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At least 145 records · Page 8

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DOE OSTI2020

Evaluating Resilience of Water Distribution Networks to Operational Failures from Cyber-Physical Attacks

Water cyber-physical systems (CPSs) have gained increasing interest to improve operational efficiency and reliability. However, due to growing exposure to cyber-physical attacks, cybersecurity and resilience against the attacks have become significant concerns. There have been efforts to improve cybersecurity in water CPSs, yet few attempts to investigate resilience against cyber-physical attacks. This study contributes to characterizing resilience of a water CPS and investigating potential resilience strategies. An advanced resilience measure integrating withstanding, absorptive, adaptive, and restorative capability of a system is proposed and applied to the C-town water distribution network (WDN) for 15 failure set scenarios with a pressure-driven hydraulic simulation. The results provide identification of failure sets and unfavorable operational conditions that make the system more vulnerable to the cyber-physical attacks and in turn produce low resilience and capabilities. It is also found that, after recovery of a disrupted component, adjustment of overall operational interactions across system components is needed for complete restoration of disrupted functionality. The findings provide insights on infrastructure investment with resilience strategies in cyber and physical water system domains.

Shin, Sangmin↗

DOE OSTI2026

Online LIBS–ML Framework for Dynamic Characterization of Heterogeneous Waste-Derived Gasification Feedstocks

LIBS−ML framework for real time feedstock characterization during continuous conveyor transport Heterogeneous waste derived feedstocks (e.g., waste coal, biomass and blends) introduce rapid variability in heating value and ash chemistry that affect gasifier operation, yet conventional laboratory characterization techniques are too slow to support proactive control. To address this gap, this study reports on an online, in situ, dynamic characterization framework that couple’s laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) with leakage safe machine learning (ML) regression to deliver real time, decision quality predictions of gasifier relevant properties. A controlled sample matrix spanning two different waste coals, two different biomasses, and engineered blends under two particle size conditions were constructed and benchmarked using standardized laboratory analyses for proximate/ultimate properties and ash composition. LIBS spectra were acquired dynamically as material flowed on a conveyor belt, using high energy 1064 nm laser ablation and shot averaging to improve repeatability and precision. Supervised regression models (multi layer perceptron (MLP) /artificial neural network (ANN), random forest (RF), and support vector regression (SVR)) and an optimized weighted ensemble were trained on emission line feature sets using nested cross validation with Bayesian hyperparameter tuning and validated against an independent hold out set. The proposed LIBS−ML workflow achieves near laboratory predictive fidelity across parametric targets (including higher heating value (HHV), ash content, fixed carbon, sulfur, major ash forming oxides, and initial deformation temperature (IDT)), with the weighted ensemble providing a robust default predictor under dynamic measurement conditions. These results demonstrate a practical pathway for real time feedstock characterization that can enable feedforward adjustments and more resilient gasifier operation for variable quality waste derived fuels.

Biomass↗

DOE OSTI2021

Optimal and economic operation of microgrids to leverage resilience benefits during grid outages

Not Available

Masrur, Hasan↗

DOE OSTI2025

Nondestructive In Operando Imaging of Thin Film Composite Membrane Compaction Enhanced by AI-Based Segmentation

Reverse osmosis (RO) membranes are essential for desalination and water reuse, yet their permeability declines in high-pressure applications due to membrane compaction. This study investigates the structural and functional responses of commercial brackish, seawater, and high-pressure RO membranes at applied pressures up to 120 bar using a multiscale, nondestructive in operando scanning electron microscopy (iSEM) imaging platform. The iSEM technique reveals progressive densification across the composite membrane structure, which correlates with observed declines in water and solute permeance. To quantify these structural changes with greater fidelity, we combined X-ray computed tomography with AI-based segmentation enabling precise analysis of pore size distribution and thickness of the polysulfone support layer. Compared to traditional thresholding, AI segmentation accurately delineates material phases and void spaces, enhancing the reproducibility and resolution of morphological assessments. The results demonstrate that compaction-induced reductions in porosity and thickness strongly impact membrane transport properties. These findings provide mechanistic insights into the compaction behavior of RO membranes and underscore the potential for advanced imaging and AI-driven data analysis to guide the design of next-generation membranes with improved mechanical resilience and operational longevity.

