Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “distribution system optimization”

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.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 739 records · Page 41
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2023

GPU-resident sparse direct linear solvers for alternating current optimal power flow analysis

Integrating renewable resources within the transmission grid at a wide scale poses significant challenges for economic dispatch as it requires analysis with more optimization parameters, constraints, and sources of uncertainty. This motivates the investigation of more efficient computational methods, especially those for solving the underlying linear systems, which typically take more than half of the overall computation time. In this paper, we present our work on sparse linear solvers that take advantage of hardware accelerators, such as graphical processing units (GPUs), and improve the overall performance when used within economic dispatch computations. We treat the problems as sparse, which allows for faster execution but also makes the implementation of numerical methods more challenging. We present the first GPU-native sparse direct solver that can execute on both AMD and NVIDIA GPUs. We demonstrate significant performance improvements when using high-performance linear solvers within alternating current optimal power flow (ACOPF) analysis. Furthermore, we demonstrate the feasibility of getting significant performance improvements by executing the entire computation on GPU-based hardware. Finally, we identify outstanding research issues and opportunities for even better utilization of heterogeneous systems, including those equipped with GPUs.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2025

An Integrated Paradigm for the Management of Delivery Risk in Electricity Markets: From Batteries to Insurance and Beyond

If power systems transition to integrate higher amounts of variable renewable energy sources, storage technologies, and distributed energy resources (DERs), new risk management frameworks are necessary to ensure cost-effective and reliable power system operations. Projects funded by the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) Performance-based Energy Resource Feedback, Optimization, and Risk Management (PERFORM) program aim to contribute new risk management frameworks by developing methods to quantify and manage risk at grid asset and system levels. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) led a PERFORM project in collaboration with the Johns Hopkins University, the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), kWh Analytics, Packetized Energy, and Imperial Consultants (ICON). The project addressed two challenges related to risk management in electricity markets: managing net load imbalances and flexibility from DERs. This final technical report presents a list of project accomplishments, activities, and outputs.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2025

Assessing hydrogen supply chains: An integrated review of leakage and energy efficiency studies

This paper examines hydrogen leakage and efficiency across the supply chain for liquid, gaseous, and mixed hydrogen systems. These factors are crucial for assessing hydrogen's role in mitigating emissions and facilitating a clean energy transition. Drawing on a comprehensive review of existing literature and model-based analysis, the study compiles leakage rates and efficiency metrics at each stage of the supply chain: production, storage, transmission, distribution, and end-use. These data inform system scenarios that estimate the impact of leakage on overall performance and climate benefits. The analysis also identifies persistent data gaps, particularly for liquid and mixed system configurations, and outlines priorities for future research. A comparison of hydrogen system types shows that gaseous pathways generally achieve the highest efficiencies (28 %–39 %) and the lowest leakage rates (∼4.5 %) across the supply chain. Liquid hydrogen systems, while favorable for long-distance and high-volume transport due to their higher energy density, exhibit lower efficiency (∼28 %) and a greater leakage potential (∼12 %). Mixed systems, which combine gaseous and liquid elements (e.g., pipeline transmission followed by liquefaction and truck distribution), show compounded energy losses and moderate-to-high leakage rates (6.8 %–9.4 %), highlighting trade-offs associated with added system complexity. The study highlights opportunities for technological advancements, including optimizing liquefaction, enhancing insulation for storage and transportation, and refining refueling equipment. These improvements are crucial for maximizing the climate benefits of hydrogen. The results offer actionable insights for researchers, industry, and policymakers working to develop low-leakage, high-efficiency hydrogen infrastructure.

08 HYDROGEN↗
DOE OSTI2025

Coordination of Energy Storage and Distributed Generation for Voltage Control and Peak-valley Filling

The increasing penetration of distributed energy resources (DERs) in distribution network (DN) poses challenges on voltage control. In addition, the growing integration of DERs also reshapes the traditional load profile. To comprehensively address the voltage control and peak-valley filling in DN, this paper proposes a model predictive control (MPC) based optimization framework. The proposed method can achieve coordinated voltage control and peak-valley filling by adjusting the reactive power output from distributed generations (DGs) and the charging/discharging of energy storage systems (ESS). The performance of the proposed method is demonstrated by simulations on a modified IEEE-123 bus system.

