The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Electricity (OE) today launched the American-Made Silicon Carbide (SiC)  Packaging Prize. This $2.25 million contest invites competitors to propose, design, build, and test state-of-the-art SiC semiconductor packaging prototypes to enable these devices to work more effectively in high-voltage environments such as energy storage. The prize is part of the American-Made Challenges program, which fosters collaboration between our nation’s entrepreneurs and innovators, DOE’s National Labs, and the private sector.

On February 26, 2024, Sandia National Laboratories staff were co-instructors for HalfMoon Education’s Distributed Energy Interconnection and Interoperability webinar. This webinar covered broader DER interconnection policy and technical standards content, plus narrower discussion specific to energy storage (ES) and Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G).  Sandia staff featured learning developed through Energy Storage (ES) program work within the Policy & Outreach and Safety & Reliability ES program thrust areas.

Will McNamara, Policy Analyst for the Sandia Energy Storage program, presented Trends in State-Level Policymaking. While Charlie Vartanian presented DER Interconnection Standards in Codes and Regulation, with an overview of industry activity updating IEEE 1547-2018 standard.

In supporting industry education events like this webinar, Sandia staff leverages and promotes ES program R&D products and resources. This and similar industry-facing activities also provide valuable industry feedback to inform continual refinement of ES program RD&D to best meet industry needs.

On February 19, 2024, Sandia staff were co-instructors for the tutorial “How Grid Energy Storage Meets the Challenges of a Decarbonized Future”, at the 2024 IEEE Innovative Smart Grid Technologies conference in Washington DC.  This tutorial was organized and led by the IEEE Energy Storage and Stationary Battery (ESSB) technical committee.  Sandia staff, in support of the IEEE ESSB, covered tutorial sub-topics including Long Duration Energy Storage (LDES) technologies, Energy Storage (ES) economics, ES grid interconnection, and ES safety. This tutorial will be provided next at the IEEE T&D show May 6, 2024, in Anaheim CA.  A read description of that tutorial here.

In supporting IEEE ESSB, Sandia staff leverages and promotes Lab ES R&D learning and resources. The IEEE is also a productive community for technical information-exchange and socializing broader DOE initiatives including the Long Duration Storage Shot.

From January 30 – February 2, 2024, Sandia staff participated in the 2024 IEEE Energy Storage and Stationary Battery (ESSB) committee’s winter general meeting. The meeting was held in San Diego, CA, co-located with the IEEE EESAT conference. These ESSB biannual meetings cover committee-level administrative and planning activities, plus additional breakout meetings for individual standards working groups sponsored by the ESSB. See the winter meeting agenda here.

Sandia staff and contractors who participated include:

• Babu Chalamala, past ESSB Chair
• Waylon Clark, P3434 Working Group Chair
• David Rosewater, P2686 Working Group Chair
• David Schoenwald, P2688 Working Group Chair
• Tu Nguyen, P2688 Working Group Vice Chair
• Tom Carpenter (contractor), ESSB Treasurer
• Chris Searles (contractor), ESSB Awards Chair and past ESSB Chair
• Charlie Vartanian (contractor), ESSB Energy Storage Collaboration Team Secretary

The ESSB Committee plays a crucial industry role by both maintaining the IEEE’s existing set of “traditional” technical standards for stationary batteries, while also developing new standards for emerging storage technologies and the integration of storage technologies into energy storage systems. The active expansion of standards under ESSB addresses a strategic gap that the DOE OE ES R&D program has identified as a barrier to stationary storage adoption, specifically lack of standards. Sandia staff lead several of the newer ESSB standards projects, including a new draft IEEE recommended practice for Battery Management Systems (BMS, IEEE project P2686) and new draft IEEE recommended practice for Energy Storage Management Systems (ESMS, IEEE project P2688). The Summer 2024 ESSB general meeting will be held this July in Richland, Washington. Additional meeting information will be posted at IEEE PES Energy Storage and Stationary Battery Committee (ESSB).

From January 29-30, 2024, Sandia staff members organized and participated in the 2024 IEEE Electrical Energy Storage Applications and Technologies (EESAT) conference in San Diego, CA. This year’s technical program centered around the theme of Long Duration Energy Storage and highlighted advances in electricity storage technologies including battery chemistries such as flow, sodium, zinc, and other battery designs, hydrogen storage, pumped storage, CAES, and novel approaches such as demand response as storage programs.

Sandians on the Organizing Committee:

• David Rosewater – 2024 EESAT Conference Chair
• David Sokoloff – 2024 EESAT Marketing & Communications Chair

Sandians Presenting:

• Cody Newlun – Planning for Grid Decarbonization in New Mexico: An Energy Storage Perspective
• Will McNamara – State Policy Perspectives: Charting the Path for Energy Storage in Diverse Markets panel session (moderator)
• David Schoenwald – Development and Deployment of Energy Storage Management Systems in Grid Applications
• Victoria Obrien – Increasing Battery Management System Resilience Following Identification of Sensor Anomalies Using Unknown Input Observer
• Henry Guan – Expanding Access to Energy Storage for Disadvantaged Communities: Energy Storage for Social Equity (ES4SE)

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. Learn more about EESAT and review the 2024 technical agenda at https://cmte.ieee.org/pes-eesat/2024-eesat-agenda/.

The 2025 EESAT conference is planned for January 20-21, 2025, in Charlotte NC. Please watch for the 2025 EESAT ‘Call for Papers’ coming later this spring.

On January 23, 2024, Sandia staff participated in the second meeting of the P1547.4 Working Group (WG). The P1547.4 WG, chaired by Michael Ropp of Sandia National Laboratories, is revising the IEEE Guide 1547.4-2011 “Guide for Design, Operation, Integration, and Interoperability of Intentional Electric Systems Islands.” This guide supplements the IEEE Standard 1547 for interconnection and interoperability of Distributed Energy Resources. Of particular relevance to the Energy Storage (ES) program is promoting the beneficial role and function of ES in islanded power systems, e.g. microgrids. Additionally, the revised 1547.4 could include guidance on using ES assets within a microgrid to regulate frequency, while islanded from a centrally dispatched networked power system. Charlie Vartanian (contractor for Sandia) also assisted with Working Group process administration.

Learn more about P1547.4, Guide for Design, Operation, Integration, and Interoperability of Intentional Electric Power Systems Islands at https://standards.ieee.org/ieee/1547.4/11292/.

The National Consortium for the Advancement of Long Duration Energy Storage (LDES) Technologies recently held its national launch webinar. More than 1200 people registered the webinar, during which the goals, deliverables, and timeline for the three-year, DOE-funded initiative LDES National Consortium were summarized. Led by Principal Investigator Will McNamara from Sandia National Laboratories, the LDES National Consortium presently consists of more than 150 participating organizations, representing diverse stakeholder perspectives from across the LDES ecosystem, including technology developers, manufacturers & suppliers, investors, utilities, policymakers, academia, researchers, and more. Together, the LDES National Consortium aims to identify barriers, determine potential synergies, and collaboratively develop and promote the implementation of strategies necessary to achieve the commercialization of a wide range of LDES technologies within the next decade. The LDES National Consortium continues to welcome new partners. To watch the webinar recording, learn more, and join this important initiative, visit https://ldesconsortium.sandia.gov/.