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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 325 records · Page 18
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2026

Effect of externally applied pressure on rechargeable alkaline zinc batteries at limited depth of discharge

Rechargeable alkaline zinc batteries (AZBs) are being actively researched for grid-scale energy storage due to their safety, low toxicity, abundance, low cost, and ease-of-production. However, numerous studies on alkaline Zn–MnO 2 batteries have shown that issues such as heterogeneous Zn deposition, passivation, dendrite formation, hydrogen evolution, and formation of chemically irreversible byproducts on the electrode surfaces still limit their rechargeability. Several mitigating strategies have been proposed to improve the rechargeability of alkaline Zn–MnO 2 batteries, but the effect of pressure on electrochemical behavior has not been systematically investigated. In this paper, we demonstrate that an externally applied pressure at 20% MnO 2 depth-of-discharge (DOD MnO 2 ) has a profound effect on impedance, electrochemical cycling behavior, and materials morphology of alkaline Zn–MnO 2 batteries. Better electrochemical performance and improved morphology were achieved at 2.12 MPa pressure compared to 0.05 MPa pressure. Moreover, we examined the effect of externally applied pressure from 0 to 5.05 MPa before cycling and found that charge transfer resistance decreases significantly with pressure. Furthermore, we reported stable electrochemical cycling of MnO 2 ‖MnO 2 symmetric cells for 500 hours at 20% DOD under 2.12 MPa pressure. In conclusion, our efforts in understanding the effect of pressure could help design high performance and durable rechargeable alkaline Zn–MnO 2 batteries for grid-scale energy storage.

Rechargeable alkaline batteries↗
DOE OSTI2023

LA100 Equity Strategies. Chapter 12: Distribution Grid Upgrades for Equitable Resilience and Solar, Storage, and Electric Vehicle Access

The LA100 Equity Strategies project integrates community guidance with robust research, modeling, and analysis to identify strategy options that can increase equitable outcomes in Los Angeles' clean energy transition. As Los Angeles transitions toward clean energy, existing distribution grid infrastructure will need to be updated and expanded to support reliable service during routine operations, enable interconnection with distributed energy resources and electrified loads, and provide access to energy-related services during disasters. This chapter focuses on equity in distribution grid upgrades, reliability, and resilience in Los Angeles. Specifically, NREL performed grid upgrade and resilience analyses using a detailed model of the distribution grid and income-differentiated household load profiles, electric vehicle (EV) adoption patterns, distributed solar adoption, and grid reliability to explore two key questions to inform how the City of Los Angeles can ensure a resilient and reliable distribution grid for all communities during the clean energy transition: Where can distribution system upgrades can be prioritized to enable equitable access to, and adoption of, clean energy technologies and how can Los Angeles provide equitable, resilient access to electricity-related services (e.g., health care, food) during disaster events like earthquakes and flooding? The electric distribution system is the "last mile" of the grid, linking the multistate bulk power system with customers; new loads, including EVs; and distributed energy resources, such as customer and community solar and storage. This analysis focuses on the 4.8-kilovolt (kV) system, including service transformers that represent the utility-side of the grid connection for most residential customers. Chapter 17 looks at the customer-side of the grid connection with a focus on electric panel upgrade needs. The transition toward clean energy can put additional stress on the distribution system from distributed energy resources and electrification - especially EVs and increased use of electricity for heating, cooling, cooking, and hot water. This stress, measured here as the number of equipment overloads and voltage violations, correlates strongly to grid reliability and therefore is used as a proxy for understanding additional upgrades needed and to help ensure equitable access to electrification and distributed energy resources. NREL also conducted community resilience analysis to examine customer-level access to both electricity and a larger range of services, such as hospitals and grocery stores during a disaster. This analysis explicitly considers equity to understand differences in current resilience and resilience strategies to effectively improve critical services access for all Angelenos. Research was guided by input from the community engagement process, and associated equity strategies are presented in alignment with that guidance.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2023

Ultrahigh-Loading Manganese-Based Electrodes for Aqueous Batteries via Polymorph Tuning

