Webinar

Energy Storage @PNNL Series

In 2023 Pacific Northwest National Laboratory continues their Energy Storage @ PNNL webinar series, this time featuring panel discussions hosted by PNNL leaders with subject matter experts from industry and other agencies. This series is brought to you by the Department of Energy's Grid Storage Launchpad.

Click below to watch our past Energy Storage @PNNL webinars.

graphical image of conversations about energy storage

Throughout the spring and summer PNNL will host the Energy Storage @PNNL webinar series. Webinar series will cover energy storage safety, flow battery research, flow battery research, reliability testing, energy storage valuation, energy equity initiatives, state policy, research and development, and more.

(Image by Melanie Hess-Robinson | Pacific Northwest National Laboratory)

January 2023 - December 2023

The Department of Energy's new Grid Storage Launchpad at PNNL is focused on accelerating the development of new technologies and reducing the barriers for implementation. This new series, Energy Storage @PNNL, will explore how current research efforts are addressing these barriers and driving increased adoption of this critical technology. Webinars are free to attend and are an excellent opportunity to gain insights and interact with resident experts in energy storage.

All webinars are placed on our PNNL YouTube channel dedicated to Energy Storage. You can watch them here.


Upcoming Webinars

Information on upcoming webinars will be posted soon.


Previous Webinars

Expert Panel: The Future of Sodium-Ion Batteries

monday, October 30 | 9:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m. (pt) (Noon - 1:00 p.m. ET)
PANEL MODERATOR: Xiaolin Li

FEATURING SUBJECT MATTER EXPERTS:

Four photos of people on a teal background with event title text

Cheap and abundant, sodium is a prime and promising candidate for new battery technologies. For this interactive panel, PNNL material scientist Xiaolin Li will host special guests who are leaders in developing sodium-based battery solutions. These expert panelists will provide details on the solutions they’ve developed, the benefits of sodium-based batteries, and the challenges they face with deployment. 

click to watch

Expert Panel: Energy Storage for Grid Resilience

thursday, September 21 | Noon - 1:00 p.m. (pt)
Photos of three men and one woman with teal background imagery and Energy Storage @PNNL text
PANEL MODERATOR: Diane baldwin, pnnl project manager

FEATURING SUBJECT MATTER EXPERTS:

  • Mack Knobbe, Southern California Edison
  • Mike Diedesch, Avista
  • Vish Viswanathan, PNNL

From cyber and infrastructure attacks to climate change, our nation’s power grid must be made more resilient. For this interactive panel, PNNL project manager Diane Baldwin will host special guests who are deploying energy storage solutions to improve grid resilience. Panelists will share specific challenges they face and provide an update on the solution(s) they are implementing.

CLICK TO WATCH

Expert Panel: Pumped Storage Hydropower

THURSDAY, AUGUST 31 | 11:00 A.M. - 12:00 P.M. (PT)
Dark teal background with four images featuring guest speakers and their names, graphic includes Energy Storage @ PNNL verbiage
PANEL MODERATOR: BO SAULSBURY, PNNL PROJECT MANAGER
Featuring subject matter experts:
  • Debbie Mursch, Director of Business Development AT GE Renewable Energy
  • Mike Manwaring, Power & Energy Consultant AT Stantec
  • Erik Steimle, exective Vice President AT Rye Development

Pumped storage hydropower (PSH) is currently the largest form of long-duration energy storage in the United States. For this interactive panel, PNNL project manager Bo Saulsbury will host special guests who will share their perspectives on this technology, highlighting the role and value of PSH in supporting our clean energy future as well as challenges faced with deployment.

