Energy, Climate, & Infrastructure Security (ECIS)
ECISInfrastructureBatteries & Energy Storage

Batteries & Energy Storage

This Sandia-led DOE Office of Electricity demonstration project proved the effectiveness of sodium-sulfur batteries in peak shaving and capital deferment.

Energy Storage

Sandia works to reduce the nation’s dependence on fossil fuels both by integrating renewable energy generation into the electricity transmission/distribution grid and enabling widespread electrification of the nation’s transportation fleet by improving energy storage performance, economics, and safety. Sandia’s longstanding responsibility for all nuclear weapon power sources equips us with unique capabilities and expertise to develop technologies and methodologies that address this national security issue.

Sandia’s Energy Storage Research Program Fact Sheet pdf 813.6 kB

Sandia provided technical guidance to Beacon Power as part of a DOE project to design a large-scale flywheel-based frequency regulation power plant.

Stationary Energy Storage

Sandia collaborates with industry, academia, and government to reduce the cost of storage, demonstrate the effectiveness of storage technologies in the grid, and analyze policy options to value and perpetuate storage integration.

Sandia’s Stationary Energy Storage Research Program Fact Sheet pdf 1.18 MB

A demonstration Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) in New York City.

Transportation Energy Storage

Sandia’s transportation energy storage research programs apply scientific understanding of battery degradation mechanisms to develop technologies to improve battery performance, economics, and safety to enable widespread electrification of the nation’s transportation fleet.

Research to Improve Transportation Energy Storage Fact Sheet pdf 804.98 kB

 

Addressing national needs in stationary, transportation, and defense:

Defense Mission (S&T)

Sandia is a national security laboratory with a long history of leading energy storage technology R&D. We have cradle-to-grave responsibility for all power sources for DOE defense programs, and apply our expertise to support DoD applications. Sandia provides leadership to the DOE Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability’s Energy Storage Systems program through advanced technology development, device testing, technology demonstrations, and grid analysis. We play the lead role in evaluating the safety and reliability of energy storage (ES) devices for transportation systems.

We apply fundamental scientific expertise in electrochemistry, materials science, advanced diagnostics, and modeling and simulation to advance the ES programs. Facilities such as the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies, the Advanced Materials Laboratory, our battery safety and abuse testing laboratory, our Power Sources Technology Group which houses 6,700 ft. of dry room space with advanced diagnostics and prototyping facilities, and the Red Sky computing platform provide unique capabilities for fundamental science and university and industry partnerships.

A Sandia researcher prepares to test a battery to determine its response under abuse conditions.

Battery Abuse Testing Laboratory (BATLab)

The Battery Abuse Testing Laboratory (BATLab) at Sandia is an internationally recognized leader in energy storage system safety research. The BATLab is committed to serving the energy storage community and the national interest with cutting-edge research programs, the highest quality testing results, and leadership in battery safety and reliability. For more than 13 years, the BATLab has supported the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Vehicle Technologies programs, whose goal is to enable new electric vehicle (EV) technologies. The BATLab also continues to support other DOE, Department of Defense, NASA, and private industry customers.

Sandia’s Battery Abuse Testing Laboratory Fact Sheet pdf 870.86 kB
Sandia and the U.S. Army Collaborate on Operational Energy at Fort DevensDaniel Borneo and Ben Schenkman (both in Sandia’s Energy Surety Engineering and Analysis Dept.) are working on microgrids with Ft. Devens’ Base Camp Integration Laboratory (BCIL). They have been involved in successfully testing an application that can also be used for the civilian power grid. This demonstration and deployment work is consistent with the energy [...]
Molten Salt Test Loop Pump Installed  The pump was delivered and installed in the Molten Salt Test Loop (MSTL) system at Sandia National Laboratories’ National Solar Thermal Test Facility (NSTTF). MSTL is designed to allow customers and internal researchers to test Concentrating Solar Power components and subsystems with nitrate salts flowing at realistic pressure, temperature, and flow rates. The pump, [...]
Sandia’s Stan Atcitty winner of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE)Dr. Stanley Atcitty, an energy storage systems researcher, has been named a winner of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE).  President Obama named 13 U.S. Department of Energy-funded researchers as recipients of the award which is the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on outstanding scientists and engineers, who are [...]

Comments are closed.