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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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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2025

Electric transmission value and its drivers in United States power markets

Electric transmission infrastructure plays a vital role during extreme weather and supply disruptions and can enable low-cost electricity systems. This paper contributes to a more complete understanding of the value and cost-effectiveness of transmission, as well as barriers to its development. By studying wholesale energy market prices in the United States between 2012 and 2022, we find that additional transfer capacity between regions would have been especially valuable, with a median value of $116 million per GW per year. This capacity would often have provided balanced benefits to each region. The market value of transmission was highly influenced by a small fraction of time: 5% of hours typically captured at least 45% of the total value. These peak periods were primarily driven by unforeseen changes in conditions within one day of operations. Annualized transmission infrastructure cost estimates were lower than the average market value for most locations, including all links crossing regional seams, where the value-to-cost ratio was often greater than 4. This suggests that there are barriers to developing valuable grid infrastructure. These results complement forward-looking modeling studies and support efforts to improve modeling practices.

Energy economics↗
DOE OSTI2023

Component Assessment of the Electric Transmission Grid to Hurricanes

The increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events from climate change necessitates understanding impacts on critical infrastructure, particularly electrical transmission grids. One of the foundational concepts of a grid's resilience is its robustness to extreme weather events, such as hurricanes. Resilience of the electric grid to high wind speeds is predicated upon the location and physical characteristics of the system components. Previous modeling assessments of electric grid failure were done at the systems level with assumptions on location and type of specific components. To facilitate more explicit adaptation metrics, accurate component-level information is needed. In this study, we build and utilize a data set of location, physical characteristics, and age of transmission structures for nine counties in the Florida Panhandle. These component characteristics were then simulated for failure under a variety of scenarios using fragility curves. Eight hurricanes were modeled using Hazus from the Federal Emergency Management Administration and the resulting impact to the network was assessed. The network was generated using the transmission lines and towers, showing increasing impacts to network efficiency with larger storms. Although modern transmission structures are built under the more stringent extreme wind loading construction standards, the prevalence of older, wooden transmission structures throughout the region poses a substantial risk to reliable electricity transmission during tropical cyclone events from the Gulf of Mexico.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2022

Joint Planning of Electricity Transmission and Hydrogen Transportation Networks

The abundance and uneven distribution of renewable energy might cause congestion and curtailment in electric power systems. Transmission expansions can potentially alleviate transmission congestion and reduce renewable energy curtailment. On the other hand, with the substantial cost reduction of electrolyzer technology and the continuing rise of hydrogen demand, converting surplus renewable energy to hydrogen provides synergistic benefits to power and hydrogen systems, but consequently requires joint planning of the two systems. To this end, we propose a joint planning approach for power transmission and hydrogen transportation networks to coordinately optimize the investment and operation of power and hydrogen infrastructure. In our proposed model, detailed truck routing, pipeline, and hydrogen storage are formulated to quantify the flexibility of hydrogen transportation system. A robust joint planning approach is also proposed to address various uncertainties from renewable energy, electric load, and hydrogen demand. Furthermore, our numerical simulations show that the proposed joint planning model can save the total system cost, reduce renewable energy curtailment, and increase the utilization level of transmission lines.

08 HYDROGEN↗
DOE OSTI2025

Interregional Electricity Transmission in the United States: Realized Savings and Opportunities for Increased Value, 2014 to 2023

Interregional electricity trade in the United States reduces total energy costs, but falls short of maximizing the economic potential of existing transmission infrastructure. This analysis of thirty-two U.S. electricity system interfaces crossing grid or market seams finds an average achieved cost savings of at least $1,226 million per year. This positive impact is offset by an average annual cost of uneconomic interchange of $551 million. Additional value of at least $238 million per year could be enabled by increasing utilization. Notably, uneconomic flows and low utilization rates can persist even when the price spread between regions is large. These conclusions are derived from historical (2014–2023) data on the magnitude and direction of interregional price spreads, the magnitude and direction of net energy transfers, and how these variables coincide, but do not account for all system constraints. These findings motivate the development and deployment of solutions that improve interregional transmission operations, in parallel with robust transmission infrastructure planning. JEL Classification: Q40 Energy: General

Q40 Energy: General↗
DOE OSTI2026

Current Best Practices on Wildfire Risk Reduction for Electric Transmission and Distribution Systems

This report provides a set of best practices in response to Section 4(d) of Executive Order 14308, Empowering Commonsense Wildfire Prevention and Response. The information contained herein is expected to be used in conjunction with other materials at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Wildfire Risk Mitigation Technical Conference (Docket No. AD25-16-000), with possible direction to the North American Electric Reliability Corporation to take action. The objective of this report is to provide an overview of existing and emerging best practices currently employed or planned by utilities for wildfire mitigation, demonstrating how these efforts align with the executive order’s emphasis on reducing electric utility–caused wildfires while also balancing cost-effectiveness. Additionally, while most practices in utility-developed wildfire mitigation plans focus on risk reduction through robustness and operational reliability, this report also discusses best practices for resilience. The best practices are adopted from publicly available utility wildfire mitigation plans from the United States and Canada, recent findings from wildfire risk reduction research, and industry engagement.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2020

