On December 1, 2024, the Energy Storage Analytics team at Sandia National Laboratories announced the release of QuESt Planning, an open-source Python-based capacity expansion planning tool focused on energy storage systems. QuESt Planning is a long-term power system capacity expansion planning model that identifies cost-optimal energy storage, generation, and transmission investments while evaluating a broad range of energy storage technologies. This tool is part of QuESt 2.0: Open-source Platform for Energy Storage Analytics.

QuESt Planning leverages a Pyomo-based optimization model to find the cost-optimal mix of generation, transmission, and storage. Users can define energy storage technologies based on power and energy capacity cost, asset lifetime, round-trip efficiency, and other operational characteristics. The tool supports various scenarios and sensitivity analyses to explore different investment portfolios and pathways. It provides an intuitive graphical user interface (GUI) that simplifies the process of input data upload, planning model setup, scenario construction, model execution, and results interpretation. For advanced users, QuESt Planning can also be run through command line scripts and customized to meet specific needs.

Planning for the future power system requires detailed techno-economic modeling and analysis to identify cost-optimal investment portfolios. QuESt Planning offers an optimization-based long-term power system expansion planning framework that allows users to evaluate several scenarios and develop optimal portfolios that include a broad range of energy storage systems. This tool can assist regulators, utilities, states, and independent system operators in evaluating long-term energy storage solutions that are economic and support the evolving grid. Additionally, as an open-source tool, it is available to the research community for further development.

For further inquiries, please contact Cody Newlun.

For more information, please visit the QuESt Planning GitHub page here or the Sandia Energy Storage Analytics page 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 20, 2025, Ujjwol Tamrakar presented a talk titled “An Open-Source Tool for Energy Storage Sizing and Placement in Electric Grids (QuESt-SSIM)” during the session “Energy Storage Applications” at the IEEE Energy Storage Applications and Technologies (EESAT) Conference.

This presentation highlighted an energy storage sizing and placement tool designed for electric grids. As energy storage becomes increasingly integrated into electric grids to facilitate the clean energy transition, ensuring grid resilience and reliability is paramount. The QuESt-SSIM tool provides capabilities to guide decisions on sizing, placement, and control/operating strategies of energy storage systems in electric grids. It can simulate detailed grid models, capture dynamics spanning multiple domains and timescales, and incorporate threats into the decision-making process. This functionality can assist various stakeholders in making informed decisions regarding energy storage deployment and operation in electric grids.

The IEEE EESAT conference is a premier technical forum for presenting advances in energy storage technologies and applications. The work presented directly aligns with the event’s aim of advancing the applications and value of energy storage.

For further inquiries, please contact Ujjwol Tamrakar.

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 December 18, 2024, Ujjwol Tamrakar and Dilip Pandit delivered a presentation titled “Frequency and Voltage Regulation in Power Systems using BESS” as part of the Nigeria Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) Training Webinar Series under the Net-Zero World (NZW) initiative.

Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) have emerged as a strong candidate for providing frequency and voltage regulation in future power grids. This presentation offered an overview of various control methods for BESS aimed at enhancing grid stability. Delivered in collaboration with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), the talk was specifically tailored for Nigeria’s power authorities, stakeholders, and academic community, addressing their unique challenges and opportunities in integrating BESS into their energy systems.

For further inquiries, please contact Dilip Pandit.

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.

Victoria O’Brien presented two invited guest lectures entitled “Cybersecurity of Battery Energy Storage Systems” for universities in the Northeast United States. The first lecture took place on November 13, 2024, at the City College of New York (CCNY) during a graduate-level Renewable Energy course. This lecture discussed a novel approach for detecting cyberattacks in battery sensors using a combination of battery modeling, state estimation, and statistics. During her visit, Victoria also had the opportunity to network with graduate students, discuss potential collaborations with CCNY professors, and tour the college’s facilities and labs.

The second lecture was held on November 14, 2024, at Columbia University, presented to a graduate-level Energy Storage for the Electric Grid course. This session provided a more in-depth exploration of general cybersecurity topics as well as cybersecurity specifically applied to battery energy storage systems. Key topics included a crash course on cybersecurity, cybersecurity threats in the energy and storage sectors, approaches for detecting cyberattacks in battery sensors, and the future of cybersecurity for energy storage systems.

