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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 73 records · Page 4
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2020

Enabling Seamless Integration of EV Charging Infrastructure with Weak Electric Grids

Widespread adoption of Electric Vehicles (EVs) for light, medium, and heavy-duty applications has gained significant interest. Based on ownership and user preferences, light duty and local delivery medium-duty EVs are typically connected to grid distribution networks whereas larger medium duty and heavy-duty EVs are typically connected to distribution or even sub-transmission networks. Challenges with at-scale EVs and charging infrastructure supporting them include interoperability, distribution network upgrades, surge in demand charges, power quality issues, voltage stability, etc. Based on real-world data, steady-state and dynamic assessments of light-duty EV charging with a focus on DC Fast Charging (DCFC) for weak distribution grids is presented. Three main areas of contributions in this paper include - steady state and dynamic power quality measurements and assessments using real world data, transient assessments of light duty EV integration with weak distribution networks (IEEE 13 node feeder system) under grid-connected and microgrid modes, and formulation of an intelligent charging decision algorithm to enable an impact-minimal charging.

actionable intelligence↗
DOE OSTI2024

Assessment of Electric Grid Transmission System Simulator for Human Factors Research

Over the past decades, various technologies have been developed for electric grid operations to support clean energy, meet rising electricity demands, and address infrastructure concerns. However, the human factors aspect is often overlooked during rapid integration. Questions persist about how these technologies impact human performance. Simulators play a critical role in supporting investigation of human factors design concepts and conducting comprehensive usability testing to evaluate human performance and assess human reliability. This paper aims to address human factors research simulator requirements and conduct a comparative study of six different simulators. A detailed evaluation reveals that the evaluated simulators lack the ability to customize user interfaces. Additionally, their user interface designs do not fulfill the basic human factors design principles, potentially leading to increased response variability and reduced statistical power when conducting controlled experimental research. In the future, it is essential to develop scripting tools to integrate customizable user interfaces and simulation models, ensuring meeting research requirements.

Li, Ruixuan↗
DOE OSTI2023

Creation of Synthetic Electric Grids (SPP/MISO) Supporting PERFORM (Final Report)

Over the course of the project, two “realistic but not real” synthetic transmission-level grid models over the SPP-MISO and ERCOT footprints were created to provide more realistic data and increase the reliability and resiliency of the grids under a variety of scenarios. The synthetic ERCOT transmission grid is compatible with the distribution grid developed in collaboration with NREL. All generators are based on the EIA 860 data and a column with EIA plant code and Gen ID is added to generators of both grids so that they can be easily mapped. The improvements are also made to electric grids including N-1 contingencies with some remedial actions, improving the transmission lines to avoid lines in lakes, including an HVDC line to the SPP-MISO case, providing several generator parameters and their temporal constraints that were not included in EIA 860 form, generators’ cost curves, load offer curves, adding phase shifters and tap changers with impedance correction tables, adding reactive power control and partitioning the grids into active and reactive reserve zones and determine different types of the required reserve for each zone. Hourly load time series at the bus level were generated to create scenarios for solving power flow in different loading conditions. Weather measurement information and the models of renewable generators are used to directly include the impact of weather on the grids. Based on a variety of load and weather conditions the grids are improved to accommodate different conditions. The ERCOT 7k-bus grids were also modeled for the year 2030 with predicted improvements in renewable resources. The renewable generation model was also improved with historic weather data included. The impact of electric vehicles on the ERCOT grid is also modeled.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2022

Mitigating the Impacts of Uncertain Geomagnetic Disturbances on Electric Grids: A Distributionally Robust Optimization Approach

Severe geomagnetic disturbances (GMDs) increase the magnitude of the electric field on the Earth’s surface (E-field) and drive geomagnetically-induced currents (GICs) along the transmission lines in electric grids. These additional currents can pose severe risks, such as current distortions, transformer saturation and increased reactive power losses, each of which can lead to system unreliability. Today several mitigation actions (e.g., changing grid topology) exist that can reduce the harmful GIC effects on the grids. Making such decisions can be challenging, however, because the magnitude and direction of the E-field are uncertain and non-stationary. In this paper, we model uncertain E-fields using the distributionally robust optimization (DRO) approach that determines optimal transmission grid operations such that the worst-case expectation of the system cost is minimized. We also capture the effect of GICs on the nonlinear AC power flow equations. For solution approaches, we develop an accelerated column-and-constraint generation (CCG) algorithm by exploiting a special structure of the support set of uncertain parameters representing the E-field. Extensive numerical experiments based on “epri-21” and “uiuc-150” systems, designed for GMD studies, demonstrate (i) the computational performance of the accelerated CCG algorithm, (ii) the superior performance of distributionally robust grid operations that satisfy nonlinear, nonconvex AC power flow equations and GIC constraints, in comparison with standard stochastic programming-based methods during the out-of-sample testing.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2023

Energy-water interdependencies across the three major United States electric grids: A multi-sectoral analysis

