Samantha Macchi and her colleagues at Sandia National Laboratories have investigated the effect of chemical structure on the performance of bipolar redox molecules in non-aqueous flow batteries. Their findings are detailed in a report titled “Influence of Linker Group on Bipolar Redox-Active Molecule Performance in Non-Aqueous Redox Flow Batteries,” published in the journal ChemElectroChem on October 3, 2024.

This research is important because non-aqueous redox flow batteries offer high working voltages exceeding 5 V, making them a viable alternative to traditional aqueous systems. However, the stability of active materials and cell components in organic solvents remains a challenge. Understanding the relationship between molecular structure and cycling stability is essential for advancing this technology.

In their study, Macchi and her team explored the effects of length, polarity, and rigidity of the “innocent” groups that covalently link the two redox-active species. They identified several strategies to improve molecular stability and cycling performance, which could inform future molecular design efforts in flow batteries.

The publication in ChemElectroChem, a Wiley journal with an impact factor of 3.5, highlights the relevance of this work. Journals with impact factors above 3 are considered to publish significant research.

Access the full article here.

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

Citation:

S. Macchi, C. L. Staiger, J. Cordova, C. Poirier, T. M. Anderson, ChemElectroChem 2024, e202400450. https://doi.org/10.1002/celc.202400450

Rodrigo D. Trevizan and Stanley Atcitty have co-authored the article “Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) as an Equity Asset: Lessons Learned from DER Deployments in Disadvantaged Communities,” published in the July/August edition of IEEE Power and Energy Magazine. This article summarizes Sandia’s contributions to Tribal Energy Storage projects, highlighting efforts from both the Tribal Energy Storage program and the Energy Storage Demonstrations team.

This research is significant as it addresses the energy challenges faced by Native American and Native Alaskan communities. According to the U.S. Census, over 6.79 million Native Americans make up about 2.09% of the U.S. population, with many tribal lands experiencing energy access issues. Recent surveys indicate that over 54,200 individuals live without electricity. In response, tribal governments are increasingly pursuing energy independence through the deployment of DERs, including renewable energy and energy storage systems.

Sandia’s work has been instrumental in providing technical assistance for these initiatives. Projects such as the microgrid in Levelock Village, Alaska, and solar PV and energy storage systems for the San Carlos Apache Tribe and Picuris Pueblo demonstrate the potential benefits of these technologies. Additionally, the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority’s efforts to electrify remote homes with renewable energy and advanced battery storage underscore the importance of sustainable energy solutions for tribal communities. These initiatives not only enhance energy sovereignty but also contribute to broader goals of sustainability and economic development.

IEEE Power and Energy Magazine is a respected publication in the fields of electrical engineering and energy technology, featuring peer-reviewed articles by industry experts. It serves as a valuable resource for professionals, researchers, and students, providing insights into industry trends and innovations.

Click here to read the full article.

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

Citation:

• L. Bird, C. Walker, J. Womble, S. Atcitty, R.D. Trevizan, L. Concessao, H. Meenawat, and B. Tarekegne, “Distributed energy resources (DERs) as an equity asset: Lessons learned from DER deployments in disadvantaged communities,” IEEE Power and Energy Magazine, July/August, 2024.

Ujjwol Tamrakar and a team of researchers at Sandia National Laboratories have developed a framework for the simultaneous dispatch of energy storage systems (ESSs) for energy arbitrage and power quality applications in the electric grid. Their findings are detailed in the article titled “A Model Predictive Control Framework for Combining Energy Arbitrage and Power Quality Applications from Energy Storage Systems,” published in the IEEE Open Access Journal of Power and Energy on August 29, 2024.

This research is important as ESSs are essential for achieving future clean energy targets. However, the economic benefits of these systems can be limited due to high capital costs and challenges in monetization. The proposed framework allows for the simultaneous dispatch of ESSs to achieve multiple techno-economic objectives without negatively impacting market revenues.

The framework utilizes a model predictive control (MPC) approach, enabling the dispatch of energy storage for both energy arbitrage and power quality applications, such as voltage regulation and power factor correction. Simulation results indicate that these applications can be stacked with arbitrage without significantly affecting revenues, and in some cases, they may even enhance them. A controller-hardware-in-the-loop (CHIL) study was also conducted to demonstrate the practical feasibility of the framework.

The framework is designed to be generic, allowing system operators to utilize it for increased revenues and serving as a foundation for further research on integrating additional grid applications of ESSs.

Click here to read the full article.

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

Citation:

• U. Tamrakar, N. Bhujel, T. A. Nguyen, R. H. Byrne, and B. Chalamala, “A Model Predictive Control Framework for Combining Energy Arbitrage and Power Quality Applications from Energy Storage Systems,” IEEE Open Access Journal of Power and Energy, doi: 10.1109/OAJPE.2024.3451501.