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2024

Single-event burnout in homojunction GaN vertical PiN diodes with hybrid edge termination design

GaN devices play a major role in modern electronics, providing high-power handling, efficient high-frequency operation, and resilience in harsh environments. However, electric field crowding at the edge of the anode often limits its full potential, leading to single-event effects (SEEs) at lower bias voltages under heavy ion radiation. Here, in this work, we report on the performance of homojunction GaN vertical PiN diodes with a hybrid edge termination design under heavy ion irradiation, specifically, oxygen ions, chlorine ions, Cf-252 fission fragments, and alpha particles from an Am-241 source. The unique hybrid edge termination (HET) design provides better electric field management, preventing breakdown from occurring at the edge of the anode at lower voltages. The results of this study reveal that these devices exhibit excellent tolerance to 12-MeV oxygen and 16-MeV chlorine ions, owing to their low linear energy transfer (LET) and range in GaN. However, single-event burnout (SEB) is observed during the Cf-252 exposure at about 50% of the diodes' electrical breakdown voltage due to the presence of higher LET and longer-range ions. Optical and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) reveal that the damage that caused by SEB lies close to the center of these devices rather than the anode edge. Devices with junction termination extension (JTE) instead of HET edge termination also show similar SEB when irradiated with Cf-252 fission fragments. Physical damage due to SEB occurs at the edge of the anode for these devices. These comparative results show the benefits of HET for enhancing the resistance of GaN-based PiN diodes to heavy ion irradiation.

42 ENGINEERING↗

DOE OSTI2026

Flood Estimation under Snowmelt and Rain-on-Snow Processes in Alaska: A Military Installation Perspective

Accurate flood estimation in snow-dominated and high-latitude regions remains challenging due to complex interactions among rainfall, snowmelt, and rain-on-snow (ROS) processes, which are not captured in conventional precipitation-based intensity-duration-frequency (PREC-IDF) curves. This study evaluates the Next-Generation IDF (NG-IDF) framework, an extension of PREC-IDF that incorporates total water available for runoff (precipitation minus changes in snow water equivalent), in two contrasting Alaskan watersheds of Department of Defense (DoD) significance: the Little Chena River Basin (LCRB) in interior Alaska, a tributary of the Chena River that flows through Fort Wainwright and near Eielson Air Force Base, and the Upper Ship Creek Basin (USCB), which drains Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson near Anchorage. Using long-term SNOTEL observations and event-based rainfall-runoff modeling, NG-IDF and PREC-IDF flood estimates were compared against observation-based flood frequency analyses. Results show that NG-IDF consistently reduces flood-estimation bias by 15–20% relative to PREC-IDF, particularly for snowmelt- and ROS-dominated events. In the interior LCRB, permafrost conditions can substantially amplify flood responses during snowmelt events, an effect not explicitly represented in standard design tools. These findings demonstrate that NG-IDF provides a more physically consistent and transferable framework for flood estimation in cold regions, with potential relevance to mission-critical DoD installation resilience. Projected increases in ROS frequency and permafrost degradation across Alaska further emphasize the need to integrate physics-based hydrologic models that explicitly represent snow and permafrost processes to enhance design resilience and operational readiness for military and other critical infrastructure.

Yan, Hongxiang (ORCID:000000022387403X)↗

DOE OSTI2024

How Much Reserve Fuel: Quantifying the Maximal Energy Cost of System Disturbances

Motivated by the design question of additional fuel needed to complete a task in an uncertain environment, this paper introduces metrics to quantify the maximal additional energy used by a control system in the presence of bounded disturbances, compared to a nominal, disturbance-free system. In particular, we consider the task of finite-time stabilization for a linear, time-invariant system. We compare the nominal energy required to achieve this task in the disturbance-free system to the worst-case energy over all feasible disturbances. Solving for the worst-case energy over all disturbances first leads to an optimal control problem with a least-squares solution, and then an infinite-dimensional optimization problem where we derive an upper bound on the solution. The comparison of energies is accomplished using additive and multiplicative metrics, for which we derive bounds. Simulation examples on an ADMIRE fighter jet model demonstrate the practicability of these metrics, and their variation with the distance of the initial condition from the origin and the task completion time.

koopman operator, resilience↗

DOE OSTI2025

Electromagnetic Transient Simulation of Large-Scale Inverter-Based Resources With High-Granularity

The power grid is undergoing a significant transformation with the rapid increase in inverter-based resources (IBRs), including large-scale photovoltaic (PV) plants. Ensuring reliable and resilient grid operation in this new paradigm necessitates high-granularity electromagnetic transient (EMT) modeling that accurately captures the behavior of individual inverters and their interactions within IBR plants. Central to this approach is the detailed representation of both the IBR plant’s collector system and the dynamics of individual inverters. To achieve this, a high-granularity EMT model of a large-scale PV plant has been developed using advanced simulation algorithms, including matrix splitting and the Schur complement. These proposed techniques significantly enhance simulation speed, numerical stability, and accuracy while improving the modularity and efficiency of the collector system’s representation. The effectiveness of the proposed methods is validated through simulations of a representative large-scale PV plant consisting of 125 individual PV inverters, 25 IBR unit transformers, and a 52-bus collector system.

