On March 26-27, 2025, Sandia technical systems analyst Will McNamara was featured as a keynote speaker at the 2025 USA Energy Storage Summit held in Dallas, TX. The presentation, entitled “A New Era for Long-Duration Technologies,” provided an overview of existing policies and regulations for long-duration technologies and their commercial use cases. McNamara also participated as a panelist in a session titled “Assessing the Market Use-Case for Long Duration Energy Storage,” moderated by Julie Thompson, Vice President of Origination, Commercial & Industrial at Hydrostor, which included fellow panelists from Energy Dome, Echogen, Invinity, and e-zinc.

The Energy Storage Summit includes sessions covering market projections, innovative business models, regulatory impacts, and the integration of renewable energy sources. The annual event focuses on enhancing grid reliability and security through advanced storage solutions. The summit consistently attracts C-Level executives, senior management, project managers, consultants, and key industry stakeholders from across the entire energy storage ecosystem.

The keynote presentation and panel discussion provided an opportunity for McNamara to discuss the progress that the LDES National Consortium has made over the last year contributing to the development of commercialization pathways for emerging energy storage technologies. Additionally, the discussion articulated focused areas of work required to reach DOE goals associated with energy storage and support DOE research and innovation priorities.

For more information, please contact Will McNamara or visit Energy Storage Summit USA.

This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Electricity (OE), Energy Storage Division.

On March 7, 2025, Sandia researcher David Rosewater was awarded the IEEE IAS Electrical Safety Committee’s Young Professional Achievement Award at the 2025 IEEE Electrical Safety Workshop in Jacksonville, FL, USA. At this conference, Rosewater presented his latest research on practical battery arc flash models, which has the potential to greatly impact battery electrical safety by addressing a long-standing problem.

The Young Professional Achievement Award recognizes individuals who demonstrate outstanding service, dedication, implementation, or promotion of electrical safety within their organizations or through contributions to the IEEE IAS Electrical Safety Committee objectives. Rosewater’s research to advance battery worker safety, his contributions to electrical safety standards, and his work to develop a battery safety training class at Sandia National Laboratories were all highlighted during the awards ceremony. This award acknowledges the tremendous impact of Rosewater’s efforts to advance electrical safety.

Rosewater’s latest research on practical battery arc flash models represents a significant milestone in battery worker safety. Arc flash occurs when a battery is short-circuited, causing an arc of electricity to pass through the air near a worker, potentially resulting in severe burns and other injuries. The most widely used method to calculate the energy in the arc has been found to overestimate the hazard faced by battery workers by an average of 12 calories per square centimeter (cal/cm²) across over 200 published battery arc flash experiments. This discrepancy can mean the difference between simply wearing non-flammable clothing and safety glasses versus donning a full-body protective suit with a hood that reduces visibility, manual dexterity, and accelerates heat exhaustion. The proposed model reduces the average estimation error by 90%, bringing it down to only 1.2 cal/cm². This more accurate model for battery arc flash hazard will prevent the overprescription of protective equipment while ensuring worker safety and reducing labor costs associated with battery installation, maintenance, and removal.

The IEEE Electrical Safety Workshop is the primary technical conference for electrical safety worldwide. Research presented at the workshop has commonly led to changes in international electrical safety standards such as NFPA 70E and CSA Z462.

This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Electricity (OE), Energy Storage Division.

