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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 OSTI2024

Assessing the Current State of U.S. Energy Equity Regulation and Legislation (2024 Update) [Slides]

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) partnered with E9 Insight (E9) to update the 2022 database of executive, legislative, and regulatory actions focusing on energy equity and directed at electricity and natural gas utilities. The resulting database contains 307 energy equity actions, which consist of documents (e.g., bills, dockets, and executive orders) identified through keyword searches associated with energy equity. Based on our review, almost half of states (32 + DC) were taking some sort of action on energy equity (i.e., executive order, PUC activity, agency plan, or executive bill). In the report, we explored temporal trends to track state actions over time across regions, outcomes, equity tenets, and objectives. We also explored what drivers led to what outcomes. Drivers were organized into legislative, regulatory, executive, and stakeholder-driven.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Mitigating Stranded Asset Risks to Utility Customers: an Exploration of Securitization and Retiring Coal Generation

Coal generation currently accounts for approximately 19.5 percent of electricity generated in the United States, down from 51.7 percent of the generation mix in 2000. In 2023, the EIA expects 8.9 gigawatts (GW) of planned retirements of coal-fired capacity. Many of the coal-fired power plant retirements that have already occurred or are planned for the next decade will be plants that have not yet reached the end of their useful life, and are therefore not fully depreciated. Ensuring that utility customers do not face an undue burden in paying for these stranded assets will become an increasingly important issue over the next few years for PUCs overseeing the safety, reliability, and affordability of investor-owned utility service. This report reviews the role that securitization can play in reducing the costs associated with stranded assets due to early coal plant retirements.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗
DOE OSTI2025

Advancing Grid Resilience through Smart Charge Management: Findings from Maryland’s Pilot

This report presents research findings from a four-year Smart Charge Management (SCM) pilot program conducted by Maryland’s largest electric utilities—Baltimore Gas and Electric (BGE), Potomac Electric Power Company (Pepco), and Delmarva Power & Light (DPL)—to evaluate strategies for optimizing electric vehicle (EV) charging loads and enhancing grid stability. Supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Argonne National Laboratory collaborated with all project partners and examined the effectiveness of Time-of-Use (TOU) and Load Balancing (LB) strategies in managing peak demand, deferring costly infrastructure upgrades, and reducing grid constraints at the feeder level. Using charging data from over 4,600 EV drivers, the study analyzed SCM’s impact on the distribution systems of BGE and Pepco, which consists of over 2000 feeders. Unlike prior research that focused on system-wide trends or synthetic feeders, this analysis offers granular, feeder-level insights based on real-world operational data. It highlights how transformer density, load profiles, and infrastructure constraints influence smart charging performance. Results show feeder-level conditions play a crucial role in SCM effectiveness, with most feeders benefiting more from LB, while TOU-based SCM may be sufficient for others. By 2035, LB reduced peak charging loads by 27% on average, compared to 23% under TOU-based SCM, though some feeders saw reductions exceeding 35%, while others experienced minimal impact. Feeders with higher transformer utilization and limited capacity benefited more from LB, which more effectively distributed charging demand during off-peak hours. Beyond reducing grid constraints, SCM offers long-term operational and financial benefits. By shifting EV charging demand strategically, utilities can optimize asset utilization, delay infrastructure investments, and enhance grid performance. In terms of infrastructure upgrade deferrals, at the feeder level, LB consistently reduced peak charging loads and resulting infrastructure upgrade costs, particularly in high EV enrollment areas, decreasing the number of overloaded transformers by up to 35%, while TOU-based SCM achieved 20-30% reductions depending on feeder characteristics. At the system level, LB has the potential to defer total upgrade costs by $\$$186 million for BGE, compared to $\$$159 million under TOU-based SCM. For Pepco, TOU-based SCM performed slightly better, deferring upgrade costs by $\$$30 million, compared to $\$$29 million under LB. Section 4.5 reviews some of the system differences between BGE and Pepco. However, as EV adoption scales, TOU-based SCM will introduce secondary peak charging loads, reinforcing the need for more advanced, adaptive SCM approaches to prevent new grid challenges. As EV adoption continues to grow, feeder-level managed charging strategies will be essential for mitigating grid stress, improving infrastructure efficiency, and maintaining energy affordability for consumers. This report provides critical insights for utilities, Public Utility Commissions (PUCs), and state agencies on the role of feeder-specific smart charging in infrastructure planning, policy development, and grid modernization. The findings underscore the importance of tailored, data-driven SCM solutions that align with local grid conditions, ensuring a resilient, cost-effective transition to increasing EV adoption while safeguarding distribution system performance.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2024

