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At least 1,135 records · Page 63
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2017

Capacity Expansion Modeling for Storage Technologies

The Resource Planning Model (RPM) is a capacity expansion model designed for regional power systems and high levels of renewable generation. Recent extensions capture value-stacking for storage technologies, including batteries and concentrating solar power with storage. After estimating per-unit capacity value and curtailment reduction potential, RPM co-optimizes investment decisions and reduced-form dispatch, accounting for planning reserves; energy value, including arbitrage and curtailment reduction; and three types of operating reserves. Multiple technology cost scenarios are analyzed to determine level of deployment in the Western Interconnection under various conditions.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2024

An Overview of Renewable Energy Desk Activities for Power Grid Operations and Planning

This document summarizes how grid operators can address gaps in their planning and operations to maintain reliability as they pursue clean energy goals. When transitioning to higher renewable energy levels, many system operators configure a dedicated renewable energy desk to manage variable renewable energy resource operation. Establishing such a desk in the control room can be a key step in the modernization effort. A renewable energy desk in a control room is a specialized hub focused solely on monitoring, predicting, and managing the influx of energy from renewable sources.

ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY,POWER TRANSMI↗
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 OSTI2012

Digial Technology Qualification Task 2 - Suitability of Digital Alternatives to Analog Sensors and Actuators

The next generation reactors in the U.S. are an opportunity for vendors to build new reactor technology with advanced Instrumentation and Control Systems (control rooms, DCS, etc.). The advances made in the development of many current generation operating reactors in other parts of the world are being used in the design and construction of new plants. These new plants are expected to have fully integrated digital control rooms, computerized procedures, integrated surveillance testing with on-line monitoring and a major effort toward improving the O&M and fault survivability of the overall systems. In addition the designs are also incorporating major improvements in the man-machine interface based on lessons learned in nuclear and other industries. The above relates primarily to the scope of supply in instrumentation and control systems addressed by Chapter 7 of the Standard Review Plan (SRP) NUREG-0800 (Reference 9.5), and the associated Balance of Plant (BOP) I&C systems. This does not relate directly to the actuator and motor, breaker, initiation circuitry, valve position, etc. which is the subject of this report and normally outside of the traditional Distributed Control System (DCS), for both safety and non-safety systems. The recommendations presented in this report will be used as input to I&C research programming for the implementation of lessons learned during the early phases of new build both for large light water reactors (LWR) and also small modular reactors (SMR). This report is intended to support current research plans and provide user (vendor, owner-operator) input to the optimization of these research plans.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
DOE OSTI2014

SU-E-T-187: Feasibility Study of Stereotactic Liver Radiation Therapy Using Multiple Divided Partial Arcs in Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy

Purpose: To verify volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) using flattening filter free (FFF) mode with jaw tracking (JT) feature for single breath hold as long as 15 s per arc in liver stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) against intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) FFF-JT. Methods: Ten hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cases were planned with 10 MV FFF using Pinnacle3 treatment planning system which delivered by TrueBeam to administer 48 Gy/ 4 fractions. Eight non-coplanar beams were assigned to IMRT using step-and-shoot technique. For VMAT, two or three non-coplanar partial arcs (up to 180 degrees) were further divided into subarcs with gantry rotation less than 80 degrees to limit delivery time within 15 s. Dose distributions were verified using OCTAVIUS II system and pass rates were evaluated using gamma analysis with criteria of 3%/3 mm at threshold of 5% to the maximum dose. The actual irradiation time was measured. Results: The VMAT-FFF-JT of partial-arcs with sub-divided arcs was able to produce a highly conformal plan as well as IMRT-FFF-JT. Isodose lines and DVH showed slight improvement in dosimetry when JT was employed for both IMRT and VMAT. Consequently, VMAT-FFF-JT was superior in reducing the dose to liver minus gross tumor volume. VMAT-FFF-JT has shorter total treatment time compared with 3D conformal radiation therapy (3D-CRT) FFF because the gantry was rotated simultaneously with the beam delivery in VMAT. Moreover, due to the small and regular shape of HCC, VMAT-FFF-JT offered less multileaf collimator motion, thus the interplay effect is expected to be reduced. The patient specific QA of IMRT and VMAT acquired the pass rates higher than 90%. Conclusion: VMAT-FFF-JT could be a promising technique for liver SBRT as the sub-divided arcs method was able to accommodate a single breath hold irradiation time of less than 15 s without deterioration of the dose distribution compared with IMRT-FFF-JT.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2011

