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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 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2026

West Africa Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) Capacity Building - Discussion of BESS Tariffs: Payment Structures and Case Studies [Slides]

Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) are emerging as critical assets for enhancing grid reliability, integrating renewable energy, and enabling system flexibility. Yet, the regulatory and financial frameworks that determine how BESS projects are compensated vary widely across jurisdictions. This presentation explores international case studies - from Honduras, Costa Rica, Chile, South Africa, Mexico, and Brazil - to illustrate how tariff design and payment structures are evolving to support large-scale BESS deployment. The cases highlight a range of ownership and revenue models, including cost-of-service mechanisms, energy and capacity payments, and market-based arbitrage, as well as hybrid approaches under development. The discussion will examine key challenges such as defining remuneration for ancillary services, addressing double charging, and accounting for efficiency losses and degradation over time. By comparing experiences across markets, the presentation identifies emerging best practices for valuing BESS and designing tariffs that align technical performance with economic incentives, providing insights for regulators, utilities, and policymakers pursuing storage integration.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2026

Africa Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) Capacity Building Li-Ion Battery Degradation and Performance [Slides]

This presentation is intended for power system engineers, operators, and planners who work on isolated power systems that have (or may soon have) high levels of power generation coming from wind turbines, solar farms, and battery energy storage, which are collectively referred to as inverter-based resources. It describes the basics of lithium-ion battery energy storage systems and lithium-ion battery degradation. Battery degradation at the cell-level is explained, and then the structure and degradation of battery energy storage systems is also explained. This is intended to help power system engineers, operators, and planners to understand and effectively utilize battery energy storage systems.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2026

Africa Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) Capacity Building Utility-Scale Storage: BESS Valuation, Tariffs, and Remuneration [Slides]

Utility-scale Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) are key to enhancing grid reliability, integrating renewable energy, and providing operational flexibility. Designing effective valuation, remuneration, and tariff frameworks is essential to ensure both system benefits and financial viability for developers. This presentation outlines a structured methodology for evaluating BESS projects, covering policy and legal considerations, cost and revenue analysis, benchmarking, financial sensitivity, and risk assessment, while ensuring alignment with public interest. It also explores valuation of multiple storage services - bulk energy, ancillary services, and infrastructure support - and monetization strategies through capacity payments, energy tariffs, tolling, arbitrage, and non-wires alternative payments. Technical factors, including round-trip efficiency, degradation, and storage duration, are integrated into financial and operational modeling to quantify both system-wide and project-level benefits. Through case studies and simulation-based approaches, this framework provides regulators, utilities, and developers with practical guidance for tariff design, payment structures, and investment decisions, maximizing the economic and societal value of BESS deployment.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2026

Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) Licensing and Permitting [Slides]

This presentation provides an overview of the licensing, permitting, and regulatory frameworks governing Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) across multiple international contexts. It outlines foundational permitting considerations - including safety standards, siting requirements, regulatory and environmental obligations, and interconnection processes - alongside typical pathways for installation, approval, and inspection. The presentation summarizes key technical standards such as NFPA 855 and IEEE guidelines, and emphasizes best practices for safe and effective deployment. A series of detailed case studies from South Africa, Chile, Mexico, Brazil, Costa Rica, Honduras, and the Dominican Republic illustrates how different countries structure approval authority, evaluate environmental impacts, and integrate BESS into national grid systems. The deck concludes with insights on emerging challenges, including evolving regulatory frameworks, financial viability, and the need for pricing mechanisms that accurately value storage services.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2026

Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) End-of-Performance and Decommissioning Considerations [Slides]

This presentation provides a comprehensive overview of end-of-performance and decommissioning considerations for large-scale Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS). It outlines expected system lifespans, midterm assessment needs, and pathways for extending operational life through augmentation or repowering. The presentation details regulatory requirements that govern decommissioning plans, cost estimates, financial assurance mechanisms, and performance obligations across multiple jurisdictions. It further examines end-of-life equipment management, including recycling, waste handling, transportation, and environmental compliance. Designed to support Malawi's electricity-sector institutions, the presentation highlights how planning for decommissioning and environmental stewardship can be integrated early in project development to ensure safe, financially accountable, and environmentally responsible BESS system retirement.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2024