On April 15-17, 2025, Sandia technical systems analyst Will McNamara moderated a panel session on the last day of the first IEEE PES Energy & Policy Forum held in Washington, D.C. The Forum was a week-long event filled with engaging and informative sessions, aimed at exploring the challenges and opportunities facing the energy sector.The panel session that McNamara moderated was entitled “Market Dynamics: Policy and Technology Landscape for LDES” and included panelists Huiyi Zhang Jackson, Senior Director of Clean Energy Technologies and Policy at the Edison Electric Institute; Todd Olinsky-Paul, Senior Project Director at Clean Energy States Alliance and Clean Energy Group; and Farnaz Farzan, Principal Advisor/Team Lead at Quanta Technology LLC. This session provided an opportunity for in-depth discussion and sharing of unique perspectives on the evolving use cases and value propositions for long-duration energy storage (LDES), current technology developments, and market reforms specific to LDES that are taking place across regional transmission organizations, independent system operators, and at the state level.Earlier in the week, McNamara also conducted a two-hour tutorial entitled “Policy and Regulation Supporting Energy Storage,” alongside Jeremy Twitchell of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.The inaugural Energy & Policy Forum was well attended, bringing together government experts, policymakers, industry leaders, researchers, and other key stakeholders to explore strategic solutions that enhance the reliability, resilience, security, and affordability of U.S. power systems.

For more information, please visit the IEEE PES Energy & Policy Forum website.

Sandia staff members Chaired and participated in the 2025 IEEE Electrical Energy Storage Applications and Technologies (EESAT) conference, held January 20-25 in Charlotte, NC. This year’s technical program centered around the theme of ‘Energy Storage Driving Grid Transformation’.  Since 2000, EESAT has been the premier technical forum for presenting advances in energy storage technologies and applications. EESAT benefits attendees through up-to-date idea exchange with top technologists from across the global energy storage industry.

Since EESAT shifted from U.S. Department of Energy to IEEE oversight in 2024, Sandia staff have facilitated the conference’s transition from an R&D focus to adoption and application of energy storage. This has been supported primarily through the leadership of Sandia senior technical staff member David Rosewater who Chaired both the 2024 and 2025 EESAT conferences. Additional Sandia staff moderated or presented in several panels this year on topics including Long Duration Energy Storage, Energy Storage Economics and Energy Storage Applications.

The EESAT conference’s shift in focus from R&D to application has resonated with industry, with over 50% of this year’s participants coming from broader industry (non-battery companies), including 10% of the attendees coming from electric utilities.  Another indicator of broader industry relevance and interest is the 25% increase in attendance from last year. 

Learn more about EESAT and review the 2025 technical agenda at 2025 EESAT Agenda – IEEE EESAT 2025

Information on next year’s 2026 EESAT conference will be available soon at https://cmte.ieee.org/pes-eesat/

On January 7, 2025, Will McNamara was a featured speaker in a Sandia-hosted public webinar, in collaboration with the Clean Energy States Alliance (CESA), entitled “Bridging the Gap: How Emerging State Policies are Making Energy Storage More Affordable and Accessible.” The webinar aimed to summarize a recently published report of the same name (SAND2024-16491O) that Will co-authored with Todd Olinsky-Paul of CESA.

Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) have become essential for enhancing grid stability and supporting clean energy goals. This presentation provided insights into emerging affordability and accessibility approaches in leading state energy storage programs. The report compiles independent research conducted by Sandia and CESA, creating a reference material for state energy storage policymaking across diverse geographical and regulatory jurisdictions.

The webinar attracted 311 attendees, highlighting the importance of making energy storage technology broadly affordable and accessible, particularly for underserved populations in the U.S. The strategies discussed are crucial for enabling the deployment and integration of renewable energy, reducing local health impacts from fossil fuels, and increasing community resilience.

For more information, please refer to the report here.

For further inquiries, please contact Will McNamara.

This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Electricity (OE), Energy Storage Division.

Sandia National Laboratories is managed and operated by NTESS under DOE NNSA contract DE-NA0003525.

On November 12, 2024, Will McNamara presented at the 2024 Annual Meeting of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissions (NARUC) held in Anaheim, CA. The purpose of Will’s presentation was to inform attendees, primarily state regulators and representatives from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), about the newly launched Energy Storage Working Group for Utility Regulators and Staff (RESWG). This collaboration between the Clean Energy States Alliance (CESA) and Sandia National Laboratories provides a free, monthly, private online meeting for state electric utility regulators to gather, share information, and learn from experts on specific topics of interest identified by the group.