Smart Grid Integration Laboratory

The initial federal funding for the Colorado State University Smart Grid Integration Laboratory is through a Congressionally Directed Project (CDP), DE-OE0000070 Smart Grid Integration Laboratory. The original program requested in three one-year increments for staff acquisition, curriculum development, and instrumentation all which will benefit the Laboratory. This report focuses on the initial phase of staff acquisition which was directed and administered by DOE NETL/ West Virginia under Project Officer Tom George. Using this CDP funding, we have developed the leadership and intellectual capacity for the SGIC. This was accomplished by investing (hiring) a core team of Smart Grid Systems engineering faculty focused on education, research, and innovation of a secure and smart grid infrastructure. The Smart Grid Integration Laboratory will be housed with the separately funded Integrid Laboratory as part of CSU's overall Smart Grid Integration Center (SGIC). The period of performance of this grant was 10/1/2009 to 9/30/2011 which included one no cost extension due to time delays in faculty hiring. The Smart Grid Integration Laboratory's focus is to build foundations to help graduate and undergraduates acquire systems engineering knowledge; conduct innovative research; and team externally with grid smart organizations. Using the results of the separately funded Smart Grid Workforce Education Workshop (May 2009) sponsored by the City of Fort Collins, Northern Colorado Clean Energy Cluster, Colorado State University Continuing Education, Spirae, and Siemens has been used to guide the hiring of faculty, program curriculum and education plan. This project develops faculty leaders with the intellectual capacity to inspire its students to become leaders that substantially contribute to the development and maintenance of Smart Grid infrastructure through topics such as: (1) Distributed energy systems modeling and control; (2) Energy and power conversion; (3) Simulation of electrical power distribution system that integrates significant quantities of renewable and distributed energy resources; (4) System dynamic modeling that considers end-user behavior, economics, security and regulatory frameworks; (5) Best practices for energy management IT control solutions for effective distributed energy integration (including security with the underlying physical power systems); (6) Experimental verification of effects of various arrangements of renewable generation, distributed generation and user load types along with conventional generation and transmission. Understanding the core technologies for enabling them to be used in an integrated fashion within a distribution network remains is a benefit to the future energy paradigm and future and present energy engineers.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2026

Navigating United States Standards and Regulation for Digital Energy Systems

This report provides an analysis of the U.S. standards and regulatory landscape for digital energy systems, focusing on cybersecurity, safety, and reliability requirements. It examines the interplay between federal mandates, state regulations, voluntary industry standards, and utility-specific policies, highlighting critical gaps between compliance and real-world risk mitigation. While NERC CIP standards enforce cybersecurity for Bulk Electric System assets, distribution-level infrastructure and emerging technologies often fall outside mandatory oversight, creating vulnerabilities. The report identifies systemic challenges such as reliance on self-attestation, uneven state adoption of safety codes, and lagging standards for advanced technologies like battery energy storage and inverter-based resources. Through a detailed gap analysis, it underscores the urgency of proactive risk-based approaches, independent verification, and strategic engagement with state and federal entities. Recommendations include adopting tiered security frameworks, strengthening procurement practices, and addressing emerging technology risks to ensure resilient and secure digital energy infrastructure. This guidance is intended for utilities, regulators, and stakeholders navigating compliance obligations and seeking to enhance cybersecurity and safety beyond minimum standards.