Manganese-based aqueous batteries utilizing Mn 2+ /MnO 2 redox reactions are promising choices for grid-scale energy storage due to their high theoretical specific capacity, high power capability, low-cost, and intrinsic safety with water-based electrolytes. However, the application of such systems is hindered by the insulating nature of deposited MnO 2 , resulting in low normalized areal loading (0.005–0.05 mAh cm -2 ) during the charge/discharge cycle. Here, in this work, the electrochemical performance of various MnO 2 polymorphs in Mn 2+ /MnO 2 redox reactions is investigated, and ε-MnO 2 with low conductivity is determined to be the primary electrochemically deposited phase in normal acidic aqueous electrolyte. It is found that increasing the temperature can change the deposited phase from ε-MnO 2 with low conductivity to γ-MnO 2 with two order of magnitude increase in conductivity. It is demonstrated that the highly conductive γ-MnO 2 can be effectively exploited for ultrahigh areal loading electrode, and a normalized areal loading of 33 mAh cm -2 is achieved. At a mild temperature of 50 °C, cells are cycled with an ultrahigh areal loading of 20 mAh cm -2 (1–2 orders of magnitude higher than previous studies) for over 200 cycles with only 13% capacity loss.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
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 OSTI2025

Techno-Economic Analysis for the Addition of Thermal Energy Storage to a Campus With Existing Battery Storage

Rising global temperatures and increasing energy demands pose significant challenges for energy management, particularly in institutional and commercial settings. As cooling needs grow, campuses must balance operational efficiency, cost control, and grid stability. Energy storage solutions, such as thermal energy storage (TES) systems, offer a promising approach to shifting energy consumption from peak to off-peak periods, alleviating peak demand, reducing utility costs, and enhancing grid resilience. When integrated with existing battery energy storage systems (BESS), TES can further optimize load management and improve energy savings, especially in buildings with diverse energy needs. This article presents a techno-economic analysis of integrating a chilled water TES system into the central plant at California State University, Dominguez Hills, which already operates a BESS. We assess three TES sizing strategies—full storage, load leveling, and peak demand limiting—by modeling and simulations based on historical energy loads. Our findings show that we can control TES systems to complement BESS operation, with campus-level load leveling providing the greatest cost savings by reducing peak demands. Furthermore, the study also evaluates the long-term economic viability of TES, considering installation costs, energy savings, and payback periods under varying tariffs. This research offers practical guidance for institutions seeking to enhance energy resilience and reduce operational costs through energy storage solutions.

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 OSTI2023

Rechargeable metal-metal alkaline batteries: Recent advances, current issues and future research strategies

Over the past few decades, remarkable advancement has been attained in the field of rechargeable metal–metal alkaline batteries (RABs). In terms of safety, energy density, charge-discharge capacity, and long-term storage capability, metal-metal RABs (e.g., Ni–Zn, Ni–Fe, Ni–Bi, Ni–MH, Ag–Zn, Co–Zn, Cu–Zn, and Bi–Zn systems) are contemplated as the promising energy storage devices for the applications in electric vehicles (EVs), hybrid EVs, grid-scale energy storage, as well as various implantable and wearable electronic devices. Especially, Ni-MH batteries become competitive with Li-ion batteries for EVs and hybrid EVs applications due to their high tolerance against mechanical abuse, stability under wide temperature ranges, and considerable charge/discharge capacity. Meanwhile, earlier works reviewed only specific topics, so, as a rapidly growing research topic, providing a deep understanding on metal–metal RABs is timely and worthwhile. So here, in this work, we discuss the electrochemistry of all metal-metal RABs, then full cell designing with their performance will be discussed thoroughly. Further, issues associated with the existing metal–metal RABs and corresponding improvement approaches will be provided for future advances in high-performance and reliable metal-metal RABs.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2025

Toward 100% Renewable Power Grids: A Review

The transition to a 100% renewable power grid remains beset by significant technical challenges. This paper critically examines the obstacles arising from the variability and unpredictability of renewable energy sources (RES), which complicate the real-time balancing of power generation and load demand. In addition to traditional stability concerns (e.g., rotor angle, voltage, and frequency stability), the increasing penetration of inverter-based resources (IBRs) introduces novel challenges, including resonance stability issues and converter-driven dynamics. Moreover, the dynamic behavior and fault response of IBRs diverge markedly from those of conventional synchronous generators, rendering traditional protection schemes increasingly inadequate. This paper reviews state-of-the-art solutions in power balancing, grid flexibility, stability enhancement, and advanced protection strategies, discussing their implications for future grid design. The analysis provides a comprehensive assessment of recent technological advancements, thereby outlining critical research directions essential for achieving a resilient, 100% renewable power grid.

