redesign, and infrastructure upgrades. This adjustment is challenged by the fact that, by definition, grid edge elements are not easily observable by grid control entities. Increasing the visibility of these resources is therefore an important goal, one that is experiencing much research and discussion by various power system stakeholders. For example, policy makers are analyzing the tradeoffs of using grid edge meters to impose charges on grid edge electricity generation. System operators, such as the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) in the United States, can identify visibility information on the electrical location and the size of the grid edge resources as a critical consideration across the transmission-and-distribution (T&D) spectrum. This article summarizes the challenges and needs of grid entities resulting from the introduction of grid edge resources as well the gaps in the extant grid edge visibility frameworks.

behind-the-meter↗
DOE OSTI2021

Cybersecurity in Photovoltaic Plant Operations

This paper provides practical information for PV plant operators regarding cybersecurity. Plans to integrate photovoltaic generation into utility systems requires that cybersecurity be considered in every aspect- from customer data to business information to plant monitoring and control operations. This paper describes the types of threats encountered in operation of PV plants; challenges faced by photovoltaic plant operators in implementing cybersecurity; cybersecurity standards that apply to photovoltaic plant operations; cybersecurity response plans and recommended best practices to ensure photovoltaic plant cybersecurity.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2023

Transmission Planning with Renewable Energy Zones (REZ): Overview, Select Case Studies, and Key Enablers

The renewable energy zone (REZ) transmission planning process is a proactive method to plan, approve, and build transmission infrastructure that connects high-quality and large-scale renewable resources to the power system. This presentation was developed for a technical side event focused on transmission systems to facilitate the rapid decarbonization of power systems at the Clean Energy Ministerial Senior Officials Meeting in March 2023. This document contains a synthesis of key REZ case studies throughout the world and is intended as a resource for policymakers and energy planners.

Australia↗
DOE OSTI2024

DOE HFTO H2IQ Hour: NREL ARIES Flatirons Campus MW-Scale Hydrogen System Research

This webinar will highlight the status and initial performance of the grid-integrated megawatt-scale hydrogen electrolysis, compression, storage, and fuel cell generator system at NREL's Flatirons campus. The presentation will also include information about on-going research using this capability as well as future areas of research asset development.

ARIES↗
DOE OSTI2020

CyDER: A Cyber Physical Co-simulation Platform for Distributed Energy Resources in Smartgrids

The CyDER project aimed at developing an open-source, modular and scalable co-simulation platform for power grids with large shares of Distributed Energy Resources (DERs). The project partners are the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBNL), Lawrence Livermore National Lab (LLNL), PG&E, SolarCity, and ChargePoint. The prime recipient is LBNL; SolarCity and ChargePoint were partners for the project’s first two years. Increased DER integration introduces a number of challenges in power grid operation including a more dynamic interaction between the transmission grid and distribution grids, and increased modeling complexity. Although specialized software exists to precisely model different components of the power system, it is far from trivial to integrate all various models and perform a holistic simulation. Instead of replicating all models in a common simulation program, a commonly accepted approach to tackle this model diversity is to couple third-party simulators and models through a co-simulation platform that coordinates information exchange among the various components. Following this line of research, this project’s objective was to develop a co-simulation platform based on a widely accepted industrial standard called Functional Mockup Interface (FMI). Within this process, the project developed models compliant with the FMI standard, called Functional Mockup Units (FMUs), and used them to perform various operational and planning power system analyses. Relying and building upon an industrial standard is the main differentiation of this project compared with previous or parallel efforts in the co-simulation area. Particular emphasis was put on delivering software utilities to facilitate setting up and running co-simulations by end-users. Furthermore, a strong aspect of this project is demonstrating that co-simulation techniques can be used to perform Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) simulations that couple software components (e.g., simulated models) with hardware components (e.g., real devices such PV systems and batteries). The long-term goal of CyDER project is to help establish FMI as a powerful standard for co-simulation and promote adoption by electric utilities and other interested stakeholders. The main accomplishments of the project include the development of several FMUs including distribution and transmission grid models, PV inverters with Volt/Var/Watt controllers, batteries, and predictive optimal controllers. Additionally, a unique software package was developed, called SimulatorToFMU, which is capable of exporting any Python-driven simulator or Python script as an FMU. This is an important contribution towards establishing FMI as one of the main co-simulation standards, because more and more third-party programs for sub-system modeling and simulation are delivered with Python APIs. The CyDER platform was used to perform PV hosting capacity analyses in real utility feeders with and without smart inverter controls, battery storage, and EV charging. Smart inverter controls include conventional Volt/Var/Watt controls for reactive power support and active power curtailment, but also predictive controls that optimize the charging and discharging profile of the battery connected on the DC side in order to minimize the customer’s economic benefit. Finally, an important result of this project is delivering an experimental setup that consists of residential-scale PV inverters with battery storage, a real-time grid simulator with an ideal voltage source as grid emulator, and micro Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs). All these components and additional software modules are coupled to one another using the FMI standard and can be co-simulated with the CyDER platform.

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DOE OSTI2022

2.1.3.404 - WEC Array Power Management and Output Simulation Tool

An array of wave energy converter (WEC) devices has variations in power output due to the chaotic nature of the waves. Eliminating or mitigating the power fluctuations is important for reducing the integration impacts of WEC plants in both distribution and transmission grids, and in standalone isolated power systems. Reduced variability of WEC-generated power in combination with energy storage or power management control at each WEC and at the array level will help increasing hosting capacity of distribution feeders for this type of variable renewable generation, and minimization of electric losses. To reduce risks and risk perception, gain key stakeholder acceptance, and enable developers to design effective and compatible energy plants with arrays of WEC devices, it requires the use of modeling tools to simulate the resource environment, device dynamics, utility power system response, as well as the development of an interface for an array controller. The project will create a publicly accessible numerical modeling framework to empower the wave energy sector to design projects of various scales (kW-100s MW), which are optimized on a plant performance basis and are compatible with different power systems and wave conditions. The framework will integrate with WEC-Sim, a wave environment model (SWAN-FUNWAVE), as well as established relevant electrical analysis tools, to model the grid system and interconnection, and optimize power output and power management for the WEC array.

POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION,TIDAL AND WAVE↗