News Spotlight

Post, March 8, 2024 • On February 6, 2024, the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) elected as a new member for his advancement of battery storage systems Dr. Babu Chalamala, Senior Scientist for the Grid Modernization and Energy Storage program at Sandia National Laboratories, announced NAE President John L. Anderson. In total, there were 114...

Post, September 10, 2024 • Dr. Erik Spoerke, a former Materials Lead in the Sandia Energy Storage program and now Senior Analytics Advisor with the DOE Office of Electricity (OE),  co-chaired the “Energy Storage: Toward Larger and Longer Duration Storage Deployment” symposium at the 2024 TechConnect World Innovation Conference and Expo June 17-18, 2024, in...

Post, June 12, 2024 • On Thursday, May 9, 2024, Jungsang Cho, a graduate student at the City College of New York (CCNY), under the tutelage of Professor Sanjoy Banerjee, successfully defended his Ph.D. dissertation titled “Understanding the Application of Hydrogel Electrolytes for Rechargeable Alkaline Zinc-Manganese Dioxide Batteries.” Cho’s thesis work was the result of...

Post, June 12, 2024 • Pacific Northwest National Laboratories (PNNL) hosted the 2024 Energy Storage Safety & Reliability Forum on May 14-16 at Discovery Hall on the PNNL campus. The event provided about 200 guests the opportunity to learn about the latest developments, share lessons learned and best practices, and discuss the ongoing challenged of...

Post, June 25, 2024 • Led by Sandia grid energy storage researcher David Rosewater, the Energy Facilities Contractors Group (EFCOG) and the IEEE Energy Storage and Stationary Battery (ESSB) committee collaborated to submit public comments for the next edition of NFPA 70E Standard for Electrical Safety in the Workplace. These public inputs, submitted on June...

Post, September 10, 2024 • A team of researchers from the City College of New York and Sandia National Laboratories (Contact: Timothy N. Lambert) examined the impact of different acetate-based super-concentrated (or “water-in-salt”) electrolytes on zinc electrochemical performance at currents and material utilizations of practical relevance to industry (0.3-8 mA/cm2 and ~20 mAh/cm2 respectively). Data...

Post, September 10, 2024 • Henry Guan and Waylon Clark, members of the Sandia Energy Storage Demonstrations Projects team, along with Dr. Ray Byrne, Sandia Energy Storage Technology and Systems Department Manager, attended the ribbon cutting ceremony on Friday, August 16, 2024, for the Vermont Electric Cooperative/Green Mountain Power North Troy Battery Energy Storage Demonstration...

Post, September 10, 2024 • On June 5, 2024, two members of the Safety & Reliability thrust in the Sandia Energy Storage program gave invited presentations at the Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE) Engineering Solutions Symposium in Phoenix, Arizona. The focus of the symposium was “Progress with Li-Ion Battery Fire Safety: Engineering Solutions to...

Post, September 11, 2024 • Dr. Ujjwol Tamrakar, an Electrical Engineer in the Analytics & Controls area of the Sandia Energy Storage program at Sandia National Laboratories, was appointed Associate Editor for the IEEE Open Access Journal of Power and Energy (OAJPE), a leading journal in the field of power and energy systems. IEEE OAJPE...

Post, November 18, 2024 • Ujjwol Tamrakar, a member of the Sandia Energy Storage Technology and Systems Department, presented a talk titled "Accelerating Deployment of Energy Storage through HIL Simulation and Testing" during the panel session on "Coordinated Storage Networks as Grid Assets: Control Challenges and Opportunities" at the IEEE IECON conference held on November...

Post, September 10, 2024 • Dr. Erik Spoerke, a former Materials Lead in the Sandia Energy Storage program and now Senior Analytics Advisor with the DOE Office of Electricity (OE), gave a keynote presentation, at the 14th Annual Capture the Energy Conference and Expo sponsored by New York Battery and Energy Storage Technology Consortium (NY...

Post, October 14, 2024 • Rodrigo D. Trevizan and Stanley Atcitty have co-authored the article "Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) as an Equity Asset: Lessons Learned from DER Deployments in Disadvantaged Communities," published in the July/August edition of IEEE Power and Energy Magazine. This article summarizes Sandia's contributions to Tribal Energy Storage projects, highlighting efforts from both...