Component Criticality in BESS for Cybersecurity

Battery energy storage systems (BESS), inverters, and associated digital equipment are integral pieces of interdependent energy delivery systems. When considering the supply chain security of such systems, there is often a misplaced focus on the origin of energy generation and storage materials like battery cells, overlooking the more significant cyber risks that stem from digital power electronics control systems. Part of this misplaced focus is due to the relative costs of these components, with more attention given to expensive raw materials rather than the impactful digital elements themselves. The Idaho National Laboratory (INL) is addressing this gap in supply chain security through a systems-of-systems approach that considers the impact various components in digital energy systems can have should misoperation occur. Therefore, INL assigns a cyber criticality score based on quantitative analysis, which enables informed prioritization of mitigations and allows operators to reduce risk in light of the prevalence of a BESS and associated systems foreign supply chain.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2025

IEEE PES GM Poster - Cyber-Informed Engineering Approach to Mitigating BESS Supply Chain Concerns

Battery energy storage systems (BESS) are increasingly important to meet the needs of grid resilience and reliability. BESS provide critical grid services, maintaining stability of the grid with increased variable conditions. However, there are significant geopolitical and security concerns regarding their operation in critical infrastructure, due to lack of a domestic supply chain and prevalence of foreign entity of concern (FEOC) components in BESS and associated inverter-based resources. The supply chain challenge is dually exacerbated by a lack of alternative suppliers who can meet the economic targets for energy delivery and a potentially adversarial supply chain. Solutions are needed to secure components, addressing mixed layers of risk and engineering controls. This paper presents a specific application of Cyber-Informed Engineering (CIE) principles for BESS and recommends an alternative strategy to blocking the supply chain, ensuring that grid modernization targets can be met despite lack of a validated or secure supply chain. This study focuses on the United State (U.S.) use case, but the process can be applied globally to address supply chain security challenges. CIE practices represent the next step in functional assurance and risk mitigation, ensuring optimal resource allocation and enhancing security measures to safeguard the future of energy in the U.S. and beyond.

25 - ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2026

Small Hydro Power Plants with Integrated BESS for Enhance Resiliency

Battery energy storage systems (BESS) are an important asset for power systems with high integration levels of renewable energy, and they can be controlled to provide various services to the grid. This paper presents the hardware demonstration and characterization of using a utility-scale BESS with grid-following (GFL) and grid-forming (GFM) controls and a run-of-river (ROR) hydropower plant to perform a bottom-up power system black start that enhances power systems' resiliency. ROR hydropower plants are generally not used for power system restoration due to their frequency instability during islanded operation; however, BESS with droop control can provide critical damping to convert a ROR hydropower generator into a black start- capable unit. To demonstrate this, we carry out hardware experiments at the megawatt-scale integrating a synchronous generator driven by a dynamometer, an actual GFL/GFM BESS, a medium-voltage impedance network, and a load bank. The demonstration shows the different roles of BESS with GFL and GFM control in power system restoration. GFL BESS can suffer from high-frequency oscillations, even instability, depending on the droop control gain and loading condition. The results provide further insights for system operators on how GFL- or GFM controlled BESS can enhance grid stability and how hydro-BESS hybrids can operate as a black-start-capable unit. The presented experimental results are also a valuable resource to understand the different stability characteristics of real-world BESS with different control modes.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2025

ASEAN Technical Exchange Workshop for System Operators, Regulators, and Policymakers

This presentation provides an in-depth exploration of power system planning, cross-border electricity trading, and battery energy storage systems (BESS), offering actionable insights for system operators, regulators, and policymakers. The first section delves into power system planning and analysis, focusing on capacity expansion models and resource adequacy studies, including their role in optimizing system efficiency, managing emissions, and addressing system reliability risks. Key considerations, such as integration of transmission into generation planning and the forecasting versus optimization of customer distributed energy resources (DER) technologies, are explored. The session highlights critical trade-offs in spatial granularity and model runtimes, as well as the feasibility of aligning distribution investments with capacity expansion efforts. The second section examines cross-border electricity trading, with an emphasis on resource adequacy concepts such as reliability targets, loss of load expectation (LOLE), and planning reserve margins (PRM). Case studies on reserve market design and coordination across US regions provide insights into improving reserve deliverability and managing interregional power balance and congestion. This section also addresses market-to-market congestion management, including advanced strategies for high-voltage direct current (HVDC) optimization and ancillary service delivery. Finally, the presentation covers the rapid evolution of Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS), highlighting their operational growth, regulatory frameworks, and use cases in grid flexibility, energy storage, and reliability. The discussion focuses on the benefits of BESS for system stability, resilience, and integration of renewable energy, offering insights into its role as a vital component in the transition toward a more sustainable and flexible grid. Key performance parameters, such as throughput, round-trip efficiency, and state of charge, are also examined.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2024