CLICK TO WATCH

Expert Panel: Transitioning to Electric Fleets

thursday, JUne 1  | Noon - 1:00 p.m. (pt)
Dark teal background with four images featuring guest speakers and their names, graphic includes Energy Storage @ PNNL verbiage
PANEL MODERATOR: christine Holland, economist (PNNL)
featuring subject matter experts:
  • jeremy stewart, principal power energy portfolio analyst AT TACOMA POWER
  • ROBIN HEINRICHS, FLEET MANAGER AT FRANKlIN PIERCE SCHOOL DISTRICT
  • CARLY MACIAS, ZERO EMIsSION FLEET STRATEGIC PLANNING MANAGER AT KING COUNTY METRO

For this interactive panel, PNNL economist Christine Holland will host three special guests who are working on the transition to medium- and heavy-duty electric vehicle fleets. They will discuss specific efforts they are involved in—in the Pacific Northwest—their vision for electrification, challenges they face, and what is needed for a smooth transition. Attendees can also expect to hear about the impact and economics of “smart charging.” 

CLICK TO WATCH 

Expert Panel: The Future of Flow Batteries

thursday, May 25  | Noon - 1:00 p.m. (pt)
Four photos featuring the panelists for May, image includes the Energy Storage logo; background is black and teal
PANEL MODERATOR: vince sprenkle, strategic advisor (PNNL)
featuring subject matter experts:
      • Matt Harper, co-founder and chief commercial officer at Invinity Energy Systems
      • Julia Song, co-founder and chief technology officer at ESS, Inc.
      • Russ Weed, Founder and president of CleanTech Strategies LLC

Increasing demand for lithium-ion batteries across all sectors has presented an opportunity for flow batteries to become a leading grid-scale storage solution. But are flow batteries ready to deliver on the opportunity? Can flow batteries deliver on both the current 4-8-hour applications as well as emerging long duration (10 hours +)? PNNL Senior Advisor Vince Sprenkle will host industry experts who will discuss the maturation and future deployment opportunities for this technology. 

CLICK TO WATCH

Expert Panel: Energy Storage for Social Equity

thursday, april 13  | Noon - 1:00 p.m. (pt)
four photos featuring the panelists for April, image includes teal background with a bright pink battery and white writing.
PANEL MODERATOR: jennifer yoshimura (PNNL)
FEATURING energy storage for social equity (ES4SE) community participants:
  • abel thompson, Together New Orleans (LA)
  • Marie Kills Warrior, Honor the Earth (MN)
  • Victoria Flowers, Oneida Nation (WI)

For this interactive panel, PNNL energy justice and equity advisor Jennifer Yoshimura will host communities that are participating in a DOE Office of Electricity, Energy Storage Program initiative called “Energy Storage for Social Equity” (ES4SE). You will hear from panelists about their energy and community goals and their experiences working with and partnering with national labs—PNNL and Sandia—to help inform their decisions in short- and long-term strategic planning and implementation. Communities will share what they need from technologies and partnerships (government, local, public, private) to build and increase social value and equity into future infrastructure development.

CLICK TO WATCH

Expert Panel: Long-duration Storage Policy and Economics

Two men and two women are featured in professional style, individual photos.
thursday, march  9  | Noon - 1:00 p.m. (pt)
PANEL MODERATOR: jeremy twitchell (PNNL)
Featuring subject matter experts:
  • Justin Raade, principal technical leader, electric power research institute (epri)
  • Julia Souder, Executive director, long duration energy storage council (LDEs council)
  • rachel wilson, Manager of strategy and market development, form energy, inc.

There is a growing consensus that long-duration energy storage will play a crucial role in a decarbonized electric grid. But how long will it need to be? How much will we need? And what technologies will provide it? Join us for a conversation with industry leaders—moderated by PNNL’s Jeremy Twitchell—who are working to answer those questions.

CLICK TO WATCH

Expert Panel: Power Electronics as an Energy Storage Enabler

five photos of five different men
thursday, february  9  | 11:00 a.m. (pt) to Noon
PANEL MODERATOR:  LEO CASEY (X, formerly Google x) and Charlie vartanian (PNNL)
Featuring subject matter experts:
  • Manuel avendano, senior manager at southern california edison
  • aung thant, an inverter-based resource specialist at the north american electric reliability corporation
  • pat hayes, director of U.s. transit & bus chargining solutions at ABB

For this interactive panel, Leo Casey, power systems lead engineer at X (formerly Google X), and Charlie Vartanian, an energy advisor at PNNL, will host three special guests who will discuss how power electronics are no longer perceived as a limiter, but rather as the enabler for an agile and adaptable next-generation power grid infrastructure. The panel will cover how appropriately designed power electronics combined with energy storage (ES) and ES+PV unlock capabilities that will be critical to integrating renewables, while preserving and even potentially improving overall reliability and economics of clean-energy supply.