Aggregated Distributed Energy Resources in 2024: The Fundamentals

This report builds upon existing literature and leading examples of ADER pricing and programs in practice to equip commissioners and staff at Public Utilities Commissions (PUCs) and State Energy Offices with the fundamentals of ADER grid services, valuation options, and approaches to compensation. Examples, active debates, and opportunities for further reading are highlighted throughout the document for readers to explore. This report does not seek to outline a specific objective for ADERs in the electricity system nor does it recommend any specific policies for ADERs—it seeks to provide helpful information to inform policymakers’ own ADER strategies and priorities.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2025

Dynamic Capacitive Wireless Power Transfer System for Electric Vehicles (CRADA Final Report)

Road transportation accounts for 23% of our nation's total energy consumption, 59% of our petroleum consumption and 22% of our total emissions. Electric vehicles (EVs) have much higher well-to-wheel efficiency compared to gasoline vehicles and can reduce our dependence on oil, minimize emissions, improve local air quality and provide a platform for technological innovation and economic growth. While major progress has been made in the development of electric vehicles, their penetration remains under 1 The main hurdles in their widespread adoption are high cost, limited range and long charging times, due to limitations in battery technology. An approach to overcome these hurdles is to substantially reduce the on-board energy storage and instead deliver power wirelessly to the vehicle while it is in motion dynamic wireless power transfer (WPT). For EV charging applications, researchers have traditionally focused on inductive WPT. An issue with inductive WPT systems is that for magnetic flux guidance and shielding, they require ferrite cores, making them expensive, bulky and difficult to embed in the roadway. Under an ARPA-E IDEAS grant, the CU Boulder team has recently developed an alternative approach to WPT based on capacitive coupling that is much smaller, lighter, less expensive, and easier to embed in the roadway than inductive WPT; and have demonstrated a 1.2-kW 6.78-MHz version of this capacitive WPT system on a stationary platform. Under this seed grant program, preliminary work will be carried out on a dynamic capacitive WPT system to prepare a strong proposal for the ARPA-E OPEN 2018 FOA.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Compendium of Cyber Incident Notification Requirements for Critical Infrastructure Utilities by State

Cyber attacks targeting critical infrastructure in the United States are on the rise and pose serious risks to the economy and health and safety of its citizens. Experts suggest a sound cyber risk mitigation strategy includes constant monitoring for signs of cyber intrusions and rapid reporting of incidents so that other critical infrastructure operators may benefit from early warnings. Reporting incidents to Public Utility Commissions (PUCs) and other state agencies who have roles in energy emergency planning and incident response and recovery is essential for them to maintain situational awareness and provide necessary support to ensure rapid restoration of utility services, should disruptions occur.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2025

State Spotlight on Resilience: The Michigan Public Service Commission and Data Informed Accountability

Resilience activities are an emerging area within regulatory utility policy. As resilience frameworks develop, many Public Utility Commissions (PUCs) are looking to initiate resilience activities and have identified enhancing grid reliability as a practical starting point. Reliability describes the grid’s ability to deliver electricity steadily and without interruptions under normal or “blue sky” conditions. Reliability is measured using industry standard metrics such as outage frequency (SAIFI) and outage duration (SAIDI). Resilience is broader, reflecting the grid’s ability to both withstand and recover from disruptions, particularly those caused by extreme events such as severe storms. A reliable grid minimizes routine disruptions; a resilient grid ensures the system can recover quickly when disruptions occur, preventing them from escalating into widespread or prolonged crises.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2026

National Laboratory of the Rockies: Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission/ Technical Utility Services Bureau Distribution System Resilience Deep Dive 2025

The following is a summary of the National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR) - Pennsylvania PUC/ Technical Utility Services Bureau (TUS) Distribution System Resiliency Deep-Dive project. This is work that NLR performed to provide the support that the TUS requested under the Resources and Support for State Energy Offices & Regulators (RASOR) program.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Thermodynamics Modeling for Actinide Monocarbides and Mononitrides from First Principles