As water availability and timing of delivery fluctuates and the US electric grid sees rapid transformation and reconfiguration under decarbonization and resource adequacy strategies, there is a critical need for information and data that supports understanding the water-energy interdependency landscape. The United States currently lacks comprehensive data, informative visualizations, and analysis of energy-water interdependencies at scales necessary to support resource and operational decision-making. This article provides US electricity interconnection-level Sankey diagrams that show the relative reliance of water and energy across various economic sectors. A deeper analysis is additionally provided at the county level to illustrate trends and potential opportunities related to resiliency and efficiency in multi-sectoral water and energy flow distributions and intensities. We find that the electricity interconnections in the US vary dramatically in their water and energy interdependencies across applications and economic sectors.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2025

InterGraph-CPS: A Graph-Theoretic Approach to Characterize Cross-Domain Cyber-Physical Interdependencies and Uncertainties in Electric Grid Systems for Improved Decision-Making in Operation and Response

Critical infrastructure systems such as the electric grid are increasingly cyber-physical; yet, despite the cyber-physical characteristics of critical infrastructure systems, the physical process system and communication/control network system are traditionally analyzed in siloes. As these systems become more cyber-physical, it is crucial that models and methods are available to assess the cyber physical system (CPS) interdependencies, characteristics, and event propagation for improved planning, operation, and response. Thus, we proposed an integrated structural and temporal CPS interdependency analysis framework, InterGraph-CPS, that provides insight into the CPS function during normal operation as well as disturbances. This integrated structural and temporal interdependency framework is uniquely designed for assessing CPSs by account for the challenges of analyzing cyber and physical data streams together due to data availability, data type, and time scale differences. By leveraging both structural (e.g., graph analysis) and temporal (e.g., data analytics) techniques, different CPS behaviors and configurations can be accounted for.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2021

Potential Impact of Flexible CHP on the Future Electric Grid in California

This presentation summarizes results from the “Modeling the Impact of Flexible CHP on the Future Electric Grid In California” report (doi:10.2172/1649545). The analysis estimated the value of flexible CHP to the gird in a somewhat decarbonized grid in California. The analysis found that advanced, flexible CHP can more than double capacity with a 6 year payback period, save site owners up to $760 million, reduce CA-ISOs operating cost by over $700 million, and eliminate hours of grid stress in CA-ISO.

CHP↗
DOE OSTI2021

Economic Analysis of an Electric Thermal Energy Storage System Using Solid Particles for Grid Electricity Storage

As renewable power generation becomes the mainstream new-built energy source, energy storage will become an indispensable need to complement the uncertainty of renewable resources to firm the power supply. When phasing out fossil-fuel power plants to meet the carbon neutral utility target in the midcentury around the world, large capacity of energy storage will be needed to provide reliable grid power. The renewable power integration with storage can support future carbon-free utility and has several significant impacts including increasing the value of renewable generation to the grid, improving the peak-load response, and balancing the electricity supply and demand. Long-duration energy storage (10–100 hours duration) can potentially complement the reduction of fossil-fuel baseload generation that otherwise would risk grid security when a large portion of grid power comes from variable renewable sources. Current energy storage methods based on pumped storage hydropower or batteries have many limitations. Thermal energy storage (TES) has unique advantages in scale and siting flexibility to provide grid-scale storage capacity. A particle-based TES system has promising cost and performance for the future growing energy storage needs. This paper introduces the system and components required for the particle TES to be technically and economically competitive. A technoeconomic analysis based on preliminary component designs and performance shows that the particle TES integrated with an efficient air-Brayton combined cycle power system can provide power for several days by low-cost, high-performance storage cycles. It addresses grid storage needs by enabling large-scale grid integration of intermittent renewables like wind and solar, thereby increasing their grid value. The design specifications and cost estimations of major components in a commercial scale system are presented in this paper. The cost model provides insights for further development and cost comparison with competing technologies.

27 ARPA - Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy↗
DOE OSTI2024

Consequential Analysis of the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Impacts of Actions That Influence the Electric Grid: The Theory and Practice of Using Marginal Emissions Rates

This paper discusses consequential greenhouse gas emissions analysis for actions that influence the electric grid that is, the analytical approach of estimating how such actions change greenhouse gas emissions, relative to what they otherwise would have been without the action. Although the paper starts with general considerations, it ultimately focuses on consequential analysis with marginal emissions rates as an option likely more scalable than others.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2021

The LSBmax algorithm for boosting resilience of electric grids post (N‐2) contingencies