Electricity Subsector Transmission Resilience Maturity Model (TRMM) User Guide

The electric transmission sector is facing a range of threats to its functionality that are either new, more severe than experienced in earlier years, or more well understood. Such threats include more frequent and more severe extreme weather events, wildfires, droughts, and human-caused physical and cyberattacks. They also include geological, electromagnetic, and biological events. The novelty or increasing severity of these threats creates a significant need for transmission owners to implement programs to prevent, prepare for, respond to, and recover from such incidents. The national and economic security of the United States depends on the reliable functioning of the Nation’s critical infrastructure in the face of such threats, and the transmission networks are essential components of that infrastructure. The Electricity Subsector Transmission Resilience Maturity Model (TRMM) is a tool that a transmission organization can use to objectively evaluate and benchmark its currently established transmission resilience strategies, programs, policies, and investments, in order to target and prioritize enhancements where needed. The TRMM was developed to address the unique characteristics of the transmission system. The model can enable users to: • evaluate and benchmark their organization’s resilience capabilities, effectively and consistently • prioritize actions and investments to improve the resilience of their systems • share transmission-related knowledge, best practices, and relevant references within their organization and with business partners as a means to improve resilience capabilities • contribute to increasing the overall resilience of the Nation’s transmission systems. The TRMM provides descriptive rather than prescriptive industry-focused guidance. The model content is presented at a high level of abstraction so that it can be interpreted by transmission organizations of various types, structures, and sizes. The model is designed to an be easy-to-use, self-assessment tool.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2024

Common Electric Power Transmission System Model JSON Schema Specification

The Common Electric Power Transmission System Model (CTM) is an intuitive, extensible, language-agnostic, and error-resistant specification of electric power network components parameter names and units, and relation between components, intended for use by the research community developing new computational methods for power systems operations and simulation. Power system datasets following the CTM specification can be read as dictionaries and manipulated in that form in most programming languages (e.g., Python, Julia, C++). This standard data structure in CTM makes it easy to work in multiple power systems domains (e.g., economic operation, reliability assessment, electricity markets, stability assessment, etc.) without requiring conversions between use-case-specific file formats with information loss in the process. This repository specifies CTM as a JSON Schema, provides documentation, derivate (code-generated) implementations of CTM, and example data and usage of the schema for important use cases.

Aravena Solis, Ignacio↗
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 OSTI2021

Measurement placement in electric power transmission and distribution grids: Review of concepts, methods, and research needs

Sensing and measurement systems are quintessential to the safe and reliable operation of electric power grids. Their strategic placement is of ultimate importance because it is not economically viable to install measurement systems on every node and branch of a power grid, though they need to be monitored. An overwhelming number of strategies have been developed to meet oftentimes multiple conflicting objectives. The prime challenge in formulating the problem lies in developing a heuristic or an optimisation model that, though mathematically tractable and constrained in cost, leads to trustworthy technical solutions. Further, large-scale, long-term deployments pose additional challenges because the boundary conditions change as technologies evolve. For instance, the advent of new technologies in sensing and measurement, as well as in communications and networking, might impact the cost and performance of available solutions and shift initially set conditions. Also, the placement strategies developed for transmission grids might not be suitable for distribution grids, and vice versa, because of unique characteristics; therefore, the strategies need to be flexible, to a certain extent, because no two power grids are alike. Despite the extensive literature on the present topic, the focus of published works tends to be on a specific subject, such as the optimal placement of measurements to ensure observability in transmission grids. There is a dearth of work providing a comprehensive picture for developing optimal placement strategies. Because of the ongoing efforts on the modernisation of electric power grids, there is a need to consolidate the status quo while exposing its limitations to inform policymakers, industry stakeholders, and researchers on the research-and-development needs to push the boundaries for innovation. Accordingly, this paper first reviews the state-of-the-art considering both transmission and distribution grids. Then, it consolidates the key factors to be considered in the problem formulation. Finally, it provides a set of perspectives on the measurement placement problem, and it concludes with future research directions.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2025

CPUC Avoided Transmission and Distribution Cost Study to Support the Avoided Cost Calculator: Avoided Transmission Costs Draft Research Plan

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) have been contracted by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) Energy Division (ED) to perform a study which explores and selects an improved methodology to estimate avoided electricity transmission and distribution (T&D) infrastructure costs that can be attributed to the presence of distributed energy resources (DERs). PNNL is performing the study for avoided electricity transmission infrastructure costs and LBNL is performing the study for avoided electricity distribution infrastructure costs. This document summarizes CPUC’s research questions related to avoided transmission infrastructure costs and PNNL’s proposed technical approach to answer these questions.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2022

Techno-economic analysis of offshore wind PEM water electrolysis for H 2 production

A model for producing hydrogen via offshore wind electrolysis was developed and the levelized costs of both energy and hydrogen were calculated. Here, this model calculated the cost of hydrogen produced by offshore wind and showed that the levelized cost of energy for hydrogen production and transportation to shore could be lower than for electricity transmission from offshore wind farms, using real wind data from a particular location. Therefore, direct coupling of the electrolysis system with offshore wind turbine is more advantageous than transmitting electricity to shore and then producing hydrogen via traditional electrolysis; the cost of hydrogen from offshore wind electrolysis is estimated to be $\$2.09$/kg, vs $\$3.86$/kg from traditional electrolysis using wind power.

