Skip to main content

PNNL

  • About
  • News & Media
  • Careers
  • Events
  • Research
    • Scientific Discovery
      • Biology
        • Ecosystem Science
        • Human Health
          • Cancer Biology
          • Exposure Science & Pathogen Biology
          • Metabolic Inflammatory Diseases
        • Integrative Omics
          • Advanced Metabolomics
          • Chemical Biology
          • Mass Spectrometry-Based Measurement Technologies
          • Spatial and Single-Cell Proteomics
          • Structural Biology
        • Microbiome Science
          • Biofuels & Bioproducts
          • Human Microbiome
          • Soil Microbiome
          • Synthetic Biology
        • Computational Biology
      • Chemistry
        • Computational Chemistry
        • Chemical Separations
        • Chemical Physics
        • Catalysis
      • Earth & Coastal Sciences
        • Atmospheric Science
          • Atmospheric Aerosols
          • Human-Earth System Interactions
          • Modeling Earth Systems
        • Coastal Science
        • Ecosystem Science
        • Plant Science
        • Subsurface Science
        • Terrestrial Aquatics
      • Materials Sciences
        • Materials in Extreme Environments
        • Precision Materials by Design
        • Science of Interfaces
        • Solid Phase Processing
          • Cold Spray
          • Friction Stir Welding & Processing
          • ShAPE
      • Nuclear & Particle Physics
        • Dark Matter
        • Flavor Physics
        • Fusion Energy Science
        • Neutrino Physics
      • Quantum Information Sciences
    • Sustainable Energy
      • Energy Storage
        • Electrochemical Energy Storage
        • Flexible Loads and Generation
        • Grid Integration, Controls, and Architecture
        • Regulation, Policy, and Valuation
        • Science Supporting Energy Storage
        • Chemical Energy Storage
      • Environmental Management
        • Waste Processing
        • Radiation Measurement
        • Environmental Remediation
      • Fossil Energy
        • Subsurface Energy Systems
        • Carbon Management
          • Carbon Capture
          • Carbon Storage
          • Carbon Utilization
        • Advanced Hydrocarbon Conversion
      • Nuclear Energy
        • Fuel Cycle Research
        • Advanced Reactors
        • Reactor Operations
        • Reactor Licensing
      • Renewable Energy
        • Solar Energy
        • Wind Energy
          • Distributed Wind
          • Offshore Wind
          • Uncertainty Quantification
          • Wildlife and Wind
          • Wind Data Archive and Portal
          • Wind Resource Characterization
        • Energy Equity & Health
        • Marine Energy
          • Environmental Monitoring for Marine Energy
          • Marine Biofouling and Corrosion
          • Marine Energy Resource Characterization
          • Testing for Marine Energy
          • The Blue Economy
        • Hydropower
          • Environmental Performance of Hydropower
          • Hydropower Cybersecurity and Digitalization
          • Hydropower and the Electric Grid
          • Materials Science for Hydropower
          • Pumped Storage Hydropower
          • Water + Hydropower Planning
        • Grid Integration of Renewable Energy
        • Geothermal Energy
      • Transportation
        • Bioenergy Technologies
          • Algal Biofuels
          • Aviation Biofuels
          • Waste-to-Energy and Products
        • Hydrogen & Fuel Cells
        • Vehicle Technologies
          • Emission Control
          • Energy-Efficient Mobility Systems
          • Lightweight Materials
          • Vehicle Electrification
          • Vehicle Grid Integration
      • Energy Efficiency
        • Appliance and Equipment Standards
        • Building Energy Codes
        • Building Technologies
          • Advanced Building Controls
          • Advanced Lighting
          • Building-Grid Integration
        • Building and Grid Modeling
        • Commercial Buildings
        • Federal Buildings
          • Federal Performance Optimization
          • Resilience and Security
        • Grid Resilience and Decarbonization
        • Residential Buildings
          • Building America Solution Center
          • Energy Efficient Technology Integration
          • Home Energy Score
        • Energy Efficient Technology Integration
      • Electric Grid Modernization
        • Emergency Response
        • Grid Analytics
          • AGM Program
          • Tools and Capabilities
        • Grid Architecture
        • Grid Cybersecurity
        • Grid Energy Storage
        • Grid Resilience and Decarbonization
          • Earth System Modeling
          • Energy System Modeling
        • Transmission
        • Distribution
    • National Security
      • Chemical & Biothreat Signatures
        • Contraband Detection
        • Explosives Detection
        • Pathogen Science & Detection
          • Threat-Agnostic Biodefense
      • Cybersecurity
        • Discovery and Insight
        • Proactive Defense
        • Trusted Systems
      • Nuclear Material Science
      • Nuclear Nonproliferation
        • Global Nuclear & Radiological Security
        • Nuclear Explosion Monitoring
        • Nuclear Forensics
        • Radiological & Nuclear Detection
        • Ultra-Sensitive Nuclear Measurements
      • Stakeholder Engagement
        • Disaster Recovery
        • Global Collaborations
        • Legislative and Regulatory Analysis
        • Technical Training
      • Systems Integration & Deployment
        • Additive Manufacturing
        • Deployed Technologies
        • Rapid Prototyping
        • Systems Engineering
      • Threat Analysis
        • Advanced Wireless Security
          • 5G Security
          • RF Signal Detection & Exploitation
        • Climate Security
        • Grid Resilience and Decarbonization
        • Internet of Things
        • Maritime Security
    • Data Science & Computing
      • Artificial Intelligence
      • Graph and Data Analytics
      • Software Engineering
      • Computational Mathematics & Statistics
      • High-Performance Computing
      • Visual Analytics
    • Lab Objectives
    • Publications & Reports
    • Featured Research
  • People
    • Inventors
    • Diversity & Inclusion
    • Lab Leadership
    • Lab Fellows
    • Staff Accomplishments
  • Partner with PNNL
    • Academia
      • Distinguished Graduate Research Programs
      • Internships
      • Visiting Faculty Program
      • Joint Appointments
      • Joint Institutes
      • Linus Pauling Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellowship
      • Minority-serving Institutions
    • Community
      • Regional Impact
      • STEM Education
        • Resources
        • Student STEM Ambassadors
        • STEM Ambassadors in the Classroom
      • Philanthropy
      • Volunteering
    • Industry
      • Available Technologies
      • Industry
      • Industry Partnerships
      • Licensing & Technology Transfer
      • Entrepreneurial Leave
  • Facilities & Centers
    • All Facilities
      • Atmospheric Radiation Measurement User Facility
      • Electricity Infrastructure Operations Center
      • Energy Sciences Center
      • Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory
      • Grid Storage Launchpad
      • Institute for Integrated Catalysis
      • Interdiction Technology and Integration Laboratory
      • PNNL Seattle Research Center
      • PNNL-Sequim
      • Radiochemical Processing Laboratory
      • Shallow Underground Laboratory