CLICK TO WATCH

Expert Panel: Code-compliant Fire and Explosion Protection

Three men and one woman are photographed.
Tuesday, January 24  | noon (pdt) to 1:00 p.m.
PANEL MODERATOR: MattHEW Paiss
Featuring subject matter experts:
  • paul hayEs, fire protection engineer & General manager at The Hiller Companies, American Fire Technologies
  • Lauren Khair, director of business transformation at the national rural electric cooperative association
  • andy laib, SEnior engineer at fluence 

For this interactive panel, PNNL technical advisor Matthew Paiss will host three special guests representing utilities, a fire protection engineers, and a top energy storage and clean energy technology company. Together, they will discuss energy storage safety challenges and solutions as well as the role codes and standards play in protecting against fires and explosions. 

CLICK TO WATCH

Energy Storage as a Transmission and Dual-Use Asset

thursday, December 1, 2022  | 11:00 a.m. (PDT) to noon 
man with dark hair
Featuring: Jeremy twitchell, senior energy analyst

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a policy statement in 2017 supporting the deployment of energy storage for the dual uses of regulated transmission service and competitive market service. By allowing this usage model, FERC reasoned, revenue earned through market operations when the storage asset isn’t needed for transmission could be shared with customers and system costs could be reduced. But this approach represents a significant change in electric grid operations, which historically have separated transmission and generation functions into distinct siloes, and efforts by regional market operators to implement the policy statement have been, so far, unsuccessful. In this presentation, we will discuss a recent Pacific Northwest National Laboratory report that identifies a participation framework for dual-use energy storage assets.  

Click to view recording

High-Throughput Experimentation for Accelerated Energy Materials Research

thursday, November 17, 2022  | 11:00 a.m. (PDT) to noon 
Two men shoulder to shoulder
Featuring: Witness martin and yangang liang, materials scientists

The ability of data-driven materials research to provide useful tools for scientific discovery and optimization has been demonstrated. However, the application of a data-driven research method to complex materials systems has specific hurdles, such as a lack of large-scale and high-quality data sets, appropriate algorithms, and the development of accurate/reliable prediction models. In this talk, we will highlight the development of high-throughput experimentation (HTE) capabilities under Pacific Northwest National Laboratory’s Energy Storage Materials Initiative to accelerate the data-driven energy materials approach. We will specifically discuss how we developed an HTE process for collecting large-scale and high-quality solubility data of redox active materials in redox-flow-battery-related media, as well as how we used our robotic platform to accelerate the discovery of non-flammable electrolyte recipes for lithium-ion battery electrochemical systems.

Click to view recording

Gaining Insight into Lithium-Ion Battery Degradation

thursday, November 3, 2022  | 11:00 a.m. (PDT) to noon 
smiling woman with dark hair and tan sweater
Featuring: Qian Huang, Materials scientist 

Battery degradation/reliability, which is directly related to its lifetime and safety performance, depends not only on chemistry, but also on complex physical-chemical processes under diverse operating conditions. Motivated by PNNL's reliability investigation on lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) for stationary application, this presentation will shed light on the mechanism of LIB degradation using a calorimetric approach. In particular, a methodology for in-situ heat measurement of commercial LIBs under grid services is being developed in order to disclose the relationship between thermal characteristics and the degradation/reliability of LIBs and to reinforce the development of the LIB state-of-health model.

Click to watch recording

Silicon-Based Lithium-Ion Batteries

photo of a man wearing glasses in a suit
thursday, october 20, 2022  | 11:00 a.m. (PDT) to noon
Featuring: Jason Zhang, Lab Fellow

This presentation will discuss the recent progresses on the development of high-performance Si anode using two approaches: 1. Development of micron-sized Si with a porous Si nanostructure by impregnating petroleum pitch inside of porous Si to improve its cycle life; and  2. Development of localized, high-concentration electrolytes that can largely extent both cycle life and calendar life of Si based Li-ion batteries.