Sandia staff led and participated in the Regulation and Standards panel at the 2^nd annual Long Duration Energy Storage (LDES) National Consortium Workshop held at the IBEW Electrical Training Institute in Los Angeles, on September 11, 2024.  This panel gave an overview of key codes and standards (C&S) covering energy storage safety and reliability, and highlighted C&S’s impact on the adoption and use of stationary energy storage including LDES.  This panel was facilitated by Will McNamara, the Regulatory lead for Sandia’s ES R&D Program. The panelists were Chris Searles and Charlie Vartanian, both advisors to Sandia ES R&D program. Chris participates in the development of ES safety C&S including the NFPA 855 Standard for installation of BESS, and Charlie participates in the development of ES reliability standards including the IEEE 1547.9 Guide for ES interconnection to distribution systems.

More information on the National LDES Consortium is at, LDES National Consortium – Sandia National Laboratories

Sandia will be holding the 2025 ES Safety and Reliability Forum, which includes ES C&S, on April 15-18, 2025.  More information on that event is at, 2025 Energy Storage Safety & Reliability Forum – DOE Office of Electricity Energy Storage Program (sandia.gov)

Dr. Ujjwol Tamrakar, an Electrical Engineer in the Analytics & Controls area of the Sandia Energy Storage program at Sandia National Laboratories, was appointed Associate Editor for the IEEE Open Access Journal of Power and Energy (OAJPE), a leading journal in the field of power and energy systems.

IEEE OAJPE is technical journal containing articles focusing on the development, planning, design, construction, maintenance, installation, and operation of equipment, structures, and power systems. This includes aspects of safe, sustainable, economic, and reliable conversion, generation, transmission, distribution, storage, and usage of electric energy, including its measurement and control. As an associate editor beginning April 21, 2024, Ujjwol will be responsible for managing the peer review of manuscripts submitted to the journal and upheld high quality of scientific technical publication.

Henry Guan and Waylon Clark, members of the Sandia Energy Storage Demonstrations Projects team, along with Dr. Ray Byrne, Sandia Energy Storage Technology and Systems Department Manager, attended the ribbon cutting ceremony on Friday, August 16, 2024, for the Vermont Electric Cooperative/Green Mountain Power North Troy Battery Energy Storage Demonstration Project. Also in attendance was Dr. Imre Gyuk, Chief Scientist for the DOE Office of Electricity, Energy Storage Division. Both Dr. Byrne and Dr. Gyuk spoke at the ceremony about the importance of the project to Sandia and DOE respectively.

The project was a collective effort between Green Mountain Power and the Vermont Electric Cooperative and in partnership with Sandia’s Energy Storage Demonstrations Program and DOE-OE’s Energy Storage Division. The project cost over $5M, with $2M coming from DOE through the Sandia Demonstrations program. This project is significant as it will demonstrate how behind-the-meter energy storage can be beneficial at the transmission grid level.

The battery will allow renewables (i.e. the Kingdom Community Wind project) connected to the grid to continue to operate in conditions that would normally require the renewables to be curtailed or turned off. The battery system will also have the benefit of using the stored energy to reduce system peak demand on the ISO New England and Vermont system grids, with these benefits directly accruing to Vermont retail customers.

This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Electricity (OE), Energy Storage Division.

Further reading:

Vermont Electric and Green Mountain Power launch new large-scale battery in North Troy

EVLO puts into operation first battery energy project in the US in Troy, Vermont

EVLO, Vermont utilities team up on unique BESS

Charlie Vartanian, a member of the Sandia National Laboratories Energy Storage program, presented at the EUCI webinar “Grid Enhancing Technologies (GETs) Fundamentals, held July 29-30, 2024. Charlie presented and moderated the panel “GETs Attributes & Grid Applications.” The panel assembled by Charlie included speakers from ISO-New England and Southern California Edison.

This EUCI webinar provided a comprehensive treatment of GETs – the hardware and software technologies that increase the capacity, efficiency, and/or reliability of the transmission grid installed on existing transmission infrastructure to give operators more situational awareness and control over the grid.

Charlie’s presentation featured BESS as one of the broader sets of GETs technologies. GETs have attracted renewed FERC and DOE interest in context of maximizing the utilization of the existing power grid while preparing the grid for a high-renewables future. While the recently awarded DOE funding opportunity for GETs demonstrations focused on improvement of existing transmission capacity via dynamic line rating technology, Charlie and other speakers at the EUCI webinar shared information and insights on the wider range of grid-improving GETs, including BESS and Flexible AC Transmission Systems (FACTS).

Socializing BESS as an impactful advanced grid technology, or ‘GETs’, will assist the industry’s continued exploration of GETs for grid applications, and ultimately consumer benefit.  Current DOE-funded GETs activities are featured at Grid Enhancing Technologies (GETs) – Idaho National Laboratory.  The vision of applying BESS combined with advanced inverters and controls to increase renewables penetration is also supportive of the  DOE’s Energy Storage Grand Challenge.

This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Electricity (OE), Energy Storage Division.