Post, May 24, 2024 • Dr. Atri Bera was recently honored with the Outstanding Young Engineer Award by the IEEE Albuquerque Section, recognizing his significant contributions in developing “software tools to assess the reliability and stability risks associated with high penetrations of renewable generation.” His research and tool development work has been pivotal in addressing...

Post, June 25, 2024 • Drs. Leo Small and Melissa Meyerson, researchers with the Sandia Energy Storage program, collaborated with Albuquerque entrepreneur Charles Call to help bring Office of Electricity-funded research from the lab to local businesses. This collaboration was facilitated by the DOE Office of Technology Transitions Boost program. This partnership aims to get...

Post, September 10, 2024 • Will McNamara, an Energy Storage Policy Analyst Sandia National Laboratories Energy Storage program, delivered a presentation at the 2024 TechConnect World Innovation Conference and Expo on June 18, 2024, in Washington, DC. The focus of Will's presentation titled “Long-Duration Energy Storage (LDES): Mapping the Pathway to Commercialization” was included in...

Post, August 12, 2024 • Sandia National Laboratories Senior Scientist Stan Atcitty has been honored with the A.P. Seethapathy Rural Electrification Excellence Award by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers for his leadership and innovation in the rural electrification of U.S. tribal nations. The IEEE, one of the world’s largest technical professional organizations, established...

Post, July 17, 2024 • Loraine Torres-Castro is on a mission to ensure the technologies of today do not harm the climate of tomorrow. For Loraine, a future with sustainable and clean energy is possible but the possibility requires a “do no harm” mentality and inclusion of diverse perspectives, people and stories. Loraine, Sandia’s battery...

Post, November 18, 2024 • Rodrigo Trevizan, along with Matt Reno from Sandia National Laboratories and Zheyuan Cheng from Quanta Technology, submitted a journal paper titled "A Method for Location of Faults in Meshed Secondary Low-Voltage Power Distribution Systems" to the IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery on November 8, 2024. The detection of faults in...

Post, September 10, 2024 • Dr. Babu Chalamala, a Senior Scientist for Sandia National Laboratories, was appointed as the founding chair of the TC2: Technical Committee on Grid Interfaces for the IEEE Transportation Electrification Council. Dr. Chalamala’s chairmanship became effective June 18, 2024. The objective of this committee is to reach across IEEE Societies to...

Post, November 18, 2024 • The United States Air Force awarded the Sandia Energy Storage Demonstration Projects Team for their support of the Ellsworth Air Force Base battery energy storage system project with the 2024 Air Force Community Partnership Awards on October 28, 2024. This project was a collaborative effort involving the National Rural Electric...

Post, June 12, 2024 • As batteries have fallen in cost they are more commonly installed in cars, homes, business, and utility applications by a new workforce of battery technicians. This new workforce needs specific guidance for how to safely assemble, maintain, repair, and disassemble battery systems. As part of his efforts to modernize battery...

Post, June 12, 2024 • Will McNamara, Energy Storage Policy Analyst at Sandia National laboratories, delivered a presentation on Wednesday, May 8, 2024, at the City of Pasadena (California) District 6 Town Hall meeting to help the city achieve its goal of becoming carbon-free by 2030. Will was introduced by the City’s Vice Mayor Steve...

Post, June 3, 2024 • Will McNamara from Sandia National Laboratories gave two presentations at the EUCI Integrated Resource Planning (IRP) Best Practices Summit held virtually May 1-2, 2024, hosted by Burbank Department of Light & Power. McNamara, the Sandia Energy Storage Policy Analyst, presented and led discussion on “Parsing Which Long Duration Technologies Will Prevail”...

Post, June 25, 2024 • On June 5, 2024, David Rosewater, a grid energy storage researcher in the Sandia Energy Storage program, was an invited speaker during the IEEE Industry Applications Society (IAS) webinar on Reducing Risk When Performing Energized Work on Batteries. Dr. Rosewater’s presented to the international audience on his recently published research...

Post, June 3, 2024 • Sandia National Laboratories Energy Storage program team member Charlie Vartanian participated in IEEE SusTech Initiative’s Energy and Climate Technologies for the Arctic Workshop held May 3-4, 2024, at the University of Alaska Anchorage campus. This was the fourth in a series of open workshops held by the IEEE SusTech Initiative. At...