Energy Storage Cost and Performance Assessment and Database

thursday, october 6, 2022  | 11:00 a.m. (PDT) to noon
Composite photo of Kendall Mongird and Vish Viswanathan
Featuring: Kendall Mongird, Economist and Vish viswanathan, chemical engineer

This presentation will cover the 2022 edition of the Cost and Performance Assessment, which continues Energy Storage Grand Challenge efforts of providing a standardized approach to analyzing the cost elements of storage technologies and projecting 2030 costs based on each technology’s current state of development. 

Click to watch the recording

Machine Learning for Energy Storage Materials

thursday, september 22, 2022  | 11:00 a.m. (PDT) to noon
Emily Saldanha
Featuring: Emily Saldanha, Data Scientist

This presentation will highlight work performed under Pacific Northwest National Laboratory’s Energy Storage Materials Initiative to leverage such machine learning techniques to support the development process for electrolyte materials. In particular, the presentation will also discuss machine learning approaches for data extraction from literature, molecular property prediction, experimental design, and molecular inverse design.

click to watch the recording

Challenges of Supporting the US Energy Storage Industry with Lithium-Ion Batteries

thursday, september 8, 2022  |  11:00 a.m. (PDT) to noon
photo of a man with brown hair in a blue sweater.
Featuring: Mark willey, advisor

The global lithium-Ion battery demand is currently outpacing supply and causing constraints in multiple areas, including supply of materials to support battery cell production. This presentation will review the current state of the market and the main U.S. manufacturers of cells and materials in the EV and non-EV space. Additionally, this presentation will cover the challenges U.S. suppliers face to support the fast growth of the EV market.

CLICK TO WATCH THE RECORDING

Vehicle to Grid

Thursday, august 25, 2022  |  11:00 a.m. (PDT) to noon
Lady with long brown, slightly curly hair; she is wearing glasses, a blue sweater and a blue and white stripped blouse
Featuring: christine holland, economist

This presentation provides a cost-benefit analysis of four grid services: 1) arbitrage, 2) demand-charge reduction, 3) spinning reserve, and 4) frequency regulation, when using fleet vehicle-to-grid (V2G) battery power. V2G technologies enable the bi-directional flow of energy between electric vehicles (EVs) and the grid. An aggregation of battery-stored electricity from EVs, such as those found in a fleet, could deliver a substantial amount of energy and act as a potential grid resource.

Click to watch the recording

Capacity Expansion Planning: The Role of Long Duration Energy Storage

Joint photo of Patrick Maloney and Bhatnagar
Thursday, august 11, 2022  |  11:00 a.m. (PDT) to noon
Featuring: Dhruv bhatnagar, Senior Energy systems research engineer and patrick maloney, electrical engineer

The webinar will consider the deployment of long duration energy storage (LDES) resources using a capacity expansion model to meet future clean energy needs. Using the Los Angeles Basin as an example, this work considers the optimized deployment of LDES to support equitable energy outcomes and the clean energy transition. 

click to watch the recording

Hydrogen as a Long-Duration Storage Asset

man wearing glasses, dark blazer, light colored shirt and a tie
Thursday, July 28, 2022  |  11:00 a.m. (PDT) to noon
Featuring: Jamie Holladay, Research Line Manager

In this presentation, we will discuss how hydrogen may be suitable for long-duration energy storage. In addition, we will review how electrolysis, a common hydrogen generation technology, can provide ancillary services to the power grid. Finally, PNNL’s research into electrolyzers and reversible fuel cells will be presented.