Members of the Sandia National Laboratories Energy Storage program participated as co-authors and co-instructors for a tutorial on the IEEE 1547 Distributed Energy Resources Interconnection Standard at the 2024 IEEE Power & Energy Society General Meeting, July 21-25, 2024, in Seattle, WA. This tutorial was organized by IEEE Standards Committee 21 which manages the set of IEEE 1547 Standards and related guides (including IEEE 1547.9-2018 guide for applying 1547 to energy storage and the IEEE 1547.4 guide for applying IEEE 1547 to microgrids).

Sandia representatives Mike Ropp and Charlie Vartanian provided class content and instructed on subtopics covering interconnection of energy storage, and interconnection of microgrids. Charlie also co-chaired the overall one-day tutorial along with Jens Boemer of EPRI. The full tutorial presentation is available at the IEEE PES Resource Center (free to PES members, cost to others).

Mike Ropp is also leading an IEEE standards development project to update IEEE’s 1547.4 guide for interconnecting microgrids.  More information on this active IEEE project is at https://standards.ieee.org/ieee/1547.4/3532/.

In supporting IEEE, Sandia staff leverage and promote ES R&D learning and resources, including providing content and resources for creation of new IEEE standards for energy storage. The IEEE is also a productive community for technical information-exchange, and socializing broader DOE initiatives including the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy Long Duration Storage Shot.

This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Electricity (OE), Energy Storage Division.

Dr. Atri Bera and Dr. Cody Newlun, electrical engineers in the Analytics & Controls area of the Sandia National Laboratories Energy Storage program, chaired and organized a panel at the 2024 IEEE Power & Energy Society (PES) General Meeting in Seattle, WA. The panel session, held July 23, 2024, was titled “Role of Energy Storage to Support Reliability, Resilience, and Decarbonization of the Power Grid: Current State, Challenges, and Best Practices.” Dr. Bera was the session chair, while Dr. Newlun gave a presentation titled “Capacity Expansion Planning Modeling Considering Long-term Decarbonization Goals & the Role of Energy Storage.” Other panelists included Mani Vadari of Modern Grid Solutions, Peggy Ip of Electric Power Research Institute, Armando Figueroa Acevedo of Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO), and Ahmed Mohamed of Université Grenoble Alpes.

Other areas of panel topic discussions included:

• Power grid undergoing massive transition to achieve decarbonization
• Integration of renewable energy resources increasing at a fast pace
• Variability associated with renewable resources increases uncertainty in planning and operation of grid
• Energy storage provides a solution since it can shift energy over time
• Challenges of planning and operation of the grid with energy storage

States and territories across North America are enacting and enforcing an increasing number of policies to fight climate change, mandating utilities to replace fossil-fueled generation with renewable energy resources (RERs) to achieve grid decarbonization. While RERs will help move toward a decarbonized power system, the inclusion of vast quantities of these resources coupled with an expanding threat landscape poses several reliability and resilience challenges to power system planners due to their variability and intermittency.

Energy storage systems (ESS) can alleviate some of these challenges posed by the RERs and threats. However, there still exists significant barriers in modeling, integrating, and deploying ESSs to support reliability, resilience, and grid decarbonization. This panel discussed the best practices, state-of-the-art approaches, and key challenges to the planning and operations of the grid with ESS, including critical topics such as planning for resilience, reliability, recovery, enhanced resource adequacy, and capacity accreditation techniques.

This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Electricity (OE), Energy Storage Division.

On June 5, 2024, two members of the Safety & Reliability thrust in the Sandia Energy Storage program gave invited presentations at the Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE) Engineering Solutions Symposium in Phoenix, Arizona. The focus of the symposium was “Progress with Li-Ion Battery Fire Safety: Engineering Solutions to Mobility and Storage Hazards.

Dr. John Hewson provided a talk on Understanding, Predicting, and Mitigating Cell-to-Cell Cascading Failure in Lithium-ion Battery Modules. Dr. Hewson gave an overview of some of the phenomena observed in cascading failure of lithium-ion batteries, and discussed what it takes to predict cascading propagation and how safer systems might be designed.

Dr. Loraine Torres-Castro presented on Early Detection of Li-Ion Battery Thermal Runaway Using Commercial Diagnostic Technologies. Dr. Torres-Castro discussed the use of rapid electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) coupled with gas sensing technology as diagnostics to monitor cells and packs for failure markers during thermal and electrical abuse. Identifying diagnostic tools that pinpoint failure markers with ample time to intervene is crucial for minimizing the consequences of failure.

This forum featured speakers involved in the cutting edge of battery safety research, created a tie between the developers of energy storage systems and the fire protection engineering community together, along with participation from first responders. The forum addressed system engineering tradeoffs in these energy storage systems.

The SFPE is the leading professional society for fire protection engineers who are involved in designing energy storage system installations with reduced risks.

This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Electricity (OE), Energy Storage Division.