Zhang, Zhengfa [University of Tennessee, Knoxville↗
DOE OSTI2020

Microgrid Energy Management System Integration with Advanced Distribution Management System

The Integrated Distribution Management System (IDMS) project was initiated to demonstrate the interactive operation of microgrid systems and the distribution systems with which they interconnect. The key technologies for this are the microgrid management system and the utility distribution management system. The IDMS project successfully demonstrated that a utility’s advanced distribution management system/distributed energy resources management system (ADMS/DERMS) could effectively manage microgrids to provide visibility and control functionalities as well as use the microgrid as a dispatchable resource to support the utility grid. The DERMS accomplishes this by determining active and reactive power needs at the point of common coupling (PCC) using advanced applications like volt/VAR watt optimization (VVWO) and load relief (LR) with the underlying core applications state estimation (SE) and load flow (LF). The ADMS/DERMS can use the microgrid as a resource to resolve and prevent violations in the grid and to optimize the operational working state of the grid. The IDMS project demonstrated that a utility-operated ADMS with embedded DERMS functionality can flexibly manage a variety of microgrids and other aggregated distributed energy resources (DER) in concert with the wider distribution grid. Microgrids can provide grid services in any number of different ways to meet the operational needs of the distribution utility. The manner of aggregation — microgrid or virtual power plant — is not necessarily relevant to the utility as long as the grid services from the aggregated DER are available and can be managed by its ADMS/DERMS for the stability and reliability of the grid. The IDMS project demonstrated this integrated ADMS concept by combining hardware/software-in-the-loop testing with commercial products from different vendors and a utility’s network model. The project integrated the Schneider Electric EcoStruxure™ ADMS with DERMS with the Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories (SEL) POWERMAX ® Microgrid Control System, and the simulated resources with energy company PECO’s model of a utility-owned microgrid, establishing an operational relationship in which the utility manages the operational functionality of a microgrid at the PCC and that provides the utility with the capability to control the comprehensive power system, inclusive of the macrogrid and microgrid.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2021

Intelligent Monitoring System for Real-time Geologic Storage, Optimization, and Reservoir Management

The objective of the subtask was to develop a near-real-time monitoring system for seismic data at the Decatur, IL, geologic carbon sequestration (GCS) site and specifically include fiber-optic cable derived distributed acoustic signal (DAS) data in the process. Owing to the large volumes of data, we opted to utilize existing deep borehole conventional seismic sensors for detection and pull DAS and shallow borehole seismic data once a detection has been made. Unfortunately, the horizontal fiber-optic cables did not yield microseismic signals for use in locating events near the GCS site. Various stacking and filtering approaches were tested without any coherent detection becoming apparent. We attribute the insensitivity to local microseismic events to a lack of coupling in downhole, vertical cable and the non-ideal alignment of the horizontal fiber-optic cable to the vertically polarized seismic energy. Despite the inability to detect and utilize the DAS data from the fiber-optic cables, we developed a general processing framework that enables easy adaptation for future deployment of fiber-optic cables with better suited alignment at Decatur or elsewhere.

Kaven, J. Ole↗
DOE OSTI2021

Iteration-based Linearized Distribution-level Locational Marginal Price for Three-phase Unbalanced Distribution Systems

Distributed energy resources (DERs) are rocking the utilities’ business landscape. It calls for competitive market environments that incentivize DERs to form maximum operating efficiency. Among proposed pricing schemes, distribution-level locational marginal price (DLMP) is effective in signaling the marginal generation cost differences driven by energy losses and network constraints. It can be derived from a distribution-level optimal power flow (OPF) framework, as it essentially presents the sensitivity of optimized generation cost towards incremental loads. However, due to the high resistance-to-inductance ratio and unbalanced characteristics of distribution networks, computational affordable DLMPs are highly challenged. This article provides a linear-approximated DLMP that can be solved efficiently and generalized to account for reactive power flow, three-phase unbalanced loads and meshed network structure. The successive linear programming technique is introduced to enhance the model accuracy. Case studies on an IEEE 123-Bus system validate its accuracy against a nonlinear benchmark and capability in offering proper incentives.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2023

A simple way to integrate distributed storage into a wholesale electricity market

Abstract Current plans to decarbonize the electric supply system imply that the generation from wind and solar sources will grow substantially. This growth will increase the uncertainty of system operations due to the inherent variability of these renewable sources, and as a result, more reserve capacity will be required to provide the ramping (flexibility) needed for reliable operations. This paper assumes that all of the increased uncertainty comes from wind farms on the grid, and it shows how distributed storage managed locally by aggregators can provide the ramping needed without introducing a separate market for flexibility. This can be accomplished when the aggregators minimize the expected daily cost of the energy purchased from the grid for their customers by submitting optimal bids into the wholesale market with high and low price thresholds for discharging and charging the storage. This model is illustrated using a stochastic multi-period security constrained optimal power flow together with realistic data for a reduction of the network in the Northeast Power Coordinating Council region of the United States. The results show that the bidding strategy for distributed storage provides ramping to the grid just as effectively as storage managed by a system operator.