24 - POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2015

SU-E-T-538: Lung SBRT Dosimetric Comparison of 3D Conformal and RapidArc Planning

Purpose: Dose distributions of RapidArc Plan can be quite different from standard 3D conformal radiation therapy. SBRT plans can be optimized with high conformity or mimic the 3D conformal treatment planning with very high dose in the center of the tumor. This study quantifies the dosimetric differences among 3D conformal plan; flattened beam and FFF beam RapidArc Plans for lung SBRT. Methods: Five lung cancer patients treated with 3D non-coplanar SBRT were randomly selected. All the patients were CT scanned with 4DCT to determine the internal target volume. Abdominal compression was applied to minimize respiratory motion for SBRT patients. The prescription dose was 48 Gy in 4 fractions. The PTV coverage was optimized by two groups of objective function: one with high conformity, another mimicking 3D conformal dose distribution with high dose in the center of PTV. Optimization constraints were set to meet the criteria of the RTOG-0915 protocol. All VMAT plans were optimized with the RapidArc technique using four full arcs in Eclipse treatment planning system. The RapidArc SBRT plans with flattened 6MV beam and 6MV FFF beam were generated and dosimetric results were compared with the previous treated 3D non-coplanar plans. Results: All the RapidArc plans with flattened beam and FFF beam had similar results for the PTV and OARs. For the high conformity optimization group, The DVH of PTV exhibited a steep dose fall-off outside the PTV compared to the 3D non-coplanar plan. However, for the group mimicking the 3D conformal target dose distribution, although the PTV is very similar to the 3D conformal plan, the ITV coverage is better than 3D conformal plan. Conclusion: Due to excellent clinical experiences of 3D conformal SBRT treatment, the Rapid Arc optimization mimicking 3D conformal planning may be suggested for clinical use.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗
DOE OSTI2025

Decoding Resilience by Modeling Outage and Restoration Processes in Distribution Grids: A Pittsburgh Case Study

Climate-induced extreme weather events, such as floods and heatwaves, pose significant challenges to the resilience of urban power distribution grids. This paper examines the outage and restoration dynamics of Pittsburgh's power grid during the flood event in April 2024 and three heatwaves in June, July, and August 2024. We introduce a comprehensive modeling framework that integrates outage and restoration processes, enabling the quantification of resilience metrics, including total customer-hours of power outage, maximum residual values, and restoration durations across various ZIP codes. Our analysis highlights spatial disparities in outage impacts and restoration efficiencies, with ZIP Code 15222 experiencing the highest cumulative disruptions, while ZIP Code 15217 shows lower susceptibility. By linking statistical trends with weather events, this study underscores the critical need for targeted infrastructure upgrades and advanced restoration strategies. Furthermore, the proposed framework offers valuable insights for planning and managing resilient power systems in the face of increasing climate stress.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2013

Light Water Reactor Sustainability Program A Reference Plan for Control Room Modernization: Planning and Analysis Phase

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Light Water Reactor Sustainability (LWRS) program is collaborating with a U.S. nuclear utility to bring about a systematic fleet-wide control room modernization. To facilitate this upgrade, a new distributed control system (DCS) is being introduced into the control rooms of these plants. The DCS will upgrade the legacy plant process computer and emergency response facility information system. In addition, the DCS will replace an existing analog turbine control system with a display-based system. With technology upgrades comes the opportunity to improve the overall human-system interaction between the operators and the control room. To optimize operator performance, the LWRS Control Room Modernization research team followed a human-centered approach published by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. NUREG-0711, Rev. 3, Human Factors Engineering Program Review Model (O’Hara et al., 2012), prescribes four phases for human factors engineering. This report provides examples of the first phase, Planning and Analysis. The three elements of Planning and Analysis in NUREG-0711 that are most crucial to initiating control room upgrades are: • Operating Experience Review: Identifies opportunities for improvement in the existing system and provides lessons learned from implemented systems. • Function Analysis and Allocation: Identifies which functions at the plant may be optimally handled by the DCS vs. the operators. • Task Analysis: Identifies how tasks might be optimized for the operators. Each of these elements is covered in a separate chapter. Examples are drawn from workshops with reactor operators that were conducted at the LWRS Human System Simulation Laboratory HSSL and at the respective plants. The findings in this report represent generalized accounts of more detailed proprietary reports produced for the utility for each plant. The goal of this LWRS report is to disseminate the technique and provide examples sufficient to serve as a template for other utilities’ projects for control room modernization.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
DOE OSTI2018

Going to the Next Level: The Growth of Distributed Energy Resources [Guest Editorial]