Click to watch the recording

Energy Storage System Controls

Male with glasses and female with curly hair smiling at camera.
Thursday, July 14, 2022  |  11:00 a.m. (PDT) to noon
Featuring Sarmad Hanif, Engineer and DianE Baldwin, Project Manager

About this presentation: This presentation gives an overview of energy storage system control activities at PNNL, including the basic principles of the developed control policies, as well as innovative applications such as hybrid ESS with conventional generation. To address the challenges in this ever-changing field, Sarmad and Diane will discuss gaps in the current control capabilities and planned activities to advance ESS contributions to the power system.

click to watch the recording

Reliability Test Laboratory

man smiling at camera wearing a dark shirt
Thursday, June 23, 2022  |  11:00 a.m. (PDT) to noon
Featuring David Reed, Materials Scientist

About this presentation: This presentation provides an overview of the Reliability Test Laboratory established at PNNL to accelerate the development of grid energy storage technologies that will help modernize the power grid.  Types of battery technologies under test, module size, general laboratory capabilities, and available on-site characterization methods will be discussed with the goal of understanding long-term performance and the reliability of emerging and existing energy storage systems. 

click to watch the recording

Buildings as Storage Assets

man standing in front of a big computer screen displaying data
Thursday, June 9, 2022  |  11:00 a.m. (PDT) to noon
Featuring Srinivas Katipamula, Staff Scientist

About this presentation: This presentation highlights how buildings can be used as storage assets, the associated challenges, and the results from commercial buildings.

Click to watch the recording

Energy Storage for Social Equity

smiling woman with long hair and a dark jacket
Thursday, May 26, 2022  |  11:00 a.m. (PDT) to noon
Featuring: Rebecca O'Neil, Advisor

About this presentation: The Energy Storage for Social Equity initiative selected 14 communities from across the country to explore whether storage can improve local resilience, support critical services and remote access, reduce costs to distressed communities, integrate more renewable energy opportunities, and improve environmental conditions.  This presentation will provide an overview of the program and the work underway across the nation.

click to watch the recording

Trends in State Energy Storage Policies

man with gray sweatshirt standing in front of equipment
Thursday, May 12, 2022  |  11:00 A.M. (PDT) to noon
Featuring: Jeremy Twitchell, Senior Energy Analyst

About this presentation: This presentation will review how state policies are both driving and responding to the recent boom in energy storage deployments, and how those policies are evolving to consider emerging objectives, such as resilience and energy equity.  

click to watch the recording

Developing a Flow Battery

male with dark colored sports jacket, blue shirt, tie; wearing glasses
Thursday, April 28, 2022  |  11:00 a.m. (PDT) to noon
Featuring: Wei Wang, Materials Scientist and Director for the Energy Storage Materials Initiative

About this presentation: This presentation describes the development of new electrolyte chemistries at PNNL. Solvation chemistry of the different electrolyte systems will be discussed, which provides a greater understanding of dynamic interactions between solvent-solvent, ion-solvent, and ion-ion at the molecular level.

click to watch the recording

Energy Storage Analytics

Di Wu is a chief research engineer in the Energy and Environment Directorate
Thursday, April 14, 2022  |  11:00 a.m. (PDT) to noon 
Featuring: Di Wu, Chief Research Engineer

About this presentation: This presentation will provide an overview of energy storage analytics developed at PNNL and various assessment and demonstration projects in collaboration with utilities and industry. Additionally, Wu will also share the lessons learned to date and discuss challenges and opportunities in energy storage analytics. 

click to watch the recording

Energy Storage Safety Webinar

Matt Paiss, Technical Advisor, brings 28 years of emergency response experience.
Thursday, March 31, 2022  |  11:00 a.m. (PDT) to noon
Featuring: Matthew Paiss, Technical Advisor, Battery Materials & Systems Group

About this presentation: As the cost of system balance can add significantly to the cost of a project, safety requirements in model fire codes or certification to product safety standard can put an end to a project or a small tech start-up. This presentation will explain the current safety challenges with energy storage safety (ESS), how the codes and standards seek to address them, and the remaining gaps in need of solutions. 

PNNL is pleased to announce Dr. Imre Gyuk, Director of Energy Storage Research for the Office of Electricity, will join us for this webinar as we kick-off the event series.

Click to watch the recording