Feature Articles

A team from Sandia National Laboratories and New Mexico State University is work to make a vision of a self-healing electrical possible — not with tiny robots, but rather a cutting-edge library of algorithms. By coding these algorithms into grid relays, the system can quickly restore power to as many hospitals, grocery stores and homes as possible before grid operators can begin repairs or provide instructions.

A lot can happen to solar panels that are mounted to a roof – from tree branches casting shade over them to a neighbor’s baseball cracking one.

Now, a solar panel owner can better understand how their system is performing with a new software tool that transforms solar energy data into a clear picture of power generation over time. The tool could make it easier for solar owners to maintain their systems as the years go by, helping them generate more clean electricity for their homes and an electric grid.

The software, called PVInsight, reveals a system’s performance on cloudy days versus sunny days; potential shade impediments, like buildings or vegetation; or more catastrophic changes, like hail pellets damaging panels during a storm. Built by a team of researchers with SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory’s Grid Integration Systems and Mobility lab (GISMo) lab, the software is also open source, meaning anyone interested can access it.

A team of researchers from Berkeley Lab developed a new tomographic reconstruction algorithm, TomoCAM, that leverages advanced mathematical techniques and GPU-based computing. Their method set a new world record by surpassing the speed of existing state-of-the-art iterative tomographic reconstruction algorithms.

Argonne scientists have found a way to use the Argonne Tandem Linear Accelerator System to produce significant degradation in nuclear materials without the radioactivity associated with irradiation in a reactor

Joshua Zide and his team at the University of Delaware are taking a new approach to materials, making metallic nanoparticles separately from films and then incorporating them. It turns semiconductors into nanocomposites with different properties and new applications.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories’ economic impact for fiscal year 2023 reached an all-time high of nearly $4.8 billion, which was $559 million more than in 2022.

The impact is evident in the 1,200 new jobs added in the last year, the $114 million in gross receipts taxes paid to the state and the $1.08 billion paid to the small business suppliers who help provide critical components for Sandia to fulfill its mission.

First Look shows undergraduate students from underrepresented groups what it’s like to be part of Argonne’s world-class community, while preparing them to join as interns.

As the particle physics community releases its strategic plan for the next 10 years and overall vision for the next 20, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory have started planning how the Lab is positioned to contribute to a range of the plan’s science goals, new experiments, proposed research facilities, and ongoing projects.

Argonne researchers have invented a cathode material that replaces lithium with sodium ions and would be significantly cheaper. Sodium is far more naturally abundant and easily mined than lithium and is thus an attractive option for electric vehicles.