Lamadrid, Alberto J.↗
DOE OSTI2021

Keep it short: Exploring the impacts of configuration choices on the recent economics of solar-plus-battery and wind-plus-battery hybrid energy plants

Coupled renewable-battery powerplants differ from the traditional concept of independent siting of electricity resources within transmission networks. Prior research on the value proposition and cost savings from coupling did not consider the geographic constraint of co-location. This paper fills the gap by assessing how pricing volatility differences between nodes within electricity markets impact the system value of coupled renewable-battery projects as compared to independent VRE and battery installations. We use wholesale power market prices from 2012–2019 across the seven main U.S. independent system operators (ISOs) with a linear optimization program to compare the electricity market value of coupled projects to the value of the same underlying sub-components, deployed separately. We find that additional value from adding a 4-hour battery sized to 50% of renewable-plant nameplate capacity is $\$10$/MWh across ISOs on average. The highest boost occurs in California ($\$15$/MWh), where the value of adding storage to solar rises over time in tandem with increased solar penetration in the region. If renewables and batteries are deployed independently, we estimate that $\$12.5$/MWh of additional value could be achieved because of more flexibility on battery siting and operation. The $\$12.5$/MWh coupling penalty is reduced to $\$1.6$/MWh when considering alternative approaches to integrating battery storage. This result implies that renewable-battery power plants will play an increasing role in electricity systems if they can be built for $\$2$–$\$13$/MWh less than independent projects of comparable size. However, the wide regional variation in coupling penalties, along with the importance of conditions captured in our sensitivity cases, suggests the tradeoff between coupling penalties and savings will vary by situation. Therefore, roles exist for independent and coupled projects from a system optimization perspective.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2023

Multi-injection investigation of a high-volatility diesel in advanced compression ignition combustion for NO x control

Traditional selective catalytic reduction aftertreatment technologies used to reduce [Formula: see text] are very limited at exhaust temperatures below [Formula: see text]. Therefore, under these low engine load conditions, having effective in-cylinder control of [Formula: see text] emissions is important. Previous work by the authors explored the effect of fuel physical properties on the ability to control [Formula: see text] in-cylinder. That work was limited to one direct injection near top dead center. Modern diesel high-pressure fuel systems have the capability of five or more injections in one engine cycle. A higher-volatility diesel fuel and high amounts of exhaust gas recirculation to delay ignition could provide an opportunity for reduction in engine-out [Formula: see text] through an increased level of fuel premixing. By appropriately timing multiple short injections, a more optimal distribution of fuel in-cylinder may be achieved, which could reduce [Formula: see text] while maintaining an efficient combustion phasing. A computational fluid dynamics model previously validated against experimental data was used to explore several injection strategies with increased levels of fuel premixing to assess the potential trade-offs between [Formula: see text] and CO/unburned hydrocarbon (UHC) emissions and thus reduce reliance on the aftertreatment system for [Formula: see text] control. The results show that the devised injection strategies resulted in an increased level of fuel premixing. However, none of the attempted injection strategies resulted in significant [Formula: see text] reductions, and all strategies showed a significant increase in CO and UHC emissions.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Impacts of Control Set-Points on Battery Energy Storage Performance for Peak Shaving Application

This article presents the impact of battery energy storage system’s (BESS) control triggers on its performance during peak shaving application. With the increasing deployment of BESS for load leveling and grid capacity relief, the sensitivity of BESS performance to its set-points is yet to be investigated. Most utilities have defined thresholds for activating BESS control during peak demand leveling and baseload BESS charging. However, this study shows that without using optimal setpoints for control applications, the BESS can be under-utilized. Simulations results of the peak shaving algorithm implementation in 30-minute time step over a period of 10 years show the impact of different set-points on distribution transformer loading, line and system losses.

battery energy storage system↗
DOE OSTI2022

CPES-QSM: A Quantitative Method Towards the Secure Operation of Cyber-Physical Energy Systems