These lectures at Columbia University and CCNY were excellent opportunities to highlight the cutting-edge cybersecurity work that Sandia National Laboratories is applying to grid-scale battery systems. They also played a critical role in fostering collaborations with students and faculty at both institutions.

For further inquiries, please contact Victoria O’Brien.

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.

Rodrigo Trevizan, along with Mukai Zhang and Vijay Gupta from Purdue University, and Sandia colleagues Ray Byrne and Babu Chalamala, had their paper titled “Secure Estimation for Power Grids with Distributed Energy Resources Under Actuator-Side Attacks” published in the IEEE Transactions on Power Systems on November 27, 2024.

The research presented in this paper addresses a critical challenge in the modern power grid landscape: ensuring the security and reliability of distributed energy resources (DERs) against sophisticated cyber-attacks. As power grids increasingly integrate renewable energy sources and DERs, the complexity and vulnerability of these systems grow. The proposed methods for detecting and mitigating actuator-side attacks are highly relevant, providing robust tools for maintaining grid stability and security. This new technology stands to benefit a wide range of stakeholders, including utility companies, grid operators, and policymakers, by enhancing their ability to detect and respond to malicious activities that could disrupt power delivery.

Additionally, the methods developed in this research can significantly improve the resilience of power distribution systems, ensuring reliable voltage support and operational efficiency even in the presence of adversarial actions. By safeguarding the integrity of control setpoints and enabling accurate state estimation, this work contributes to the broader goal of creating a more secure and resilient energy infrastructure, ultimately benefiting consumers through a more reliable and stable power supply.

The IEEE Transactions on Power Systems is a highly respected journal in the field of electrical engineering, known for its rigorous peer-review process and dedication to publishing innovative and impactful research. As a leading publication of the IEEE Power & Energy Society, it covers a broad spectrum of topics related to power systems, including system analysis, control, protection, and integration of renewable energy sources. The journal’s high impact factor and extensive readership among academics, industry professionals, and policymakers underscore its influence and the significance of the research it disseminates. Publishing in this prestigious journal validates the importance and relevance of the work and ensures it reaches a global audience of experts who can further advance the field.

For further inquiries, please contact Rodrigo Trevizan.

For more information, please refer to the publication here.

This research 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.

Reed Wittman presented the initial results of sodium-ion 18650 cells cycled at Sandia National Laboratories, in collaboration with the Hawai’i Natural Energy Institute and the University of Oviedo, at the 2024 Spring ECS PRiME meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii, on October 8, 2024.

Sodium-ion batteries are rapidly being commercialized as a potential alternative to lithium-ion batteries due to their lower overall cost and the potential for increased lifetime and safety. The work presented at the ECS conference analyzed the performance of the initial sodium-ion batteries released to the market. This research provided a baseline of performance for the cells and an analysis of the materials used, offering valuable insights for various stakeholders to evaluate the state of commercial sodium-ion batteries.

The ECS PRiME meetings are among the most well-attended Electrochemical Society events, co-organized with societies in Japan, Korea, and China. The Electrochemical Society is a leading organization in battery research, and the October meeting attracted many of the field’s leading researchers, underscoring the significance of the work presented.

For further inquiries, please contact Reed Wittman.

For more information, please visit the presentation here.

This research 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.

Reed Wittman, along with a team from Oak Ridge National Labs and the University of Tennessee, published an article titled “In Situ Liquid Electron Microscope Cells Strongly Attenuate Electrochemical Behavior,” which models electrochemical reactions in an in situ electrochemical Scanning Transmission Electron Microscope (STEM). This work was published on November 22, 2024.

In situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM) experiments have been developed over the last 15 years to study various reactions at the nanoscale. This research has applications across a wide range of fields, including battery development, metal deposition and corrosion, and catalyst development. The in situ TEM tool enables researchers to observe fundamental changes in material interfaces, structures, and compositions while reactions occur. However, the confined geometric space of a TEM affects how reactions proceed compared to standard large-scale setups.