This working group is important because it offers an exclusive forum for state regulators to collaborate and share information on energy storage-related topics, facilitated by Sandia and CESA. Sandia’s involvement allows for guiding discussions toward critically important topics within the process of enabling energy storage in regulatory frameworks.

The Annual Meeting of NARUC is one of the few meetings held throughout the year where regulatory representatives from every U.S. state are present. Thus, having the opportunity to present at this event is significant, providing a platform to directly engage with state regulators and inform them of the services that Sandia is providing.

For more information, please visit the NARUC Annual Meeting page here.

For further inquiries, please contact Will McNamara.

This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Electricity (OE), Energy Storage Division.

Sandia National Laboratories is managed and operated by NTESS under DOE NNSA contract DE-NA0003525

On January 21, 2025, Will McNamara moderated a panel discussion on long-duration energy storage (LDES) policies during the first day of the IEEE Energy Storage Applications and Technologies (EESAT) conference, at the request of David Rosewater, Organizing Committee Chair.

The 90-minute session featured a diverse group of panelists, including Alyssa McQuilling, Research & Innovation Manager at the Consortium for Battery Innovation; Roger Miksad, President and Executive Director of Battery Council International; Kieran Claffey, Sr. Research Engineer at Southern Company Services; and Russ Weed, President of CleanTech Strategies. The discussion provided a deep dive into the perspectives on developing and utilizing policies to expand LDES deployment, incorporating insights from battery-focused trade organizations, one of the largest utilities in the U.S., and the financial investment community.

This panel was important because the IEEE EESAT conference primarily focuses on technology, making it crucial to convey that policy reform is often a necessary steppingstone toward bringing new energy storage technologies to the marketplace. The panel generated discussions on the extent to which state policies are essential for advancing energy storage, as exemplified by California, compared to states like Texas, where business dynamics have played a more significant role.

The EESAT conference aims to foster a multi-discipline, systems-oriented, collaborative environment for energy storage researchers and professionals. It encourages sharing ideas and finding collaborative solutions to significant challenges in energy storage. EESAT seeks to address all aspects of electrical energy storage, including technology and its real-world applications to improve grid resilience and create a cleaner, more efficient system.

For further inquiries, please contact Will McNamara.

For more information, please visit the EESAT agenda here.

This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Electricity (OE), Energy Storage Division.

Sandia National Laboratories is managed and operated by NTESS under DOE NNSA contract DE-NA0003525.

On January 21, 2025, Atri Bera and a team of researchers at Sandia National Laboratories announced the development of a Python-based open source software tool called Probabilistic Grid Reliability Analysis with Energy Storage Systems (ProGRESS), which is now available on GitHub. This tool is designed for assessing the resource adequacy of the evolving electric power grid integrated with energy storage systems (ESS) and variable energy resources (VERs).

ProGRESS incorporates state-of-the-art ESS models, capturing the charge-discharge dynamics of ESSs along with their evolving state-of-charge. The tool also includes ESS failure and repair models, allowing users to analyze the availability of their ESS devices when they are needed most. Additionally, ProGRESS can handle the uncertainty associated with VERs, such as wind and solar power generation resources, enabling users to simulate thousands of different renewable generation scenarios based on weather conditions. Users can build their own grid models, download and utilize historical VER data using APIs, and analyze the magnitude, duration, and frequency of expected future outages. ProGRESS empowers users to make informed decisions and plan effectively for VER- and ESS-rich future power systems.

Energy storage systems are being widely deployed for grid reliability and resilience applications to mitigate short- and long-term variability of renewable resources and to serve as backup power for critical infrastructure. Therefore, modeling and integrating ESS operation and failure characteristics into grid reliability and planning frameworks is crucial for understanding their impact on grid reliability and resilience, as well as for planning effectively to achieve and maintain desired grid reliability levels.

For further inquiries, please contact Atri Bera.

For more information, please visit the ProGRESS GitHub page here.

This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Electricity, Energy Storage Division.

Sandia National Laboratories is managed and operated by NTESS under DOE NNSA contract DE-NA0003525.