Breadcrumb

  1. Research
  2. Sustainable Energy
  3. Electric Grid Modernization
  4. Grid Analytics

Grid Analytics

Actionable intelligence for
planning and operations

Henry Huang, a PNNL power grid researcher and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers fellow.

Andrea Starr | Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

  • Emergency Response
  • Grid Analytics
    • AGM Program
    • Tools and Capabilities
  • Grid Architecture
  • Grid Cybersecurity
  • Grid Energy Storage
  • Grid Resilience and Decarbonization
  • Transmission
  • Distribution
  • News & Updates
  • Attend a Grid Analytics Event
  • Publications
  • Projects
  • Explainer Articles

Every day, the nation’s power grid becomes more complex. It incorporates hundreds of millions of connected devices, which create unprecedented volumes of data. The grid must integrate distributed energy resources with traditional large-scale power generation while maintaining adequate reliability and resilience. And it must allow increasing situational awareness to detect and address physical and cyber threats, such as earthquakes, storms, and malicious attacks.

For a power grid to maintain maximum reliability and efficiency, operators need to know what’s happening across the system, and locally, as it happens. Planners need to determine future operating schedules, prepare for system expansion, and plan for emergency response and recovery. PNNL leaders in grid analytics embed analytical insight into operational and planning systems. This means applying advanced analytic methods to data, including predictive and prescriptive analytics for forecasting, simulating, analyzing, controlling, and optimizing the grid while taking into account its interdependency with other systems.

In developing advanced grid analytics, PNNL collaborates with industry stakeholders to create the control room of the future and to develop planning functions that address emerging power grid requirements. These advances enable operators to see and manage their grids as holistic systems in real time. Likewise, planners can conduct comprehensive analyses and optimization for future scenarios. Through high-performance computing and new mathematical algorithms, operators and planners can identify signs of grid failures and develop new ways to maintain grid reliability and resilience.

Improving prediction, reducing uncertainty

PNNL uses computing, modeling, and simulation to provide predictive capabilities for managing grid dynamics and uncertainties. Analytical platforms enable large-scale evaluation, control, and optimization of the energy ecosystem.

PNNL researchers are also advancing grid simulations for petascale and exascale computation. These simulations enable large-scale scenarios for transmission planning and cyber vulnerability assessments.

To test simulations under realistic operating conditions, researchers and industry stakeholders can use the Electricity Infrastructure Operations Center on PNNL’s Richland campus. This unique facility integrates industry hardware and software, real-time grid data, and advanced computation in two control rooms. It can be reserved for training and situational awareness exercises and can host network models and data analysis tools.  

Keeping critical infrastructure running

PNNL also contributes its analytics expertise to efforts such as the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Electricity’s Advanced Modeling Grid Research Program, the DOE Office of Advanced Scientific Computing Research’s Power Grid Math Program, the DOE Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy’s Grid Optimization Competition, and the North American SynchroPhasor Initiative. These collaborations are dedicated to improving power system reliability and resilience by using data, computing, and innovative tools.

For the Department of Homeland Security, PNNL supports the National Infrastructure Simulation and Analysis Center, which focuses on protecting the nation’s critical infrastructure. As part of this effort, PNNL analyzes potential impacts on electric power, water, and transportation systems in the event of a disruption. PNNL continually works to develop next-generation grid analytics tools and to validate those tools with industry partners. As these advanced solutions reach the power grid community, the grid will become more resilient, secure, and flexible.

Recent News

JANUARY 16, 2023
Staff Accomplishment

Huang to Serve as Guest Editor for Electrical Power Journal

Read
Man standing in front of electronic screen
AUGUST 9, 2022
News Release

Strengthening Puerto Rico's Power Grid

Read
Three men in dress shirts with hurricane image in the background.
MARCH 22, 2022
Feature

Detail Matters for Understanding COVID-19 Impacts on Electricity Use

Read
Blue scale composite image of a house with a city skyline in the background
SEE MORE RELATED NEWS

Related Capabilities

Advanced Computer Science, Visualization, & Data
Cyber & Information Sciences
Research Computing
SEE ADDITIONAL CAPABILITIES

Facilities

Electricity Infrastructure Operations Center Systems Engineering Building

Related Links

What is the Smart Grid?

PNNL

  • Get in Touch
    • Contact
    • Careers
    • Doing Business
    • Environmental Reports
    • Security & Privacy
    • Vulnerability Disclosure Program
  • Research
    • Scientific Discovery
    • Sustainable Energy
    • National Security
Subscribe to PNNL News
Department of Energy Logo Battelle Logo
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) is managed and operated by Battelle for the Department of Energy
  • YouTube
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn