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At least 1,009 records · Page 56

Modeling distributed energy resource aggregations in security constrained unit commitment and economic dispatch

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) recently issued Order 2222, which requires all wholesale electricity markets in the US to allow distributed energy resources (DERs) to participate in the market as aggregated resources. These DER aggregations may be composed of many individual resources that are offered and dispatched by the market as a single entity. We present here a model of a distributed energy resource aggregator (DERA) that is scheduled by a market operator’s security constrained unit commitment (SCUC) and security constrained economic dispatch (SCED). The DERA model includes constraints for battery energy storage systems (BESSs), demand response resources (DRRs), and a simple distributed energy resource (DER). This paper describes a model for each resource type and presents two methods for the DERA to generate market offer curves: a profit-maximizing optimization to compute cost curves and a direct cost algorithm to determine dispatch costs for each resource and combine into cost curves. Once all participating DERAs are scheduled in SCUC/SCED, the model is then modified to dispatch individual DERs to maximize profit or minimize schedule deviation of the DERAs. A simulation of a representative day illustrates the DERA offers, the scheduled generation, and the DERA dispatch. Findings show the potential for unavoidable schedule deviations due to internal DER constraints and due to economic incentives to deviate from the SCUC/SCED schedules. This highlights the importance of DERA offer construction on market efficiency and system reliability. Novel aspects of our approach include: (1) We consider the asymmetry of price incentives impacting DERAs from the wholesale market compared to those impacting consumers from the retail market, as imposed by current regulations and laws. (2) We model aggregate consumer response through statistically parameterizable utility functions rather than a potentially impractical approach of modeling each individual consumer. (3) We show how to use the DERA operational dispatch model to create offers into the wholesale electricity market. (4) We show how DERAs may fail to meet their scheduled dispatch because the market offer format may not permit them to fully express their operational features such as intertemporal costs and constraints to the market.

aggregations↗

Targeted Energy Management System Toolset

TEMST integrates advanced sensor systems with advanced computational intelligence, e.g. neural networks and fuzzy arithmetic, to enable effective energy management while minimizing negative human comfort consequences and promoting improved occupant satisfaction. Preliminary work suggests that energy cost reductions above ten percent are easily achievable. In addition to optimizing existing Energy Management Systems (EMS), the proposed toolset will be both resilient and secure in order to proactively maintain a safe level of operational normalcy in response to anomalies and malicious actions.

Rieger, CraigG.↗

From the Starship Enterprise to Los Alamos National Laboratory: Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in the NSRC

Artificial Intelligence (AI) conjures up different emotions in different people. Some view it with fear, imagining a malevolent AI similar to Skynet in the Terminator movies. Others see something benevolent, such as the character Data in Star Trek: The Next Generation. Still others see it as a means to advance the frontiers of science, engineering, and technology to new levels not possible through traditional means. At the National Security Research Center (NSRC or the Center), we see AI as a tool to help us go through the monumental tasks we have in digitizing, cataloging, and searching our collections.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

SCALE 6.3.0 User Manual

SCALE is a comprehensive modeling and simulation suite for nuclear safety analysis and design developed and maintained by Oak Ridge National Laboratory under contract with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, U.S. Department of Energy, and the National Nuclear Security Administration to perform reactor physics, criticality safety, radiation shielding, and spent fuel characterization for nuclear facilities and transportation/storage package designs.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

LDRD23-0730: Invoking Multilayer Networks to Develop a Paradigm for Security Science—Summary Report

Current approaches to securing high consequence facilities (HCF) and critical assets are linear and static and therefore struggle to adapt to emerging threats (e.g., unmanned aerial systems) and changing environmental conditions (e.g., decreasing operational control). The pace of change in technological, organizational, societal, and political dynamics necessitates a move toward codifying underlying scientific principles to better characterize the rich interactions observed between HCF security technology, infrastructure, digital assets, and human or organizational components. The promising results of Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) 20-0373—“Developing a Resilient, Adaptive, and Systematic Paradigm for Security Analysis”—suggest that when compared to traditional security analysis, invoking multilayer network (MLN) modeling for HCF security system components captures unexpected failure cases and unanticipated interactions.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

LDRD Quarterly Highlights (FY24 Q4)

This newsletter, published quarterly, features LDRD and SDRD work done by Lawrence Livermore, Los Alamos, Nevada National Security Site and Sandia. To see a PDF with all articles referenced in this newsletter or review past issues, visit NNSA-LDRD.lanl.gov and click on the Quarterly Highlights tab.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Aggregation and Grid Security Workshop Report