Choi, Jongchan [Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORN↗

DOE OSTI2022

Converter-Interfaced CHP Plant for Improved Grid-Integration, Flexibility and Resiliency

GE Research and its partner GE Renewables have proposed the use of an interface converter solution to increase the penetration of small to medium-sized CHP (1MWe to 20MWe) into distribution grids and improve their flexibility and grid support capability. Indeed, the proposed interface converter solution thanks to presence of the grid-ready inverter, allows to streamline the compliance to grid codes requirements, reduce the interconnection delays and costs and ultimately one of the main barriers for CHP adoption by commercial and industrial facilities. An additional benefit provided by the interface converter is the use of the grid-ready inverter for reactive power which eliminates the need of sizing the generator for that capability. These two benefits highly favor the economic feasibility of converter-interfaced CHP. Five user cases, each in one of the leading U.S states for CHP potential reported by the DOE in its estimation of the U.S Technical Potential of CHP, were selected to compare the economic performances of converter-interfaced CHP as compared with directly-coupled. They include a college campus in California, a hospital in New York, a water reclamation plant in Texas, a hotel in Minnesota, and a large office building in Pennsylvania. Results showed that, the presence of the interface converter allows to increase the return on investment (ROI) by 0.5 to 2 percentage points in most of the cases (4 of 5). Indeed, the interface converter by shortening the interconnection process allows to accelerate revenues while reducing interconnection costs. Added to the reduced cost of the required generator these savings trade favorably the capital cost of the converter. The analysis also showed that the profitability of the converter-interfaced CHP is highly sensitive to the energy price, interconnection delay, and converter cost. However, it appears that if the interface converter can shorten the interconnection process by at least 6 months, adopting this solution will be more economically viable than directly-coupled configuration in almost all the +23,000 sites of the U.S Technical Potential CHP. The evaluation of the benefits of a converter-interfaced CHP also showed that it enables higher ROI when coupled with other distributed energy resources (DER) such as battery energy systems (BESS) or solar photovoltaic (PV). Indeed, in those scenario, the grid-ready inverter included in the interface converter eliminates the need of separate inverters if DC-coupling is used. On the technical performance, it has been verified that the presence of the interface converter allows to reduce by 70% to 80% the CHP short-circuit contribution to grid faults. This not only reduces the mechanical and thermal stresses exposed to the CHP electrical components but also increases the grid hosting capacity which ultimately enables higher penetrations CHP. Another key benefit of the interface converter validated with hardware-in-the-loop simulations and testing is its superior capability for reactive power support. Indeed, using a power hardware testbed with two +700kW inverters configured in back-to-back, a microgrid controller and actual facilities loads it was demonstrated that the presence of the interface converter can help maintain a power factor near ~1 or regulate the voltage to ~1.0pu at the point of common coupling. This benefit can be highly valuable if in the future, due to higher penetration of renewable distributed energy resources (DER), utilities start billing demand charge based on kVA instead of kW as currently. It was also validated that converter-interfaced CHP can dispatch heat and power commands and seamlessly switch between the two modes while consistently controlling the power factor or voltage at PCC. Indeed, the power hardware testing showed that grid-connected converter-interfaced CHP can follow either the power or heat demand while maintaining a unity power factor at converter output. This research proved that the adoption of an interface converter as the solution for interconnection of CHP system into the distribution grid can greatly improve the economic feasibility of small to medium-sized CHP as well as the plant power quality, flexibility and resiliency. Additionally, it allows increased penetrations of CHP into the distribution grid, extends their grid support capability, and facilitates the integration of BESS and PV DER by streamlining their collocation within the same facilities. This ultimately provides an opportunity for commercial and small industrial facilities in the U.S to accelerate their energy transition thanks to the high energy efficiency of CHP systems and its reliable, flexible, and resilient microgrid operation when interconnected with an interface converter.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

DOE OSTI2022

Electric Grid Supply Chain Review: Large Power Transformers and High Voltage Direct Current Systems