Power systems are evolving into cyber-physical energy systems (CPES) mainly due to the integration of modern communication and Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices. CPES security evaluation is challenging since the physical and cyber layers are often not considered holistically. Existing literature focuses on only optimizing the operation of either the physical or cyber layer while ignoring the interactions between them. This paper proposes a metric, the Cyber-Physical Energy System Quantitative Security Metric (CPES-QSM), that quantifies the interaction between the cyber and physical layers across three domains: electrical, cyber-risk, and network topology. A method for incorporating the proposed cyber-metric into operational decisions is also proposed by formulating a cyber-constrained AC optimal power flow (C-ACOPF) that considers the status of all the CPES layers. The C-ACOPF considers the vulnerabilities of physical and cyber networks by incorporating factors such as voltage stability, contingencies, graph-theory, and IoT cyber risks, while using a multi-criteria decision-making technique. We note that simulation studies are conducted using standard IEEE test systems to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed metric and the C-ACOPF formulation.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2024

A Power-Hardware-in-the-Loop (PHIL) Evaluation of Service Restoration With Networked Microgrids

This paper describes the power-hardware-in-the- loop (PHIL) evaluation of the feasibility of service restoration solutions determined by the PowerModelsONM.jl tool. This tool incorporates microgrids and the networking of microgrids into its determination of an optimal service restoration solution. The paper presents PHIL simulation results for a case study based on a real distribution feeder with multiple microgrids, showcas- ing the effectiveness of networked microgrids in aiding system restoration after an outage. The study leverages high-fidelity, real- time electromagnetic transient models to ensure accuracy in the simulation results. This work is the final output from the Resilient Operation of Networked Microgrids (RONM) project funded by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Electricity Microgrid Program and led by Los Alamos National Laboratory. RONM focused on the application of PowerModelsONM.jl to enhance the resilience of distribution systems.

fault location isolation and service restoration (↗
DOE OSTI2026

Holistic energy analysis method for thermal management architectures of data centers

Modern high-performance computing (HPC) data centers (DCs), particularly those supporting energy-intensive artificial intelligence (AI) workloads, face escalating thermal management challenges that degrade performance through thermal throttling and drive up cooling power consumption and operational costs. To address this challenge, many have developed a wide variety of thermal management solutions (single-phase, two-phase, direct, indirect, hybrid, and more) which attempt to cool HPC DCs effectively while attempting to minimize overall system power consumption. However, the analysis of these solutions and methods to effectively compare one with another is lacking. Overall power usage effectiveness (PUE) and total-power usage effectiveness (TUE) provide a metric to quantify power consumption but fail to identify components in the system which require further optimization. To address this, we propose a holistic analytical framework – the waterfall diagram (WFD) – which leverages a waterfall chart methodology, offering a comprehensive visualization of both the thermal management system loop and heat flow pathways from individual server components to the outdoor ambient. Use of the WFD enables graphical estimations of power efficiency and cooling performance across each component of a DC cooling system and complements Sankey-style energy flow visualizations by additionally resolving stage-wise temperature changes and incremental TUE contributions. The framework is used in conjunction with simulation-based approaches, to conduct a detailed pressure drop and flow distribution analysis aimed at identifying the optimal coolant distribution architecture for a single-phase direct-to-chip water-cooled DC, which serves as the baseline for subsequent WFD analysis. Among the evaluated architectures, the 3 U modular coolant distribution architecture is found to demonstrate the best performance, considering minimal pressure drop and uniform flow distribution. In addition, TUE is calculated for each cooling loop component based on its associated pressure drop and corresponding pumping power, which are integrated into the WFD. This correlation between TUE and local temperature offers immediate insight into the power efficiency and thermal performance contributions of individual components, facilitating further development and optimization. Examples of WFD applications are presented under varying thermal loads and ambient conditions, demonstrating reasonable cooling strategies. Notably, the 3 U modular architecture maintains a consistent chip case temperature of 85°C, achieving a TUE of 1.016 at ambient temperature of 47°C, and a TUE of 1.026 at ambient temperature of 52°C. The WFD methodology provides an efficient, holistic, and streamlined framework for DC thermal management architecture assessment and enables design optimization which is important for addressing the thermal-fluidic energy challenges of current and next-generation DCs.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2020

