• What Would It Take to Survive an EMP Attack?

    We are increasingly vulnerable to both natural disruptions and military attacks on our power grids. An electromagnetic pulse impulses (EMPs) would destroy your electronics, leaving you and your surroundings intact — but without easy means of survival. Remember, almost all conventional power sources and the entire internet would be knocked out and might take many months to replace.

  • Protecting National Public Warning System from EMPs

    DHS released a report of operational approaches to protect the National Public Warning System from an electromagnetic pulse (EMP). The report summarizes recommendations that federal, state, local agencies, and private sector critical infrastructure owners and operators can employ to protect against the effects of an EMP event.

  • Strengthening Puerto Rico's Power Grid

    The 2017 Hurricane Maria made a direct hit on Puerto Rico in 2017, it ravaged the island’s power grid and caused the longest blackout in U.S. history. Maria left many residents without power for nearly a year. As more hurricanes threaten, Puerto Rico utilities are shoring up their defenses using the Electrical Grid Resilience and Assessment System (EGRASS) planning tool.

  • Is the Electrical Grid Prepared for Climate Change?

    Summer heat waves across the country tested whether America’s aging electrical grid can keep up with demand—a problem scientists say will be exacerbated by climate change, as severe hurricanes, wildfires and other weather events occur more frequently, disrupting electricity generation and transmission.

  • Planning Climate-Smart Power Systems

    Unprecedented heat waves, storms, and wildfires are pushing electrical grids in the United States to their limits. An energy scientist and a climate scientist discuss how utilities can plan for a resilient electrical grid in the face of an uncertain climate future.

  • New Dataset Shows Value Building Flexibility Adds to Grid

    New study estimates the gross value (including capacity, energy, and ancillary service values) of generic building flexibility in future power systems projected for the contiguous United States using computer modeling. Building flexibility refers to a building’s capability to shed, shift, and modulate electricity demand.

  • Drones Approved for Aerial Inspections of Power Facilities

    Drones have allowed companies new ways to stretch the boundaries of current regulations. One of the latest wins for drone technology is a waiver from the FAA that gives Dominion Energy, one of the U.S. largest energy companies, permission to use drones to inspect power-generation facilities in seven states.

  • Using Historical Weather Data to Optimize Power Grid

    With the record-breaking heat and drought conditions states across the U.S. are currently facing, finding a solution to the growing need for reliable power from the electric grid is at an all-time high. Information about past outlier conditions could provide valuable context to help operators better manage the grid during extreme weather.

  • Tool Estimates Costs of Power Interruptions

    Berkeley Lab-led initiative helps electric companies improve grid reliability and resilience. The initiative aims to update and upgrade the Interruption Cost Estimate (ICE) Calculator – a publicly available, online tool – which estimates the economic consequences of power interruptions.

  • Texans Asked to Conserve Energy to Protect the Power Grid for the Second Time in a Week

    Texans have been asked to turn up their thermostats and avoid using large appliances from 2 to 9 p.m. Wednesday. The power grid operator said it does not expect rolling blackouts.

  • How Does the U.S. Power Grid Work?

    Responsible for powering the country and its economy, the U.S. energy grid has come under increasing strain due to climate change, and the threat of cyberattacks looms. The U.S. electric grid brings power to millions of homes and businesses via a vast network of transmission and distribution lines. Experts say the grid is increasingly vulnerable to extreme weather events, such as the February 2021 Texas winter storms, and cyberattacks. President Biden has proposed overhauling the grid, but his plans could face legal and political hurdles.

  • Cybersecurity Tools to Protect Solar, Wind Power on the Grid

    Solar panels and wind turbines are projected to produce 44% of America’s electricity by 2050, but they present cybersecurity challenges. They have sensors, controllers, actuators or inverters which are directly or indirectly connected to the internet using insecure connectivity to legacy electric grid systems. They have complex physics. They’re subject to advanced persistent threats. And there will be more and more of them going online.

  • Predicting, Managing EV Charging Growth to Keep Electricity Grids Reliable, Affordable

    With a growing fleet of EVs on the road, grid planners depend on accurate estimates of charging patterns to calculate electricity demand. A team of researchers at Stanford University assembled a scalable probabilistic model for charging demand that can be applied to a flexible array of populations and account for a wide range of factors.

  • Targeted demand response reduces price volatility of electric grid

    To reduce the energy load during supply constraints on the Texas power grid, it is not necessary to reduce the energy load in high population centers such as Houston and Dallas. Instead, when supply is strained, focusing on a few strategic locations across the state outside of those high-population areas is much more cost-effective and can have a greater impact on the price volatility of the grid.

  • Green Rare-Earth Recycling Goes Commercial

    Rare earths are essential ingredients in the magnets that power many technologies people rely on today, such as cell phones, computers, electric vehicles, and wind turbines. Researchers have  developed a novel way to extract rare earth elements (rare earths) from the high-powered magnets in electronic waste (e-waste).