The six articles in this special section focus on distributed energy resources (DERs). Since the first issue in this magazine on DER grid integration in the summer of 2009, DERs, specifically, solar PV-based systems, have evolved considerably to meet the needs of the power system from a planning and operations perspective. The result of this evolution is the theme of this issue: DERs play a major role in the power system. When relatively small numbers of PVs were first being installed, they were often showcases or demonstrations for the underlying technology, which was still quite expensive. The grid integration of these systems was a great research project, but many impacts we now see regularly simply did not exist at the earlier low-penetration levels. Now, nearly every distribution utility has experienced at least a few instances and challenges of DER integration within its service territory.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2019

GeoVision Analysis Supporting Task Force Report: Thermal Applications-Quantifying Technical, Economic, and Market Potential of Geothermal District Heating Systems in the United States

This report describes research and analysis performed in support of the U.S. Department of Energy Geothermal Technologies Office for its Geothermal Vision Study. A summary of the study is captured in DOE’s report, GeoVision: Harnessing the Heat Beneath Our Feet and included ground-breaking, detailed research on geothermal technologies. The study projects and quantifies the future electric and nonelectric deployment potentials of these geothermal technologies within a range of scenarios in addition to their impacts on U.S. jobs, the economy, and environment. Coordinated by the U.S. Department of Energy Geothermal Technologies Office, the Geothermal Vision Study development relied on collecting, modeling, and analyzing robust data sets through seven national laboratory partners that were organized into eight technical task force groups. These task forces and their respective principal leading national laboratory are listed in Table F-1. The table also provides a guide to the final research documents produced by each GeoVision task force. In most cases, these were prepared as laboratory reports, and they are referenced accordingly. Consult these external reports for detailed discussions of the topics contained within, which form the basis of the GeoVision analysis.

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2023

The Value of Sharing and Consolidating Critical Community, Electricity, and Natural Hazard Information

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) sought support for the development of database schema specifications for a bi-directional data portal that would foster cross-jurisdictional collaboration necessary to improve resilient energy infrastructure planning processes. This technical assistance activity involved Berkeley Lab researchers reviewing 34 local/tribal government hazard mitigation plans to assess (1) the natural hazards that communities are most concerned about; (2) the variety of–and terminology used to describe–critical community infrastructure; and (3) the availability of GIS information that could be incorporated into CPUC-mandated "Microgrid Planning Portals". In addition, we develop a common, but generic data taxonomy showing what fields to collect to encourage consolidating and sharing of this information in the future. Finally, we partnered with the Bishop Paiute tribal government to demonstrate the value of combining electricity infrastructure, natural hazard layers, and critical community infrastructure into a series of maps. The project demonstrated that a single system containing both electric utility and community infrastructure data—as well as information about natural hazards—will help the state of California, the IOUs, first responders, and long-term planners better prepare for—and thus lower their exposure to these ongoing and emerging hazards. The project also identified a number of challenges that will need to be overcome before it is possible to stand up a single system to display this information.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
NASA NTRS2004

Science Opportunity Analyzer (SOA): Not Just Another Pretty Face

This viewgraph presentation reviews the Science Opportunity Analyzer (SOA). For the first time at JPL, the Cassini mission to Saturn is using distributed science operations for sequence generation. This means that scientist at other institutions has more responsibility to build the spacecraft sequence. Tools are required to support the sequence development. JPL tools required a complete configuration behind a firewall, and the tools that the user community had developed did not interface with the JPL tools. Therefore the SOA was created to bridge the gap between the remote scientists and the JPL operations teams. The presentation reviews the development of the SOA, and what was required of the system. The presentation reviews the functions that the SOA performed.

mission planning↗
DOE OSTI2015

A framework for stochastic simulation of distribution practices for hotel reservations