Securing Digital Energy Infrastructure: BESS Procurement Guidance & Sample Contract Terms

Presentation for Procurement webinar providing technical guidance for entities, procuring Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS), Inverter Based Resources (IBR), Distributed Energy Resource Management Systems (DERMS) and other energy digital systems and services on how to incorporate cybersecurity requirements into the procurement process to enhance both supply chain security as well as entity-specific supply chain risk management (SCRM) programs.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Hierarchical Control of Distributed Battery Energy Storage System in a DC Microgrid

This paper presents a novel hierarchical control approach of a DC microgrid (DCMG) which is supplied by a distributed battery energy storage system (BESS). With this approach, all battery units distributed in the BESS can be controlled to discharge with accurate current sharing and state-of-charge (SoC) balancing. Similar to other hierarchical control approaches used in DCMGs, this approach consists of three levels: (1) primary control, (2) secondary control and (3) tertiary control. This work includes defining a unit control error (UCE) at the secondary control level and evaluating current sharing weights at tertiary control level. A centralized controller at secondary control level is designed to detect the UCEs of each battery unit, and to restore the average voltage of a DCMG and control battery current sharing simultaneously. The distributed battery units share the load current in a DCMG based on weights. These weights are evaluated at the tertiary control level based on battery SoCs. The approach’s effectiveness was confirmed in digital simulation tests with the same simulation model as used in the NASA AMPS Modular Hardware Emulator.

Jing Zhang↗
DOE OSTI2025

Threat Hunt Guide for BESS Environments

The rapid digitalization of the electric grid - driven by the integration of inverter-based resources (IBRs), battery energy storage systems (BESS), and advanced grid control platforms - has significantly enhanced grid efficiency, visibility, and flexibility. However, this evolution also introduces new cybersecurity risks, particularly through supply chain dependencies and operational blind spots at the grid edge. To address these challenges, Idaho National Laboratory (INL), through the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER) Rapid Risk initiative, conducted a series of rapid risk assessment engagements with energy organizations across the United States. Drawing on lessons learned from these engagements, INL developed the following threat hunting guide for asset owners and operators (AOOs) to enhance their cybersecurity visibility within BESS and IBR systems. The guide demonstrates how to use passive network monitoring to baseline device behavior, detect adversarial activity, and investigate anomalies without disrupting operations. By implementing these practices, energy sector stakeholders can improve coordination between cybersecurity and operations teams and strengthen the resilience of distributed energy resources (DERs) within the modern power grid. Prior to implementing any network monitoring, packet capture, or threat hunting activity described in this guide, AOOs are strongly advised to review applicable governance frameworks, legal requirements, and organizational policies. This guide is intended for informational and educational purposes only. It does not replace compliance with any federal, state, or local cybersecurity mandates or industry standards. Implementation of described configurations, technologies, or analytic workflows is performed at the discretion and responsibility of the asset owner and operator.

25 - ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2026

From Cell to System: Accelerated hpc Simulations of BESS Aging under Frequency Regulation and Arbitrage use cases

Lithium-ion battery energy storage systems (BESS) packs have emerged as a leading solution for grid-scale energy storage, enhancing resiliency and balancing load fluctuations. Yet, experimental characterization of large-format LIB packs-particularly to assess performance and degradation over hundreds of cycles - demands substantial hardware investment and multi-year testing campaigns. In this work, we couple a hierarchical, physics-based modeling framework agnostic to electrode chemistries with high-performance computing to accelerate systems level evaluation by upto two orders of magnitude. Building on the open-source liionpack platform, we implement cell, module, and pack-scale electrochemical models enriched with mechanistic aging mechanisms and deploy them on an HPC cluster to simulate 150−200kWh systems over 500 - 1,000 cycles with in days. We subject these virtual B ESS to both constant-current cycling and realistic grid service profiles spanning frequency regulation, ramp-rate support, and energy arbitrage-and quantify the resulting degradation patterns. Our results reveal that localized cell aging can induce substantial nonuniformity at module and pack levels, with service-specific cycling protocols driving distinct aging modes. This rapid, multiscale modeling approach provides a powerful design-space exploration tool for optimizing electrical architecture, control strategies, and operational schedules to prolong pack lifetime and lower total cost of ownership.