SunDial – An Integrated SHINES System to Enable High-penetration Feeder-level PV

The Project Team of Fraunhofer USA, National Grid, and IPKeys developed and conducted a pilot deployment of the SunDial system, a virtual power plant platform that enables high-penetrations of solar PV to be integrated into the distribution grid. The pilot was conducted over a 15-month period from August 2018 through October 2019 on a National Grid distribution feeder in Shirley, MA. A vendor-agnostic control platform (the “Global Scheduler”) optimally shaped the net load for a virtual portfolio of non-co-located DERs based on user-defined policy objectives. The goal of the SunDial project was to simplify and reduce the risk associated with the deployment of solar in high-penetration environments by: (1) Developing an open-source, vendor-agnostic dispatch platform that can be readily adapted to optimize control of DERs over a variety of use cases; (2) Developing auto-calibrating load and solar prediction methodologies that can be readily implemented and scaled to new deployments; (3) Developing a methodology to use demand-side management with traditional electrochemical energy storage to provide “load shaping” services in high solar penetration environments; (4) Using grid-scale storage to minimize short-term intermittency association with PV production; and (5) Deploying on the National Grid distribution system to gain experience on the potential for (and limits of) integrated storage with demand-side management.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Optimal operational controls for power grid

Power grid operation is facing increased penetration of renewables and distributed energy resources at both transmission and distribution levels. This presents an increased level of randomness and uncertainty for its operational quality, where the challenges are mainly how controls and optimizations can be performed so that the operational quality of the power grid can be maintained. An interesting feature is also that we need to make a good use of uncertainties embedded in the swing equation from the renewable contributions rather than simply trying to minimize the impact of uncertainties. Furthermore, this requires effective solutions on system estimation, control, and optimization. Indeed, in past decades, work has been carried out on the development of advanced controls and optimization for such complicated dynamic systems. Examples are optimal operational control for both performance and stability enhancement considering random renewables penetration, frequency, and active power control for microgrids and parameter estimation for various parts of the power grid.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2023

Density functional study of atomic arrangements in CrMnFeCoNi high-entropy alloy and their impact on vacancy formation energy and segregation

Here, using the density functional theory-coupled Monte Carlo approach, we explored the chemical short-range order (SRO) and element segregation in equimolar CrMnFeCoNi alloy. We found that state-of-the-art approximation of random element distribution is only applicable at > 1100 K close to the melting temperature, while the Cr-Cr repulsion driving the system stabilization and accompanying the formation of cubic Cr sublattice, and mild Ni-Ni attraction are the most prominent pair interactions at lower temperatures. Chemical potential and vacancy formation energy calculations indicate that Cr is most sensitive to the local chemical environment, making Cr atoms most stabilized when the preferred SRO is introduced. While the vacancy formation is predicted equally probable among five constituting elements in the random solid solution, Cr and Ni atoms show the lowest vacancy formation energies in the structure with SRO. Furthermore, distinct element segregation was predicted in the vicinity of planar defects, including symmetric tilt grain boundary and stacking fault, which we correlated to the site- and chemistry-dependent atomic volume and bond lengths. It suggests that the local mechanical strain and bond energy induce the SRO development and element segregation: Namely, the system takes advantage of segregation of Ni atoms having large atomic volume or Cr-Cr pairs having elongated bond lengths to fill in the excess volume at defects that relaxes the mechanical strain field and optimizes bond energy distribution. The correlation between the SRO and properties of CrMnFeCoNi alloy needs further investigations, which is expected to greatly help understand and control the properties of high-entropy alloys.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Defensive Islanding to Enhance the Resilience of Distribution Systems Against Cyber-Induced Failures

The extensive integration of communication, computation, and control technologies into cyber-physical power systems (CPPSs) has increased the vulnerabilities of CPPSs to cyberattacks. This calls for developing solutions that assess and reduce the impacts of cyber-induced failures on CPPSs. This paper proposes a defensive islanding strategy to isolate impacted parts of the CPPS and form self-sufficient islanded grids with an objective of minimum load curtailment. The defensive islanding aims to split a power system into smaller grids to improve its resilience against a potential extreme event. A clustering approach that leverages the hierarchical spectral clustering method is utilized for the optimal defensive islanding. The proposed approach captures the fragility behavior and loading conditions of power system components due to cyber-induced failures. A graphical-based coupling framework is used to map the impacts of cyber failures into operation of power system components. The proposed method is demonstrated on a modified 33-node distribution feeder system integrated with distributed energy resources. The amount of load curtailment and radiality constraints have been used to evaluate the performance of the proposed clustering strategies. The results show the capability of the proposed algorithm to create islands considering the cyber-induced failures for enhanced resilience.

cyber-induced failures↗