The focus of this study is primarily on the Greek hotel industry. The objective is to design and develop a framework for stochastic simulation of reservation requests, reservation arrivals, cancellations and hotel occupancy with a planning horizon of a tourist season. In Greek hospitality industry there have been two competing policies for reservation planning process up to 2003: reservations coming directly from customers and a reservations management relying on tour operator(s). Recently the Internet along with other emerging technologies has offered the potential to disrupt enduring distribution arrangements. The focus of the study is on the choice of distribution intermediaries. We present an empirical model for the hotel reservation planning process that makes use of a symbolic simulation, Monte Carlo method, as, requests for reservations, cancellations, and arrival rates are all sources of uncertainty. We consider as a case study the problem of determining the optimal booking strategy for a medium size hotel in Skiathos Island, Greece. Probability distributions and parameters estimation result from the historical data available and by following suggestions made in the relevant literature. The results of this study may assist hotel managers define distribution strategies for hotel rooms and evaluate the performance of the reservations management system.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2014

SU-D-BRE-06: Modeling the Dosimetric Effects of Volumetric and Layer-Based Repainting Strategies in Spot Scanning Proton Treatment Plans

Purpose: To compare multiple repainting techniques as strategies for mitigating the interplay effect in free-breathing, spot scanning proton plans. Methods: An analytic routine modeled three-dimensional dose distributions of pencil-beam proton plans delivered to a moving target. The interplay effect was studied in subsequent calculations by modeling proton delivery from a clinical synchrotron based spot scanning system and respiratory target motion, patterned from surrogate breathing traces from clinical 4DCT scans and normalized to nominal 0.5 and 1 cm amplitudes. Two distinct repainting strategies were modeled. In idealized volumetric repainting, the plan is divided up and delivered multiple times successively, with each instance only delivering a fraction of the total MU. Maximum-MU repainting involves delivering a fixed number of MU per spot and repeating a given energy layer until the prescribed MU are reached. For each of 13 patient breathing traces, the dose was computed for up to four volumetric repaints and an array of maximum-MU values. Delivery strategies were inter-compared based on target coverage, dose homogeneity, and delivery time. Results: Increasing levels of repainting generally improved plan quality and reduced dosimetric variability at the expense of longer delivery time. Motion orthogonal to the scan direction yielded substantially greater dose deviations than motion parallel to the scan direction. For a fixed delivery time, maximum-MU repainting was most effective relative to idealized volumetric repainting at small maximum-MU values. For 1 cm amplitude motion orthogonal to the scan direction, the average homogeneity metric (D5 – D95)[%] of 23.4% was reduced to 7.6% with a 168 s delivery using volumetric repainting compared with 8.7% in 157.2 s for maximum-MU repainting. The associated static target homogeneity metric was 2.5%. Conclusion: Maximum-MU repainting can provide a reasonably effective alternative to volumetric repainting for systems without the capability to switch energies rapidly.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2019

Beyond Hosting Capacity: Using Shortest-Path Methods to Minimize Upgrade Cost Pathways

This paper presents a graph-based forward looking algorithm applied to distribution planning in the context of distributed photovoltaic penetration. We study the target hosting capacity problem where the objective is to find the least-cost sequence of system upgrades to reach a predefined hosting capacity target value. We show that commonly used short-term cost minimization approaches often lead to suboptimal long-term solutions. By comparing our method against such myopic techniques on real distribution systems, we show that our algorithm is able to reduce the overall integration costs by looking at future decisions. Because hosting capacity is hard to compute, this problem requires efficient methods to search the space. We demonstrate that heuristics using domain-specific knowledge can be efficiently used to improve the algorithm performance, such that real distribution systems can be studied.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2022

A Risk-Driven Probabilistic Approach to Quantify Resilience in Power Distribution Systems

It is of growing concern to ensure resilience in power distribution systems to extreme weather events. However, there are no clear methodologies or metrics available for resilience assessment that allows system planners to assess the impact of appropriate planning measures and new operational procedures for resilience enhancement. In this paper, we propose a resilience metric using parameters that define system attributes and performance. To represent extreme events (tail probability), the conditional value-at-risk of each of the parameters are combined using Choquet Integral to evaluate the overall resilience. The effectiveness of the proposed resilience metric is studied within the simulation-based framework under extreme weather scenarios with the help of a modified IEEE 123-bus system. With the proposed framework, system operators will have additional flexibility to prioritize one investment over the others to enhance the resilience of the grid.

Poudyal, Abodh↗