Ayalasomayajula, Surya [ORNL] (ORCID:0009000860788↗
DOE OSTI2024

Anomaly Detection and Mitigation for Dynamic Frequency Regulation in Hydropower-Battery Systems

Hydropower operators and energy storage providers are increasingly interested in participating in frequency regulation services, driven by the incentives offered by independent system operators, such as the PJM Interconnection. This transition, however, unfolds against the backdrop of a modernizing and rapidly digitizing power grid, exposing the integrated legacy infrastructure to a multitude of cybersecurity threats. This work presents an approach for developing an anomaly detection and mitigation system to address cybersecurity challenges during the participation of a hydropower-integrated battery energy storage system (BESS) in a frequency regulation market. The applied anomaly detector utilizes machine learning algorithms to provide detailed classification of cyber-physical events. Later, the applied mitigation system triggers predefined corrective actions to minimize the impact of data integrity attacks on the regulation market and system stability. We evaluated the proposed approach on a hydropower-integrated BESS topology, specifically analyzing the slow regulation signal (Reg A) coming from the PJM market. Our simulation results demonstrate that the proposed approach performs well in detecting data integrity attacks within the allocated time frame and also minimizes the system's transient instability during the participation of hydropower and BESS in the regulation market.

battery energy storage system↗
DOE OSTI2025

Case Study: Seattle Waterfront Networked Microgrid Evaluation - Case Study for Port Electrification Handbook

Many ports and waterfronts are evaluating alternative electrification efforts, including electrification of passenger and vehicle ferries. In Seattle, the Washington State Department of Transportation, in conjunction with Seattle City Light (the local utility) and the Port of Seattle, are working to deploy a hybrid electric ferry and provide charging at Seattle’s Colman dock. As part of this ferry electrification effort, Seattle City Light is considering including a large battery energy storage system (BESS) to help “buffer” the ferry charging. The “buffer” provides energy arbitrage and spreads out the large amount of power needed to recharge the ferry to times when the ferry is out of the dock – rather than one very large peak for 15 minutes, the battery storage allows it to be a smaller power value over a longer duration. This initial BESS concept served as the jumping off point to explore an expanded microgrid concept via a notional test system that incorporates additional distributed energy resources (DER) and infrastructure upgrades to the local distribution infrastructure at the Seattle Waterfront and neighboring Port of Seattle properties. This case study examined the potential for secondary use of the BESS within a networked microgrid during the scenario of a large-scale power outage, such as a natural disaster.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2024

Anomaly Detection and Mitigation for Dynamic Frequency Regulation in Hydropower-Battery Systems: Preprint

Hydropower operators and energy storage providers are increasingly interested in participating in frequency regulation services, driven by the incentives offered by independent system operators, such as the Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland Interconnection (PJM), in a competitive electricity market. This transition, however, unfolds against the backdrop of a modernizing and rapidly digitizing power grid, exposing the integrated legacy infrastructure and vulnerable communication networks to a multitude of cybersecurity threats. These evolving threats not only endanger grid operations but also have the potential to trigger cascading disruptions across the broader grid network and influence regulation markets. This work presents an approach for developing an anomaly detection and mitigation system to address cybersecurity challenges during the participation of a hydropower-integrated battery energy storage system (BESS) in a frequency regulation market. The applied anomaly detector utilizes machine learning algorithms to provide detailed classification of cyber-physical events and provide a comprehensive situation awareness to grid operators. Later, the applied mitigation system triggers predefined corrective actions to minimize the impact of data integrity attacks on the regulation market and system stability. We evaluated the proposed approach on a fully active BESS topology using the slow regulation signal (Reg A) coming from the PJM market. Our simulation results reveal that the proposed approach performs well in detecting data integrity attacks within the allocated time frame and also minimizes the system's instability and economic loss during the participation of hydropower and BESS in the regulation market.

battery energy storage system↗
DOE OSTI2024

Battery Energy Storage Systems Report

Battery energy storage systems (BESS) are a critical component of grid reliability and resilience today, providing rapid response capabilities while enabling grid modernization and capacity expansion across the United States. As utilities, communities, and customers prepare to deploy significant BESS capacity over the next several years, the United States has an opportunity to build security into battery system design and deployments. This report provides a framework for assessing the current dominance of foreign-manufactured components in the supply chains for BESS, inverter-based resources, and transformers. It offers high-impact, actionable solutions to service partners, industry, and government to address supply chain risks for currently installed, in design, and future deployments.

24 - POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