The high-temperature thermodynamical properties for the actinide monocarbides and mononitrides ThC, ThN, UC, UN, PuC, and PuN are calculated from first-principles electronic-structure theory. The electronic structure is modeled with density-functional theory (DFT) and is fully relativistic, including the spin-orbit interaction. Furthermore, the DFT is extended to account for orbital–orbital interactions, by means of a parameter-free orbital-polarization (OP) technique, that has proven to be essential for the 5f electrons in plutonium. Strong anharmonicity and the temperature dependence of the lattice vibrations are captured with the self-consistent ab initio lattice dynamics (SCAILD) method. The calculated free energies and heat capacities are compared to published results from quasi-harmonic (QH) theory, and experiments, where available. For the uranium and plutonium compounds, we make use of CALPHAD assessments to help evaluate the theory. Generally, our anharmonic relativistic approach compares well with both CALPHAD and experiments. For the thorium compounds, our theory is in good accord with QH modeling of the free energy at lower temperatures but for the heat capacity the comparison is less favorable.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Overview of an Exploratory, Real-Time, Multi-Pilot Simulation Study of Early eVTOL Operations at Non-Towered Vertiports

This paper provides a report out on an exploratory, multi-aircraft/multi-pilot, real-time simulation study conducted by NASA of early commercial powered-lift, Urban Air Mobility (UAM) operations at a non-towered vertiport. As used in this paper, vertiport refers to the primary ground and airspace elements facilitating the takeoff and landing of electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft with central emphasis on a vertipad, i.e. the physical touch-down and lift-off area and surrounding approach , departure, local pattern procedures. The study, known as the Piloted UML-2 ConOps Study (PUCS), had two high-level goals. The first goal was providing preliminary insights and observations relevant to the piloting and flight operations of early, commercial UAM operations aligned with the initial stage of the FAA’s Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) Implementation Plan and the second level NASA’s UAM Maturity Level (UML) scale. The second goal was evaluating a novel, medium-fidelity, extensible, many-pilot, real-time simulation capability known as the UAM Flyers developed by NASA. The Flyers are intended to allow rapid development, screening, evaluation, and demonstrations of potential Concepts of Operation (ConOps) for UAM flight operations and airspace management in a modular and low-cost, real-time, human-in-the-loop rapid simulation prototyping environment. For this study, ten Flyer cockpits were configured to evaluate flight operations through a non-towered vertiport with pilot interfaces and displays (external and in-cockpit) appropriate for operations under visual flight rules (VFR) and employing flight and communication procedures representative of current operations at non-towered airports. The presented results include an achieved operational tempo; durations of individual flight tasks for approaches and departures; off-nominal events and triggers; and pilot comments regarding potential procedural and technology improvements.

Urban Air Mobility↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Overview of an Exploratory, Multi-Pilot Simulation Study of Early eVTOL Operations at Non-Towered Vertiports

This paper provides a report out on an exploratory, multi-aircraft/multi-pilot, real-time simulation study conducted by NASA of early commercial powered-lift, Urban Air Mobility (UAM) operations at a non-towered vertiport. As used in this paper, vertiport refers to the primary ground and airspace elements facilitating the takeoff and landing of electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft with central emphasis on a vertipad, i.e. the physical touch-down and lift-off area and surrounding approach , departure, local pattern procedures. The study, known as the Piloted UML-2 ConOps Study (PUCS), had two high-level goals. The first goal was providing preliminary insights and observations relevant to the piloting and flight operations of early, commercial UAM operations aligned with the initial stage of the FAA’s Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) Implementation Plan and the second level NASA’s UAM Maturity Level (UML) scale. The second goal was evaluating a novel, medium-fidelity, extensible, many-pilot, real-time simulation capability known as the UAM Flyers developed by NASA. The Flyers are intended to allow rapid development, screening, evaluation, and demonstrations of potential Concepts of Operation (ConOps) for UAM flight operations and airspace management in a modular and low-cost, real-time, human-in-the-loop rapid simulation prototyping environment. For this study, ten Flyer cockpits were configured to evaluate flight operations through a non-towered vertiport with pilot interfaces and displays (external and in-cockpit) appropriate for operations under visual flight rules (VFR) and employing flight and communication procedures representative of current operations at non-towered airports. The presented results include an achieved operational tempo; durations of individual flight tasks for approaches and departures; off-nominal events and triggers; and pilot comments regarding potential procedural and technology improvements.

