Personal tools
You are here: Home EITA Emerging Technologies Research and Ventures New Energy, Green Technology, and Circular Economy Research Topics in New Energy, Green Technology, and Smart Grid Technology

Research Topics in New Energy, Green Technology, and Smart Grid Technology

DOE Microgrids Program 2021_103122A
[DOE Microgrids Program 2021 - Department of Energy]
 
 

1. Power Electronics and Transistors

-- Power Electronics

  • Power Converter Topologies
  • Power Electronics Device Characterization 
  • Power Circuit Synthesis, Analysis and Application
  • Design, Modeling and Control of Power Electronic Converters 

-- Power Transistors

  • SiC (Silicon Carbide) and GaN (Gallium Nitride) devices 


2. Smart Grid Technologies and Networking, Modern Power System Operation and Planning

-- Smart Grid Technologies

  • Grid Management Systems
  • Transactive Energy Systems
  • Virtual Power Plant
  • Power System Stability, Control, and Optimization
  • Power System Monitoring, Operations and Control 
  • Power System Modeling and Simulation
  • Power System Reliability and Cybersecurity
  • Distributed Control Applications Applied to Electrical Networks 
  • Smart Grids and Microgrids
  • Microgrid Practical Implementations
  • Microgrid Analysis
  • Advances in Management of Grid Dynamics
  • Architectures and Models for the Smart Grid
  • Optimization of Smart Grids
  • Applied Machine Learning for Intelligent Energy Systems
  • Smart Electricity Distribution Systems
  • Service-oriented Architectures for Smart Grids
  • Forecasting Energy Consumption and Energy Prices
  • Grid Architecture (including interoperability)
  • Scalable Infrastructures for Smart Grids
  • Fault Tolerance and Disaster Recovery in Smart Grids
  • Dynamic Discovery in Smart Grids
  • Load Balancing in Smart Grids
  • Forecasting Grid Imbalances
  • Technologies and Solutions for Improving Grid Resiliency
  • Adaptive Grid Topologies
  • Grid-to-vehicle and Vehicle-to-grid, Micro-grid
  • Smart Grid Standards, Co-simulation, Test-beds, and Field Trials
  • Large-scale monitoring, control and demand response
  • Smart metering infrastructure and technologies
  • Management and control of distributed energy generation, storage and consumption
  • Advanced data fusion, mining and modeling in smart grid
  • Renewable energy generation and new energy sources
  • Advanced smart grid applications: grid-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-grid, Micro-grid
  • Standardization and benchmark

-- Smart Grid Networking and Communications

  • The Whole Picture - Sense, Communicate, Compute, Control
  • Architecture of Web Services Interface for A Home Energy Management System
  • Smart Meter Deployment
  • Broadband Wireless and Smart Grid
  • Sensors Use for Energy Management
  • Advanced Metering Infrastructure
  • Communications and Networks for Smart Grids and Smart Metering
  • Enabling Information and Communication Technologies
  • Wide-area Visualization for Enhanced Situational Awareness (PMUs, Micro-PMUs, and Other Visibility and Control Devices and Applications)
  • Communication and Cyber Security
  • Transport Layer Mechanisms for Smart Grids
  • IP Interoperability in the Smart Grid
  • “Enernet of Things” – or “Grid of Things
  • Smart Grid Specific Protocols (DNP3, ICCP)
  • Smart Grid Cyber Security and Privacy
  • Security (physical and cyber)
  • Cyber Attack Impact on Critical Smart Grid Infrastructures
  • Smart Grid Sensor Technology
  • Wireless Communications and Networks for the Smart Grid Last Mile
  • Grid Edge Enabling Technologies
  • Ultra-wide-area Monitoring and Measurements
  • Ultra-wide-area Actuation and Control
  • Energy Internet
  • Load Modeling and Control
  • Predictive Defense Model of the Smart Grid
  • Smart Grid and Smart Grid Security
  • Cyber-physical Systems
  • Energy Storage Management and Modeling
  • Support for Storage, Renewable Resources and Micro-grids
  • Advanced Energy Storage Systems: Lithium ion Batteries and Beyond
  • Software for Smart Grids
  • Smart Grid Services and Management Models
  • Demand Side Management, Demand Response, Dynamic Pricing
  • Cloud Computing and the Smart Grid
  • Machine Learning in Smart Grids
  • Energy Data Analytics
  • Smart Grid Data and Analytics
  • Big Data Predictive Analytics for the Energy Generation
  • Handling of Big Data in Grid Operations – Real-time Applications and Archiving
  • Use of Cloud Technologies for Grid Operations
  • Climate Change Impacts on Power Grids
  • Renewable Energy Management
  • Renewable (Green) Energy Sources and Systems as Wind Power, Hydropower, Solar Energy, Biomass, Biofuel, Geothermal Energy, Wave Energy, Tidal Energy, Hydrogen & Fuel Cells, Li-ion Batteries, etc.
  • Solar, Wind and Energy Storage Integration in Smart Grids
  • Smart Grids Transmission Infrastructure
  • Wireless Power Transmission
  • Implementation and Projects on Smart Grids

