Developing solutions for secure, resilient energy infrastructure
Energy sector infrastructure is essential to modern life and economic prosperity, yet it is increasingly vulnerable to both natural and manmade threats such as damaging storms and cyber disruption. Power grid security and resilience is a cross-cutting technical challenge that continues to emerge and gain complexity. Through collaboration with industry partners, Oak Ridge National Laboratory is developing science and technology solutions to enable a secure and resilient national grid.
Our strategy spans both information and operational technologies, focusing our research and development efforts on challenges from the device level to the interactions of systems-of-systems.
Networked Microgrids
Creating the controls and modern protection devices needed to securely network regional microgrids for grid stability and resilience.
Situational Awareness
Addressing the need for greater situational awareness by developing low-cost, high-fidelity, easily deployed sensors to constantly monitor the grid state. Modeling of the national grid to better understand its complex interdependencies.
Transactive Controls
Harnessing grid-edge devices to develop and deploy precise, automatic control of building loads to stabilize and secure the grid while providing comfort and savings.
DarkNet
DarkNet is designed to effectively shield the nation’s critical infrastructure assets from disruptive cyber and cyber-physical intrusion via public and commercial communication networks. To accomplish this, DarkNet will develop and implement a highly secure, resilient, communication architecture that includes critical information technologies, sensing, and advanced cybersecurity solutions to support all elements of the electricity enterprise and its supply chain. When fully implemented, it will ensure national continuity of operations, enable rapid restoration, and facilitate cost-effective, protective measures to mitigate the impact of cyberattacks, operational and physical threats, and natural disaster.
Grid Operations Analytics Laboratory
The new GRID-C Facility at ORNL brings together the lab’s SecuRe activities, including the Grid Operations and Analytics Lab (GOAL), testbeds for new smart grid controls and protection hardware and software, cyber-resilience testing, advanced power electronics, sensor platform R&D, transactive control of grid-edge devices, and grid-scale energy storage, and extreme fast-charging of electric vehicles.