Urban Air Mobility↗
DOE OSTI2023

GMLC Technical Assistance to States: DER Interconnection Workshop #3

NREL hosted this workshop to help state public utility commissions (PUCs) understand the materials and support available to assist in distributed energy resource (DER) interconnection activities. This workshop focused on DER interconnection and included four speakers, whose material will be posted at https://www.nrel.gov/grid/ieee-standard-1547/workshops.html. The slides in this deck were for the facilitator to provide context to the attendees as well as additional resources on the topics discussed.

DER↗
DOE OSTI2023

State Microgrid Policy, Programmatic, and Regulatory Framework

The purpose of this framework is to provide a resource for PUCs and State Energy Offices as they develop policies, regulations, and programs to support microgrids. Through shared understanding of the roles of these different entities, the framework aims to foster productive collaboration to support microgrid development.

Jones, Kelsey↗
DOE OSTI2024

Measurement of the effective leptonic weak mixing angle

Using pp collision data at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV, recorded by the LHCb experiment between 2016 and 2018 and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5.4 fb −1 , the forward-backward asymmetry in the pp → Z/γ* → μ + μ − process is measured. The measurement is carried out in ten intervals of the difference between the muon pseudorapidities, within a fiducial region covering dimuon masses between 66 and 116 GeV, muon pseudorapidities between 2.0 and 4.5 and muon transverse momenta above 20 GeV. These forward-backward asymmetries are compared with predictions, at next-to-leading order in the strong and electroweak couplings. The measured effective leptonic weak mixing angle is ${\sin}^2{\theta}_{\textrm{eff}}^{\ell }=0.23147\pm 0.00044\pm 0.00005\pm 0.00023,$ where the first uncertainty is statistical, the second arises from systematic uncertainties associated with the asymmetry measurement, and the third arises from uncertainties in the fit model used to extract ${\sin}^2{\theta}_{\textrm{eff}}^{\ell }$ from the asymmetry measurement. This result is based on an arithmetic average of results using the CT18, MSHT20, and NNPDF31 parameterisations of the proton internal structure, and is consistent with previous measurements and with predictions from the global electroweak fit.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Observation of Exotic 𝐽/𝜓⁢𝜙 Resonant Structure in Diffractive Processes in Proton-Proton Collisions

The first study of 𝐽/𝜓⁢𝜙 production in diffractive processes in proton-proton collisions is presented. The study is based on an LHCb dataset recorded at center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5 fb −1 . The data disfavor a nonresonant 𝐽/𝜓⁢𝜙 production but are consistent with a resonant model including several resonant states observed previously only in 𝐵 + →𝐽/𝜓⁢𝜙⁢𝐾 + decays. The 𝜒 𝑐⁢0⁡ (4500) state is observed with a significance over 6⁢𝜎 and the 𝜒 𝑐⁢1 ⁡(4274) is confirmed with a significance of more than 4⁢𝜎.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Precision measurement of the $Ξ^0_b$ baryon lifetime

A sample of 𝑝⁢𝑝 collision data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5.4 fb −1 and collected by the LHCb experiment during LHC Run 2, is used to measure the ratio of the lifetime of the $Ξ^0_b$ baryon to that of the $Λ^0_b$ baryon, 𝑟 𝜏 $≡$ $𝜏_{Ξ^0_b}$$/𝜏_{Λ^0_b}$. The value 𝑟$^{\textrm{Run 2}}_𝜏$ =1.004 ± 0.009 ± 0.006 is obtained, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic. This value is averaged with the corresponding value from Run 1 to obtain 𝑟 𝜏 =1.004 ± 0.008 ± 0.005. Multiplying by the known value of the $Λ^0_b$ lifetime yields $𝜏_{Ξ^0_b}$ = 1.475 ± 0.012 ± 0.008 ± 0.009 ps, where the last uncertainty is due to the limited knowledge of the $Λ^0_b$ lifetime. This measurement improves the precision of the current world average of the $Ξ^0_b$ lifetime by about a factor of two, and is in good agreement with the most recent theoretical predictions.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Energy 101: Utilities [Slides]

The Energy 101: Utilities presentation, developed for the Energy Technology Innovation Partnership Project (ETIPP), provides an overview of utilities. It covers fundamental concepts, technologies, considerations, case studies, and additional resources.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