Skip to main content

PNNL

  • About
  • News & Media
  • Careers
  • Events
  • Research
    • Scientific Discovery
      • Biology
        • Chemical Biology
        • Computational 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
      • 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
      • 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
      • 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
      • 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
          • Wildlife and Wind
          • Wind Data Management
          • 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
    • National Security
      • Cybersecurity
        • Discovery and Insight
        • Proactive Defense
        • Trusted Systems
      • Nuclear Material Science
      • Nuclear Nonproliferation
        • Radiological & Nuclear Detection
        • Nuclear Forensics
        • Ultra-Sensitive Nuclear Measurements
        • Nuclear Explosion Monitoring
        • Global Nuclear & Radiological Security
      • 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
      • Chemical & Biothreat Signatures
        • Contraband Detection
        • Pathogen Science & Detection
        • Explosives Detection
        • Threat-Agnostic Biodefense
    • 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. Transmission

Transmission

Moving toward resilient,
continuous operations

  • Electric Grid Modernization
    • Emergency Response
    • Grid Analytics
    • Grid Architecture
    • Grid Cybersecurity
    • Grid Energy Storage
    • Grid Resilience and Decarbonization
    • Transmission
    • Distribution
  • Energy Efficiency
  • Energy Storage
  • Environmental Management
  • Fossil Energy
  • Nuclear Energy
  • Renewable Energy
  • Transportation
  • News & Updates
  • Attend a Transmission Event
  • Publications
  • Projects

Utilities and other power authorities must assure that electricity supply and demand are continuously balanced across the transmission network to maintain safe and reliable operation. They must also keep disturbances such as equipment failure, natural disasters, solar storms, malicious attacks, and human errors from creating a cascading sequence of events leading to outages, blackouts, and even national security concerns. The increasing complexity of the grid has made transmission operations even more challenging.

The key to a stable grid is resilience—the ability to anticipate, absorb, adapt, and recover rapidly from all hazards. PNNL’s research focuses on technologies and approaches for real-time and high-performance continuous operation.

Recognized expertise

PNNL is widely recognized for its expertise in power system operation, wide-area measurements, demand response, advanced analytic methods, high-performance computing simulations, cybersecurity, and data visualization. PNNL staff have testified before Congress about technical challenges and opportunities for the nation’s grid. A PNNL engineer served on a National Academy committee that published the 2017 congressionally mandated report, “Enhancing the Resiliency of the Nation’s Electric Power Transmission and Distribution System.”

In collaboration with industry and universities, PNNL has helped drive grid transmission research since the 1990s. Since 2007, the laboratory has served in a leadership role in the North American SynchroPhasor Initiative, a joint effort with the Department of Energy (DOE), the Electric Power Research Institute, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, industry, and academia to help avoid blackouts and reduce costs. By using phasor measurement unit networks to enhance situational awareness, California estimates a $360 million annual savings to customers from avoided outages, plus $90 million of annual savings in improved use of existing power generation and delivery systems. System operators around the country estimate similar benefits.

Since 2014, PNNL has co-led the Grid Modernization Laboratory Consortium (GMLC), a research partnership between DOE and 13 national laboratories to modernize the nation’s energy infrastructure. The consortium is developing the concepts, tools, and technologies to measure, analyze, predict, protect, and control the grid of the future. PNNL also leads or contributes substantially to a majority of this portfolio of projects.

Impact for today and tomorrow

Many PNNL innovations now reside in control rooms and procedures across the country. For example, grid operators use PNNL’s Dynamic Contingency Analysis Tool (DCAT) to see and reinforce weak spots on the grid, thus helping stop cascading power losses or blackouts. PNNL’s Mode Meter tool helps operators understand where to take remedial action when unstable conditions arise. The Shared Perspectives tool allows adjoining electric utilities to see information from different service areas in a combined view, reducing operator response times by up to 40 percent. 

Specialized facilities are important for testing new technology and training operators in realistic scenarios. The Electricity Infrastructure Operations Center integrates hardware and software, current grid data, and advanced computation in two functional control rooms. Utilities, government agencies, and universities use this facility for development, integration, validation, testing, and training.

The nation also needs a steady pipeline of qualified experts dedicated to planning, building and operating the modern grid. In response, PNNL and Washington State University launched the WSU-PNNL Advanced Grid Institute in 2018, focusing on research and training to accelerate progress toward a more resilient, reliable, and flexible power grid.

Recent News

AUGUST 1, 2022
Staff Accomplishment

First Responders Prepare for Cascadia Subduction Zone Earthquake and Tsunami Response

Read
FEMA Region 10 Cascadia Subduction Zone Earthquake and Tsunami Response Plan
OCTOBER 20, 2021
Staff Accomplishment

Restoring Power When National Disasters Strike

Read
Russ Haffner at Hurricane Ida response
JUNE 24, 2021
Feature

Disaster Response and Mitigation in an AI World

Read
Wildfire Helicopter
SEE MORE RELATED NEWS

Related Capabilities

Applied Materials Science & Engineering
Advanced Computer Science, Visualization, & Data
Cyber & Information Sciences
SEE ADDITIONAL CAPABILITIES

Facilities

Systems Engineering Building Electricity Infrastructure Operations Center

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