Abstract A computationally improved algorithm is presented to find the best transmission switching (TS) candidate for boosting resilience of electricity grids subject to ( N ‐2) contingencies. Here, resilience is computed as the reduction in load shed after the above‐mentioned ( N‐ ) contingencies. TS is a planned line outage, and past research shows that changing the transmission system's topology changes the power flow and removes post contingency violations. Finding the best TS candidate in a computationally suitable time for effectively boosting resilience is a challenge. The best TS candidate is found using a novel heuristic method by decreasing the search space based on proximity to the bus with the maximum load shedding (LSB). The LSB algorithm is faster than existing algorithms in the literature; and, it is compatible with both the AC and DC optimal power flow formulations. To validate the authors' claims of speedup and accuracy, two metrics are used to analyze the results from the IEEE 39‐bus and 118‐bus systems. Finally, the inherent parallelism of the LSB algorithm is leveraged on a high‐performance computing platform and applied to the large‐scale Polish 2383‐bus test system to validate scalability in both size and speedup in computation time.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2025

Near Term Reliability and Resilience: Revisiting Resilience Metrics for the Electric Grid

This report presents the metrics employed in the Near-Term Reliability and Resilience (NTRR) project to study the inter-dependencies between electric and natural gas infrastructures, particularly under challenging conditions. These metrics were developed and applied to evaluate the reliability and resilience of the electric grid and natural gas systems in near-term scenarios (within the next 10 years) involving extreme weather events and major supply disruptions. The report defines the metrics, explains how they are calculated, and describes the process by which they are used to evaluate reliability and resilience across simulated scenarios. It also demonstrates how the resilience metrics integrate with other project activities and summarizes the software tools deployed to calculate and visualize the results.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2025

Resource Adequacy and Capital Cost Considerations Pertaining to Large Electric Grids Powered by Wind, Solar, Storage, Gas, and Nuclear

The capacity and generation of wind, solar, storage, nuclear, and gas are estimated for large, idealized copper-plate electric grids. Wind and solar penetrations of 30% to 80% are considered together with different storage systems such as vanadium and lithium-ion batteries, pumped hydroelectric, compressed air, and hydrogen. In addition to a baseline dispatchable fleet without wind/solar, two bounding cases with wind/solar are analyzed: one without storage and one where the whole wind/solar fleet is connected to the storage system, hence providing a buffer between the wind/solar fleet and the grid. The reality will likely be somewhere between these bounding cases. The viability of a power grid with a large wind/solar penetration and no storage is not guaranteed but was nonetheless considered to provide a lower-bound capital cost estimate. Overall, the options that rely strongly on wind, solar, and storage could be significantly more capital-intensive than those that rely strongly on nuclear, depending on the amount of storage necessary to ensure grid stability. This is especially true in the long run because wind, solar, and storage assets have shorter lifetimes than nuclear plants and, consequently, need to be replaced more frequently. More analyses (e.g., grid stability and public acceptance) are necessary to determine which option is most likely to provide the path of least resistance to powering a clean, affordable, and reliable grid in a timely manner. Depending on the priorities, the path of least resistance may not necessarily be the one that is less capital intensive.

adequacy↗
DOE OSTI2020

EMP-Resilient Electric Grid Transformer Analysis

The response of a high - voltage (HV) transformer to fast rise time voltages, such as that from a electromagnetic pulse (EMP) can result in interruption of power distribution and possibly system failure. To help identify these potential occurrences, it is necessary to develop a transformer model that not only captures the input/output response of the transformer but also the internal behavior. The model constructed should cover the frequency band of interest while capturing the internal physical and electrical characteristics. This broad-band, high-fidelity model would enable the prediction of unwanted effects through simulation. A proposed modeling scheme for a HV transformer is described in Part 1 of this report. Part 2 of this report details assessments of internal voltage and electrical field holdoff testing of transformer insulation dielectric breakdown, including comparison of low frequency (DC/60 Hz) holdoff to rise times characteristic of lightning (1 s) and EMP E1 transients (10 - 30 ns). This initial project is a path toward establishing electrical grid transformer failure criteria for EMP voltage transients. We developed modeling methods and measured breakdown electrical field statistical distributions for direct current, 60 Hz, lightning and EMP characteristic voltage rise times. Methods of nanosecond-scale capacitive discharge unit high voltage source development, suggestions for derating of 60 Hz insulation maximum electrical fields for EMP nanosecond pulse voltage withstand rating, and potential methods for increasing transformer resilience to such fast rise time pulses are described.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2023

The Effect of Clean Energy Generation Targets on the Portfolio of Electric Grid Generation Technologies

A least-cost generation and transmission expansion planning model is used to optimize the U.S. generation portfolio in 2030 under a range of Clean Energy Generation Target (CEGT) policy goals. As reference cases for comparison, the model is used to optimize the generation portfolio for the future electric grid with and without the Investment and Production Tax Credits (ITC and PTC). Next, the model is used to optimize the generation portfolio with a CEGT ranging from 10% to 70%. The results show that due to the ITC and PTC extensions by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, there is little additional investment in renewable energy generation assets at low CEGT levels. Significant additional installations of both renewable energy generation and energy storage systems – both batteries and pumped storage hydro – become important at CEGT levels above approximately 30%.

Aldeman, Matthew↗