08 HYDROGEN↗
DOE OSTI2026

Multidisciplinary Design, Analysis, and Optimization (MDO) for Co-Designed Transmission & Distribution Electric Grid Planning

This paper describes early experiences and example use cases applying multi-disciplinary design analysis and optimization (MDO) to the integrated design of power grids. Adapted from aerospace, MDO enables combining multiple existing tools into a coordinated optimization. Here we use MDO to simultaneously capture integrated transmission-distribution and investment-engineering trade-offs in an automated framework. Example use cases showcase prototype interactions among existing grid models using MDO and hint at the types of integrated analyses enabled by this approach. In addition, we share experiences and thoughts on grid-specific challenges and opportunities to help advance further work in this area.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2022

Precursor Analysis Report: Industroyer Targeting Ukraine Electric Power Transport Utility (Ukrenergo) 2016

The Industroyer Targeting Ukraine Electric Power Transport Utility (Ukrenergo) 2016 Precursor Analysis Report leverages publicly available information about the December 2016 cyber attack against the Ukrainian Ukrenergo electric transmission utility and catalogs anomalous observables for each technique employed in the attack. This analysis is based upon the methodology of the Cybersecurity for the Operational Technology Environment (CyOTE) program. Industroyer is a modular malware framework designed to deploy several Industrial Control System (ICS) protocol-specific attack payloads to disrupt electricity distribution. Adversaries deployed Industroyer within the target network on a Microsoft Windows endpoint capable of directly manipulating or communicating with ICS. Industroyer abuses the functionality of a targeted ICS’s legitimate control system to achieve its intended impact. Adversaries likely first gained access to Ukrenergo enterprise networks in early 2016 after a successful spearphishing campaign against organizations in the electric power sector. Adversaries then began capturing credentials beginning on 1 December 2016. This allowed access to the ICS environment at the Pivnichna electric transmission substation outside Kyiv through a device dual-homed on the Information Technology (IT) and ICS networks. Adversaries conducted discovery, targeting, and access to this device using information and previously captured credentials from compromised enterprise IT machines. Finally, the adversaries deployed and launched the Industroyer malware just before midnight on 17 December. By midnight, Ukrenergo had lost control of a targeted substation, resulting in electric power outages for over an hour in the city of Kyiv and the Kyiv region. Researchers and analysts identified 31 unique techniques (used in a sequence of 33 steps) utilized during the attack with a total of 846 observables using MITRE ATT&CK® for Industrial Control Systems. The CyOTE program assesses observables accompanying techniques used prior to the triggering event to identify opportunities to detect malicious activity. If observables accompanying the attack techniques are perceived and investigated prior to the triggering event, earlier comprehension of malicious activity can take place. Twenty-nine of the identified techniques used during the Industroyer cyber attack were precursors to the triggering event. Analysis identified 548 observables associated with these precursor techniques, 353 of which were assessed to have an increased likelihood of being perceived in the 300 days preceding the triggering event. The response and comprehension time could have been reduced if the observables had been identified earlier. The information gathered in this report contributes to a library of observables tied to a repository of artifacts, data sources, and technique detection references for practitioners and developers to support the comprehension of indicators of attack. Asset owners and operators can use these products if they experience similar observables or to prepare for comparable scenarios.

45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEF↗
DOE OSTI2024

Transmission Value in 2023: Market Data Shows the Value of Transmission Remained High in Certain Locations Despite Overall Low Wholesale Electricity Prices

In 2023 additional electricity transmission would have provided the most value for links that crossed between grid interconnection regions in the United States (the Western Interconnection, the Eastern Interconnection, the Texas Interconnection) or crossed between system operator regions within the same interconnection. Many multi-interconnection or multi-region links had values of greater than $\$20$/MWh, or up to $\$175$ million/yr per 1 GW expanded transmission (subject to limits to the depth of the market at each side of the link). In contrast, many links within regions, or between regions in the northeast, had relatively low values in 2023, following the overall decline in wholesale electricity prices in 2023 compared with 2021-2022. The most valuable link in 2023, at $\$61$ /MWh, was between Texas and the Southwest. Multiple events in 2023 (high natural gas prices in the western U.S., and high summer temperatures in Texas and the Southwest) were observed to have driven this high value. Of particular note, high prices in Texas occurred at a largely distinct set of hours from high prices in the Southwest, helping to drive up the value of transmission in total and demonstrating significant value to both regions. This example demonstrates the unique value of transmission (compared to other solutions, such as building local generation resources) in delivering benefits to multiple regions given its ability to connect areas of the country that inevitably face differing circumstances.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