The Aggregation and Grid Security Workshop - held on June 17-18, 2025, National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR) in Golden, Colorado - brought together approximately 40 external stakeholders from the energy sector, including VPP owner/operators, aggregators, OEMs, utilities, testing & certification labs, trade associations, and cybersecurity vendors. Led by key facilitators, the workshop focused on addressing cybersecurity challenges and enhancing grid resilience for aggregated Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) and Virtual Power Plants (VPPs). The workshop was catalyzed by recognition that traditional, rearward-looking regulatory frameworks are insufficient to keep pace with technological change. There is a "missing understanding" of risk, an "absent security basis" for managing it, and an "untenable responsibility" due to unclear ownership and requirements. The workshop aimed to shift the mindset from reacting to past crises to proactively preparing for emerging threats, fostering forward resilience through risk simulation and collaborative action. This report summarizes the outcomes of the workshop, marking it a significant step toward a secure, reliable and affordable energy future.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

Modeling Combined Heat and Power Systems in REopt

This webinar will explore how the National Laboratory of the Rockies' REopt(R) web tool can evaluate the techno-economics of combined heat and power (CHP) technologies and systems to assess performance and financial viability. REopt can analyze both standalone CHP systems, and systems paired with other on-site energy resources. Participants will gain practical insights into using REopt to optimize site energy strategies, reduce energy costs, and improve site energy security and outage recovery.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

Using Gamification to Enhance Mastery of Network Security Concepts

Gamification has proven to be effective in engaging and encouraging people to work towards and achieve goals. Many students struggle to focus on schoolwork, due to a lack of interest, lack of understanding, or other factors unique to the student. Applying gamification elements to education can help engage these students in learning their course material and help them excel academically. This study examines the effectiveness of using gamification techniques to enhance the learning experience in college Computer Science courses. A video game application is utilized to review and reinforce cybersecurity concepts that students have already been taught in class. Previous work has been made on a prototype game build that teaches about ARP (Address Resolution Protocol) components. The focus of this study is to refine and develop the structure of the prototype into a more interactive and enjoyable format with non-competitive and captivating activities that allow students to study at their own pace. An updated version of the game was created that focused on reaching a balance between education and entertainment. The game was used by students enrolled in a cybersecurity class, where pre-survey, post-survey and a focus group interview were conducted to determine how effective the updated version is compared to the current build, in addition to how effective the gamification method is regarding student retention of taught material. The pre-survey and post-survey results revealed an increase in interest and mastery of cybersecurity concepts as a result of playing the game. Students found value in the game as both a method of reviewing material taught in class and an entertaining and engaging game. These results show potential in using gamification in cybersecurity and education.