-- Modern Power System Operation and Planning

  • Converged Infrastructures, Including Smart Cities 
  • Renewable Energy Integration
  • Regulatory Drivers and Impediments
  • Emerging Technologies of Modern Power System Operation and Planning
  • Coordination and Integration of EMS, DMS, Renewables
  • Utility/Service Providers Issues and Opportunities 
  • Utility/Service Provider Business Models 
  • System Planning to Accommodate High Levels of Distributed Energy Resources and Grid-edge Actors 
  • System Operations in the Face of High Penetration of Distributed and Renewable Resources (technology enabled system operations)
  • Stakeholder Opportunities and Risks (Consumers, Prosumer, Microgrids, and Smart Building Operators)
  • Weather Forecasting for Power Prediction (or Power Forecasting) to Drive Business: (smart grid management, integration of renewables and energy trading, etc.)
  • Bottom Up Forecasting and Micro-climate Weather Forecasting
  • Other Emerging Topics
 

3. Energy Storage and Utilization, Clean Vehicle Technologies and the Smart Grid

  • Nanoscale Materials, Structures and Devices
  • Super Capacitors (electrodes, electrolytes, etc.)
  • Electrical Energy Storage 
  • Chemical Energy Storage 
  • Electrochemical Energy Storage 
  • Thermal Energy Storage 
  • Mechanical Energy Storage 
  • Quantum Battery
  • Lithium-sulfur Battery 
  • Lithium-metal Battery 
  • Lithium-silicon Battery 
  • Lithium-ion Battery Materials (electrodes, catalysts, electrolytes, etc.)
  • Advanced Lead-acid Battery
  • Electrode Materials and Electrolytes
  • Electric Vehicles Integration
  • Smart Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure
  • Electric Vehicle Charging Integration in Distribution Grids
  • Pricing Models for Charging Stations
  • Hybrid Car Energy and New Battery Technologies
  • Grid Integration of Plug-in Electric Vehicles and Distributed Renewable Energy Resources
  • Integration of Electric Vehicles and Battery Technology
  • Modeling and control of Hybrid Electric Vehicles
  • EV-smart Grid Integration
  • Internet of Electric Vehicles and Smart Grid 
  • Vehicles-to-grid Communications 
  • Dynamic Spectrum Access Technologies for Internet of Electric Vehicles (IoEV) 
  • Grid-based Network and Services for IoEV 
  • IoEV for Smart Grid 
  • Power Scheduling for Charging IoEV 
  • Modeling and Simulation for the Interaction of Grids and EVs
  • Battery Control for HEV and Energy Storage Systems
  • IC Engine Management Systems
  • Materials for Fuel Cell Applications (electrodes, electrolytes, membranes, electrolytes, catalysts, etc.)
  • Hydrogen Energy Materials for Hydrogen Production, Hydrogen Storage, Hydrogen Delivery
  • Next-generation Energy Storage Applications (thermoelectric materials, metal-air batteries, Na-S batteries, solar cells, heat storage, etc.)
  • Alternative Vehicular Energy
  • Electric, Fuel Cell and Hybrid Vehicles
  • Other Emerging Topics

4. Environmental Law and Energy Infrastructure, New Energy Technologies and Green/Smart Buildings

-- Environmental Law and Energy Infrastructure

  • Greenhouse Gases
  • Converting Greenhouse Gas into Fuel

-- Energy Efficiency and Green Buildings

  • Intelligent and Energy-efficient Buildings
  • Application of Nanomaterials in Construction

-- Nuclear Energy 

  • Advances in Nuclear Power Plants
  • Nuclear Energy and Global Environment
  • Hybrid energy system

-- Hydrogen Production

  • Hydrogen Production Using Nuclear Energy
  • Wind-to-Hydrogen Production
  • Photoelectrochemical (PEC) Device to Produce Hydrogen

-- Offshore Wind Research

  • Small, Midsize, Large Wind Turbine Research
  • Emerging Wind Turbine Technologies
  • Gearbox Reliability
  • Onshore and Offshore Wind Energy Development
  • Wind Power Plants Development
  • Power Transmission Solutions for Wind Energy
  • Energy Storage for Wind Power
  • Offshore Geotechnics and Energy
  • Offshore and Onshore Wind Farms Utility Grid Connections and Integration
  • Offshore and Onshore Wind Assessment, Certification and Risk Analysis
  • Onshore Wind Farm Environmental Impact Assessment
  • Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) for Wind Turbine Blade Inspections
  • Legal Aspects of the Supply and Construction of Onshore Wind Farms