100% renewable power grid↗
DOE OSTI2021

Evaluating ZEBRA Battery Module under the Peak-Shaving Duty Cycles

With the recent rapid increase in demand for reliable, long-cycle life, and safe battery technologies for large-scale energy-storage applications, a battery module based on ZEBRA battery chemistry is extensively evaluated for its application in peak shaving duty cycles. First, this module is tested with a full capacity cycle consisting of a charging process (factory default) and a discharging process with a current of 40 A. The battery energy efficiency (discharge vs. charge) is about 90%, and the overall energy efficiency is 80.9%, which includes the auxiliary power used to run the battery management system electronics and self-heating to maintain the module operating temperature (265 °C). Generally, because of the increased self-heating during the holding times that exist for the peak shaving duty cycles, the overall module efficiency decreases slightly for the peak-shaving duty cycles (70.7–71.8%) compared to the full-capacity duty cycle. With a 6 h, peak-shaving duty cycle, the overall energy efficiency increases from 71.8% for 7.5 kWh energy utilization to 74.1% for 8.5 kWh. We conducted long-term cycling tests of the module at a 6 h, peak-shaving duty cycle with 7.5 kWh energy utilization, and the module exhibited a capacity degradation rate of 0.0046%/cycle over 150 cycles (>150 days).

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2020

Front End Engineering Design Report

Energy storage is becoming an increasingly important component on modern power grids to ensure sufficient balancing capability for intermittent renewable power generations is available to maintain system reliability. Although energy storage has traditionally been provided by pumped storage hydroelectric systems, it is not possible to install these at every location and they can be expensive to construct. Lithium Ion batteries are increasingly being used to carry out energy storage grid services, however these can be expensive when specified over a few hours of capacity. An alternative way to store substantial energy is to use thermal energy storage (TES). This has been deployed on concentrated solar units using molten nitrate salts as a storage media. Again, the cost of the material can be prohibitive, thus lower cost alternative materials are being actively sought, such as sand, rocks and concrete. This project investigates the potential for Concrete Thermal Energy Storage (CTES) when used to directly store thermal energy from a thermal plant source. This report represents the initial Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) deliverables that are submitted for the Hazard and Operability (HAZOP) safety review for process validation.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2020

CTES Pilot Plant Detailed Design Report

Energy storage is becoming an increasingly important component on modern power grids to ensure sufficient balancing capability for intermittent renewable power generations is available to maintain system reliability. Although energy storage has traditionally been provided by pumped storage hydroelectric systems, it is not possible to install these at every location and they can be expensive to construct. Lithium Ion batteries are increasingly being used to carry out energy storage grid services, however these can be expensive when specified over a few hours of capacity. An alternative way to store substantial energy is to use thermal energy storage (TES). This has been deployed on concentrated solar units using molten nitrate salts as a storage media. Again, the cost of the material can be prohibitive, thus lower cost alternative materials are being actively sought, such as sand, rocks and concrete. This project investigates the potential for Concrete Thermal Energy Storage (CTES) when used to directly store thermal energy from a thermal plant source. This report represents the Detailed Design phase deliverables comprising of the process, mechanical, electrical, piping along with control and instrumentation documents. Civil and structural deliverables are included on a preliminary basis due to outstanding site investigation activities. CTES block transportation testing results and the pilot plant testing plan is also included in this report.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Electrical Systems of Pumped Storage Hydropower Plants: Electrical Generation, Machines, Power Electronics, and Power Systems

Adjustable-speed (AS) pumped storage hydropower (PSH) technology has the potential to become a large, consistent contributor to grid stability enabling higher penetrations of wind and solar energy on the future U.S. power system. AS-PSH has high-value characteristics, such as fast response to provide ancillary services to the grid, because it is a power converter interface with the grid (like battery storage), but at the same time it has the energy content large enough to supply both short-term (seconds-to-minutes) and long-term (minutes-to-hours) of energy needs, like more conventional power plants. However, designs must be optimized to lower the capital expenditure (CapEx) and to provide a high-quality grid interface capability (e.g. power quality, ancillary service provider, fault-tolerant or fault ride-through capability), which is a primary factor in the acceptance of AS-PSH into a utility’s generation mix. This CapEx will be greatly affected by the cost savings associated with the civil structure, turbine design, power electronics, control systems, or unique generator designs. A holistic design must be considered to get a full picture of the benefits of the technology proposed. The AS-PSH can be controlled to reduce the impact of transient disturbance on a power system and at the same time can be controlled to minimized subsequent component fatigue and potential oscillation modes within the plant, with the overall impact in reducing the operational expenditures (OpEx).Generating clean power to meet standards such as Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 519 and International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) 1000-3-2 will be a continuing challenge. For many technology developers, however, improved AS-PSH technologies will become a key component of generator-storage systems of the future given the prospects of increased performance and decreasing costs, and the ever-increasing penetration of renewables (e.g wind power and solar power).

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