Hilliard, Kevin↗

Robust In-Situ Strain Measurements to Monitor CO 2 Storage

The goal of this project was to develop and demonstrate robust instrumentation to monitor the in-situ strain tensor in order to improve the reliability and security of CO 2 storage in geologic formations. We met the original goals of the project and the major overarching accomplishment is the advancement of strain tensor monitoring from an intriguing concept to a commercially available technology with a solid foundation of novel instruments supported by theoretical analyses and validation experiments. The main accomplishments of the project are summarized below. We designed, built and evaluated nine new optical fiber strainmeters and tiltmeters using Michelson interferometers to measure deformation with ultra-high resolution at both shallow and deep point locations in the subsurface. These are the robust strainmeters that motivated the title of the project. We designed, built and evaluated a novel method of measuring distributed strain in optical fibers with nanostrain resolution, and cm-scale location, and sampling into the seismic band. The new method is called Coherence-length-gated Microwave Photonics Interfereometry (CMPI). CMPI technology has advantages over existing commercial DAS and DSS methods. We developed and demonstrated capabilities to deploy instruments in the field and used them to measure strain caused by ambient signals like barometric pressure and tides, as well as induced signals like surface loading and pore pressure changes from pumping tests. We deployed a working strainmeter at 1,700 ft depth, slightly above an active reservoir. This is to our knowledge the greatest depth a strainmeter has been deployed and the techniques we used can readily be extended to greater depths. Optical fiber borehole tensor strainmeter techology was advanced from a TRL 4 at the start, to a TRL of 7 at the conclusion of the project. The project included advances in simulations and theoretical analyses. We developed and demonstrated a computational workflow that uses machine learning to reduce the computational requirements and make it practical to use Bayesian inversion to solve large numerical poroelastic analyses needed to interpret strain tensor field data. We evaluated the strain tensor fields and time series that would be caused by leaks of CO 2 or other fluids from reservoirs. These simulations demonstrated that signals from leaks could be measured with instruments developed for the project, opening a potentially new method for ensuring storage security. We showed that strains in caprock can be used to estimate pressure in a reservoir. This avoids the need to drill monitoring wells into the reservoir, and it expands the capabilities of monitoring in the caprock. The project includes a derivation and application of a novel analytical solution to the strains in the vicinity of a pressurized poroelastic inclusion. This solution explains field data measured during injeciton tests at the North Avant Field, and it will simplify future interpretation of strain tensor data. The project included a broad range of experiments, and of the most significant is the characterization of the strain tensor at an array three strainmeters during six injection tests at the North Avant Field, Oklahoma. This demonstrated repeatability of the strain signal measured by the new instruments developed for the project, and it showed similarities between the strain signal at shallow depths and pressure in the underlying reservoir. We also demonstrated that useful strain data can be measured at reservoir depths. This confirms that strain tensor data can be measured throughout the caprock over a reservoir. The project demonstrated the feasibility of using the strain tensor and distributed strain measured in caprock during a variety of different well tests where the pumping rate was constant, sinusoidal and positive, or a periodic square wave with zero net rate. This further strengthens the validity of using strain data to characterize reservoirs and aquifers. We also demonstrated that strain caused be fluctuations of air pressure and water pressure in the vadose zone can be measured and interpreted, suggesting that high resolution distributed strain measurements hold promise for monitoring the vadose zone. The project partially supported nine graduate students in the Environmental Engineering, Hydrogeology, Electrical Engineering programs at Clemson University. The research was described in nine journal papers, 23 talks and conference abstracts. Additional journal papers are in preparation. A new company called Tensora was started to provide strainmeter technology for commercial applications.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗

Automatic Report Generator (ARG)

ARG is a computational simulation tool. It generates user-configurable reports, including graphs and images, from user data in various formats.SAND2019-9525 M Sandia National Laboratories is a multimission laboratory managed and operated by National Technology & Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International Inc., for the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-NA0003525.

Clay, Robert↗

Vulnerability Research Development Program Guide v.1

SAND2021-15515 O The Vulnerability Research Development Program (VRDP) Guide is a training program developed to help general purpose computer science staff become independently capable vulnerability researchers. VRDP Guide is both a course description and curriculum for the program. Sandia National Laboratories is a multimission laboratory managed and operated by National Technology & Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International Inc., for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-NA0003525.

Salim, Nasser↗

One Million Open-source Cislunar Orbits

Cislunar space, encompassing the region from geosynchronous orbit to beyond the Moon, is poised to become a cornerstone for future exploration, scientific discovery, and national security. Missions in this region, spanning durations from weeks to decades, require robust infrastructure and reliable transit capabilities. The complex gravitational influences of the Moon, Sun, and planets, along with thermal radiation from Earth and the Sun, lead to significant trajectory deviations, resulting in kilometer-scale errors within days. Leveraging the high-performance computing resources at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), we have simulated one million high-fidelity cislunar trajectories, now publicly available via LLNL’s Green Data Oasis and the Unified Data Library. Generated using the open-source Space Situational Awareness Python package, these trajectories match the precision of commercial tools such as AGI’s Systems Tool Kit and NASA’s General Mission Analysis Tool. This data set is a valuable resource for reference, statistical analysis of cislunar orbit populations, and training machine learning models for rapid orbit classification with minimal observational input. Preliminary analysis reveals stable bands in Keplerian element space, particularly around five geosynchronous radii across a range of inclinations and eccentricities. Beyond this threshold, the Moon’s influence disrupts most unassisted orbits, though co-orbiting L4/L5 Lunar Trojans persist throughout the six-year simulation.