In their study, the team modeled the electrochemical behavior of the in situ TEM cell and compared the results to those from “standard” electrochemical setups. They found significant deviations in reaction locations and limiting processes between the two environments. These insights will aid future researchers in correlating the results of in situ electrochemical TEM experiments with real-world applications.

This work was published in the Journal of The Electrochemical Society, the leading electrochemical journal globally, widely read by academics studying fundamental processes and industry professionals addressing applied problems.

For further inquiries, please contact Reed Wittman at rwittm@sandia.gov.

For more information, please visit the publication here.

This research 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.

Victoria O’Brien presented an invited talk entitled “Cybersecurity of Battery Energy Storage Systems” for the IEEE North Jersey Section, hosted by the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), on November 14, 2024. The presentation focused on methods to ensure a robust cybersecurity posture for battery energy storage systems and highlighted Victoria’s work in repurposing anomaly detection methods to identify false data injection attacks targeting the sensors of battery systems.

This event, jointly hosted by the IEEE North Jersey Section and NJIT, allowed the research to reach a diverse audience of students and professionals in the Northeast. Additionally, the talk fostered connections with faculty at NJIT, particularly with Professor Joshua Taylor from the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department.

The North Jersey Section of the IEEE coordinates activities for several counties in New Jersey, including Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Morris, Passaic, Sussex, and Union. NJIT is classified as an R1 research university, reflecting its commitment to excellent research and scholarship opportunities.

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.

For further inquiries, please contact Victoria O’Brien.

For more information about the event, please visit here.

Victoria O’Brien, Rodrigo Trevizan, and Vittal Rao from Texas Tech University conducted a study focused on detecting, identifying, and classifying false data injection attacks that corrupt voltage sensors in battery stacks. The results of this study were published in a journal article entitled “Online and Offline Identification of False Data Injection Attacks in Battery Sensors Using a Single Particle Model” in the IEEE Open Access Journal of Power and Energy on November 7, 2024.

Monitoring the sensors of grid-scale battery energy storage systems for malicious cyberattacks, such as false data injection attacks, is crucial for ensuring their safe operation. Previous studies have enabled the detection of such attacks, but they often only flagged an attack somewhere in the system. The novel approach discussed in this paper utilizes a single particle battery model, allowing for the detection of false data injection attacks, identification of the corrupted sensors, and classification of the bias of the false data injection attack as either positive or negative. This method is effective in both online and offline applications, enabling real-time detection of cyberattacks. The proposed approach demonstrated high accuracy, achieving a false alarm rate of 0%, detection rates of 99.83%, and identification and classification rates of 97% each.

The IEEE Open Access Journal of Power and Energy is a high-quality technical journal that covers topics related to power systems and has an impact factor of 3.3, validating the significance of this research.

For further inquiries, please contact Victoria O’Brien.

To learn more, please visit the publication 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.

Samantha Macchi, Travis Anderson, and their colleagues at Sandia National Laboratories published a front cover artwork for Volume 11, Issue 20 of the ChemElectroChem journal on October 16, 2024. This publication follows their previous full article titled “Influence of Linker Group on Bipolar Redox-Active Molecule Performance in Non-Aqueous Redox Flow Batteries.” The graphic vividly illustrates the charged state of a bipolar redox molecule-based flow battery, emphasizing the performance impact of the “inactive” bridging group between two redox-active moieties in a non-aqueous flow battery.

The symmetric nature of the active redox molecules studied allows these batteries to operate similarly to classic all-Vanadium flow batteries. This design alleviates the effects of crossover (the unwanted migration of active materials across a separator), enabling capacity regeneration through simple rebalancing. This approach contrasts with other recent non-aqueous flow battery reports that utilize distinct posolyte and negolyte molecules in each tank, which experience irreversible capacity loss due to crossover.

Front cover publications significantly broaden the reach of the work conducted by the Office of Electricity (OE) Energy Storage group and highlight the merit and importance of these results within the field. The ChemElectroChem journal is a well-regarded electrochemistry publication with an exceptional impact factor of 3.5, validating the significance of the research.

For further inquiries, please contact Samantha Macchi.

For more information, please visit the publication here or access the citation 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.