The report “America’s Strategy to Secure the Supply Chain for a Robust Clean Energy Transition” lays out the challenges and opportunities faced by the United States in the energy supply chain as well as the federal government plans to address these challenges and opportunities. It is accompanied by several issue-specific deep dive assessments, including this one, in response to Executive Order 14017 “America’s Supply Chains,” which directs the Secretary of Energy to submit a report on supply chains for the energy sector industrial base. The Executive Order is helping the federal government to build more secure and diverse U.S. supply chains, including energy supply chains. The need to modernize and increase the capacity of the U.S. power grid is increasing due to growing population, aging infrastructure, grid resilience requirements, operational flexibility needs, and a growing portfolio of renewable energy. As part of the Paris Climate Agreement the United States has committed to reducing its net greenhouse gas emissions by 50 to 52 percent below 2005 levels in 2030 and has set a goal of 100 percent carbon pollution free electricity by 2035 (The United States of America Nationally Determined Contribution, 2021). Meeting these targets will require a significant expansion of the power system to integrate a large amount of new renewable resources (United States Department of State & United States Executive Office of the President, 2021). However, many critical components supporting the power grid have limited to no domestic manufacturing capacity and face complex challenges in supporting a rapid expansion of the grid to meet multiple objectives, including decarbonization goals. This report focuses on two key grid components: large power transformers (LPTs) and high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

DOE OSTI2025

Shielding the Quantum Realm: Technical Considerations for Maintaining a Stable and Secure Radio Frequency Environment for Quantum Research

Advancements in quantum technology, which include quantum computing, quantum sensing, quantum communications, and associated research, continue to revolutionize various fields of study by solving challenging problems deemed too difficult or more efficient than those used for classical computers. However, as these systems become ever so complex, it is critical to secure their electromagnetic operational environments and the associated impact on quantum systems and infrastructure. The goal of this synopsis is to bring attention to the susceptibility of quantum technology facilities to potential issues related to the radio frequency (RF) environment within the broader electromagnetic context. A framework is proposed for identifying, mitigating, monitoring, and auditing these often complex operational environments. By establishing best practices in the consideration and evaluation of these criteria, one can enhance the operational integrity, resilience, and security of quantum technology systems and facilities, thereby supporting their continued development and application in research and industry.

42 ENGINEERING↗

DOE OSTI2020

Phasor-Based Control for Scalable Integration of Variable Energy Resources

We propose an innovative framework termed phasor-based control (PBC) to facilitate the integration of heterogeneous and intermittent distributed energy resources (DER) on the electric grid. PBC presents a unified approach that is agnostic to optimization criteria and to the particular characteristics of participating resources. It is enabled by synchronized, high-precision voltage phasor measurements that allow stating control objectives in grid-specific, rather than resource-specific, terms. We present qualitative justification and examine the general feasibility of this control approach, including the behavior of candidate control algorithms in simulation. Initial results suggest that PBC has significant potential to support stable and resilient grid operations in the presence of arbitrarily high penetrations of DER.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

DOE OSTI2025

Digital Assurance Checklist for Homeowners and Installers

This document provides a comprehensive Digital Assurance Checklist for securing behind-the-meter energy assets, focusing on both installers and homeowners. As distributed energy resources (DERs) such as solar PV and battery storage become integral to residential energy systems, cybersecurity emerges as a critical component of reliability and safety. The guide outlines actionable steps for installers during pre-installation, commissioning, and post-installation phases, emphasizing practices like network segmentation, credential management, firmware validation, and homeowner education. For homeowners, the document introduces a tiered approach to cyber hygiene—from essential measures like strong Wi-Fi credentials and automatic updates to advanced strategies such as network segmentation, DNS filtering, and intrusion detection. By adopting these practices, stakeholders can mitigate cyber risks, safeguard energy infrastructure, and ensure resilient, secure operation of DER systems. Additional resources and references to industry standards are included to support implementation.