Astronomy and AstroPhysics↗

Proactive Intrusion Detection and Mitigation System

SAND2023-05661O The proactive intrusion detection and mitigation system (PIDMS) provides grid-edge situational awareness for cybersecurity defense by capturing real-time distributed energy resource (DER) network traffic and performance data with a novel approach that improves the detection and prevention of cyber-physical attacks. The PIDMS addresses the grid-edge security gap with real-time analysis of both network traffic and photovoltaic performance data to deliver a novel, cyber-physical intrusion detection system (IDS) approach that increases the accuracy and effectiveness of detection and mitigation. This hybrid IDS analysis enables dual monitoring that increases the workload of the adversary; both cyber and physical data would have to be simultaneously spoofed to evade detection. Furthermore, monitoring and analyzing cyber data are insufficient in some cases. For example, in an insider threat aimed at disrupting inverter grid-support functions where proper credentials and authentication are achieved, only the altered PV performance would indicate abnormal behavior. All in all, the PIDMS provides novel capabilities for: • Distributed, real-time cyber-physical detection and mitigation analysis • Cybersecurity defense for grid-edge systems • Analysis framework that can provide situational awareness across the transmission, distribution, and DER systems The PIDMS sensor is designed to collect cyber-physical data, process the data using machine-learning algorithms, detect abnormal events, and deploy mitigations. With these goals, the main functional PIDMS objectives are: • Capability to collect cyber-physical data • Onboard storage of cyber-physical data • Peer-to-peer communication • Computationally efficient machine-learning algorithms • Online cyber-physical data analysis • Alerting/visualization capabilities • Mitigation deployment capability with bump-in-the-wire (BITW) implementation Each of these functional objectives enable PIDMS to perform effective cyber-physical intrusion detection and mitigation. Sandia National Laboratories is a multimission laboratory managed and operated by National Technology & Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International Inc., for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-NA0003525.

Jones, Christian↗

Toward a scalable robust security-constrained optimal power flow using a proximal projection bundle method

Robust security-constrained optimal power flow (rSCOPF) aims to find the worst-case contingencies of alternating current optimal power flow (ACOPF) in power systems. With the rise of GPU architectures on the upcoming supercomputer architectures, optimization algorithms that rely on sparse linear algebra and indefinite linear systems are becoming increasingly hard to solve efficiently (e.g. interior-point method). To address this we revisit a maximin optimization formulation of the rSCOPF and the single-level mixed-integer semidefinite programming (MISDP) reformulation, which is obtained by taking the Lagrangian relaxation of the inner minimization ACOPF problem. In this paper, we focus on the development of a proximal projection bundle method (PPBM) for solving continuous relaxation node subproblems of the MISDP problem, based primarily on the well-known alternating direction method of multipliers. Cutting planes reminiscent of bundle method ideas are also applied in coordination with updates of the proximal parameter. The cutting-plane method can generate a large number of linear inequalities, leading to a large scale but decomposable quadratic programming (QP) subproblem that is amenable to GPUs. We present the numerical results on the IEEE 30, 57, 118, and 300-bus systems by using our PBMM method. We discuss the main computational bottleneck of our method, which is the time taken to solve each iteration of a QP subproblem instance of the PPBM, and how GPU architectures can accelerate this solution process.

bundle method↗

Kokkos v.4.0

SAND2023-07883O Kokkos software implements C++ performance portability programming models, tools and math libraries, which enables science and engineering software developers to use single-source codes for a wide range of computer architectures. Kokkos also provides implementations of existing and proposed C++ standard features that support programming model and math libraries that are used for implementing performance-portable scientific and engineering applications. The Kokkos libraries provide algorithms, data structures, and tools to enable high-performance computing developers to write performance-portable code. Capabilities fall into three broad categories: Kokkos Core, Kokkos Kernels, and Kokkos Tools. Sandia National Laboratories is a multimission laboratory managed and operated by National Technology & Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International Inc., for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-NA0003525.

SciDAC↗

Cybersecurity Considerations for Emerging Energy Technologies

AI, cloud computing, post-quantum cryptography, zero-trust architectures, microgrids, and virtual power plants. What do these things have in common? They are all emerging technologies in the clean energy space that will be a critical part of grid modernization efforts. As we work towards clean energy and decarbonization targets, these technologies, developed to solve real-world problems, will help us reach goals and achieve new efficiencies as the paradigm of grid operation shifts. However, there are growing concerns about the cybersecurity risks associated with these trending topics as they are used in critical infrastructure applications. This talk will cover gaps, challenges, and opportunities for the secure implementation of grid modernization solutions and novel energy applications of state-of-the-art networking and communications. Proactive risk mitigation strategies, including the application of cyber-informed engineering, will be discussed. Practical applications of these techniques will help provide countermeasures to the impact of cyberattacks on critical infrastructure technologies in a new, digitized grid landscape.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