-- Identification, Assessment and Mapping of Geothermal Resources

  • Development, Expansion and Maintenance of Thermal Databases
  • Modeling of Hydrothermal Systems
  • Enhanced Geothermal Systems Technologies to Capture Energy from Resources
  • Hydrothermal and Resource (Hot Water and/or Steam) Confirmation and Applications
  • Low-Temperature Hydrothermal Resources (with Temperatures at or below 300°F) and Applications
  • On-site Borehole Temperature-Depth Logging
  • Measurement and Analysis of Rock Sample Thermal Conductivity

-- Biomass Characterization

  • Biomass Process and Sustainability Analyses
  • Whole-Systems Modelling and Analysis
  • Energy Crop Strategies
  • Waste-to-Energy (WtE)/Energy-from-Waste (EfW)
  • Availability of Agricultural and Forest Residues
  • Biomass Feedstocks for Renewable Energy Generation
  • Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) and Urban Waste Feedstocks
  • Biochemical and Thermochemical Conversion Technologies, Including Biorefining
  • Integrated Biorefinery Processes
  • Biorefinery: Chemicals and Materials from Biomass
  • Anaerobic Digestion Technologies (Biogas, Biomethane, Hydrogen)
  • Chemical and Catalyst Science
  • Biocatalysis for Bioresource Transformation
  • Metabolic Engineering and Fermentation Processes
  • Microalgal Biofuels
  • Micro and Macro Algae Technology
  • Algae Cultivation and Harvest
  • Algae Production and Conversion Systems
  • Biological Hydrogen Production
  • Feedstock Production and Genetic Improvement of Plants
  • Bioethanol Production from Lignocellulosic Biomass
  • Purified Lignins
  • Lignofuel Production Plants
  • Future Opportunities for Lignocellulosic Feedstocks

-- Wave and Tidal Energy Resource Characterization

  • Device Development, Testing, and Environmental Modelling
  • Power Take-off and Device Control
  • Environmental Impact and Appraisal
  • Grid Connection and System Aspects

-- Methane Hydrate Systems

  • Synoptic View on Methane Hydrates
  • Systems Models of Methane Hydrate Behavior
  • Basic Physics and Chemistry of Methane Hydrates
  • Methane Hydrate Resource Assessment
  • Methane Hydrate Production Analysis
  • GeoEnvironment: Hydrates in the Past and the Present
  • Methane Hydrate Related Geohazards
  • Methane Hydrate Role in the Global Carbon Cycle
  • Methane Hydrate Research and Development
  • Methane Hydrate Laboratory and Field Characterization

-- Hot Dry Rock (HDR) Geothermal Energy

  • Exploration 
  • Drilling  
  • Direct Use 
  • Geothermal Heat Pumps  
  • Electricity Production 
  • Advanced Technologies

 

 5. Green Computing and Communications Technologies, Green Society Applications

  • Green infrastructure sustainable design and technologies 
  • Energy- and power-constrained devices and gateways 
  • Ultra-low power systems architectures 
  • Low-power, distributed data processing on sensors  
  • Energy-efficient M2M wired and wireless communications and networking  
  • Optimization and/or analysis in green computing and communications (including core network optimization)  
  • Green big data, cloud, and data center architecture  
  • Green technologies for 5G (SDN, IoT, and crowdsourcing, etc.)  
  • Energy harvesting communications and networks 
  • Smart metering infrastructure and technologies  
  • Large-scale monitoring, control and demand response  
  • Advanced data fusion, mining and modeling in smart grid  
  • Management and control of distributed energy generation, storage and consumption  
  • Advanced smart grid applications: grid-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-grid, Micro-grid 
  • Smart sensing systems  
  • Smart city  
  • Green vehicle, green home, green buildings and green anything  
  • Green industrial automation and control  
  • Intelligent Transport Systems and control  
  • Energy efficiency in aerial/UAV communication networks  
  • Green social networks  
  • Applications of blockchain in energy management and trading
 

6. Energy Systems

  • Energy storage and conversion
  • Energy systems at the nexus of control and machine learning
  • Building energy systems
  • Control co-design for energy systems
  • Wind turbin control
  • Airborne wind energy systems
  • Marine Energy systems
  • Energy aware robotic systems
  • General energy systems
  • Directed-energy Weapons (DEW): high-power microwave (HPM) weapons, lasers are considered point weapons

  • Other Emerging Topics


7. Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS)

  • Post-combustion carbon capture (the primary method used in existing power plants)
  • Pre-combustion carbon capture (largely used in industrial processes)
  • Oxy-fuel combustion systems.


Document Actions