99 - GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

DOE OSTI2026

Digital Assurance Checklist for Homeowners and Installers

99 - GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

DOE OSTI2022

Cyber-Resilient Frequency Control of Power Grids with Energy Storage Systems

The integration of synchronous generators and energy storage systems operated through communication networks introduces new challenges and vulnerabilities to the electric grid, where cyber attacks can corrupt sensor measurements or control inputs and interrupt functions such as frequency regulation. This paper proposes a defense methodology for the design of resilient operating constraints imposed on each generation and storage unit in order to prevent any attack sequence from driving the system's frequency to unsafe conditions. The resilient operating constraints are found by using ellipsoidal approximations of the reachable set of the power system, leading to a convex optimization problem with linear matrix inequalities. Numerical results in a single-area power system with synchronous generation and energy storage demonstrate how the resilient constraints provide security guarantees against any type of attack affecting frequency measurements or controller setpoints.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

DOE OSTI2023

LDRD23-0184: Resilience and Hazard Risk Assessment to Prioritize Security Operations for Decisions and Impacts (RHAPSODI)

Recent examples provide a significant concern for the resilience of the U.S. electric grid and represent a need for enhanced decision-making to address an increasingly wide range of complex system interactions and potential consequences. In response, this LDRD project produced a proof-of-concept evaluation called the Resilience and Hazard Assessment to Prioritize Security Operations for Decisions and Impacts (RHAPSODI) methodology as an agile and flexible analytic framework capable of addressing multiple, diverse threats to desired electric grid performance. After empirically grounding needs for the future of U.S. electric grid resilience, this project employed the systems-theoretic process analysis (STPA) to develop a systems engineering risk model. The results of a completed feasibility study of a notional high voltage transmission system demonstrate an improved ability to incorporate both spatial (e.g., geographically distributed) and temporal (e.g., dynamic and time-dependent) elements of security risk to the gird. The success of this LDRD project provides the foundation for further evolution of the systems engineering risk model for the grid; derivation of quantitative approaches to evaluate risk and resilience performance; facilitation of agile experimenting and grid sensitivity to a range of vulnerabilities; and development of tools to assist decision-makers in enhancing U.S. electrical grid resilience.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

DOE OSTI2021

Learning Sequential Distribution System Restoration via Graph-Reinforcement Learning

We report a distribution service restoration algorithm as a fundamental resilient paradigm for system operators provides an optimally coordinated, resilient solution to enhance the restoration performance. The restoration problem is formulated to coordinate distribution generators and controllable switches optimally. A model-based control scheme is usually designed to solve this problem, relying on a precise model and resulting in low scalability. To tackle these limitations, this work proposes a graph-reinforcement learning framework for the restoration problem. We link the power system topology with a graph convolutional network, which captures the complex mechanism of network restoration in power networks and understands the mutual interactions among controllable devices. Latent features over graphical power networks produced by graph convolutional layers are exploited to learn the control policy for network restoration using deep reinforcement learning. The solution scalability is guaranteed by modeling distributed generators as agents in a multi-agent environment and a proper pre-training paradigm. Comparative studies on IEEE 123-node and 8500-node test systems demonstrate the performance of the proposed solution.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

DOE OSTI2022

Enhanced Control, Optimization, and Integration of Distributed Energy Applications (ECO-IDEA)

With support from the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) partnered with Xcel Energy, Schneider Electric, Varentec, and Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) to meet the goals of the Enabling Extreme Real-Time Grid Integration of Solar Energy (ENERGISE) program. This project developed and validated an innovative data-enhanced hierarchical control architecture that enables the efficient, reliable, resilient, and secure operation of future distribution systems with a high penetration of distributed energy resources like solar energy. The architecture enables a hybrid control approach where a centralized control layer is complemented by distributed control algorithms for solar inverters and autonomous control of grid edge devices. It is fully interoperable and includes all the cybersecurity aspects necessary for reliable and secure system operation. The hybrid approach can seamlessly integrate multiple voltage-regulation technologies, both at central and grid-edge levels, which enables reliable and efficient system operation in the face of unpredictable conditions. The overarching goal of the Eco-Idea project is to develop, validate, and deploy a unique and innovative Data-Enhanced Hierarchical Control (DEHC) architecture that comprehensively addresses the formidable challenges associated with proliferation of high penetration of distributed PV such as reverse power flows, transients from variability of PV systems, feeder load balancing, and voltage stability. These issues are exposing the weaknesses of existing grid operations and controls - including, but not limited to, lack of grid situational awareness, heuristic and slow-acting control actions, latency of control for emergency situations, and points of failure in communications. The proposed architecture will comprehensively resolve the deficiencies of current operational settings - where monitoring and control solutions proposed across industry and academia may not be interoperable and may not coexist in the same system - and will enable an efficient, reliable, resilient, and secure operation of future distribution systems with penetration of solar energy well beyond current limits. The DEHC architecture was developed and validated rigorously through hardware-in-loop simulations in the laboratory environment and deployed on the field.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