Regional Resilience
ORNL unites multidisciplinary science and regional expertise to strengthen energy resilience and economic security.
Read all regional resilience newsInforming Decisions for Resilient Energy Systems
Regional resilience requires understanding how water and energy systems are connected. Droughts, floods, extreme temperatures, and fluctuating water availability can disrupt power generation, strain water supplies, and damage transportation, manufacturing, and other economically vital infrastructure. Because these systems are interconnected, a disruption in one sector can cascade across a region—affecting energy reliability, supply chains, services, and economic productivity.
Oak Ridge National Laboratory brings together expertise in hydrology, energy, environmental science, infrastructure analysis, computing, and artificial intelligence to examine these interconnected risks. By combining observations, data, and predictive modeling, ORNL helps identify vulnerabilities and develop strategies that strengthen infrastructure, support reliable water and energy supplies, and help regions prepare for and recover from disruption.
Southeast Resilience Accelerator
ORNL’s Southeast Resilience Accelerator (SERA) initiative focuses on delivering actionable understanding of the risks to critical energy and industrial infrastructure in the U.S. Southeast from flooding, heat waves, drought, rapid population growth, and aging infrastructure. SERA integrates data, modeling, AI and technology approaches to deliver insights for resilient, secure development in this key economic region.
Coupling Energy and Natural Systems Delivers Decision-ready Insights
- Forecasting water availability for power generation
- Supporting siting and operation of energy infrastructure
- Assessing flood risk and infrastructure vulnerability
- Predicting infrastructure risk from sinking ground and eroding coastlines
- Enhancing long-term reliability of energy systems
- Modeling cascading disruptions across interconnected water-energy systems
- Supporting regional energy planning and resource management
- Informing investments in infrastructure adaptation and modernization
Partnering with Regional Universities and Industry
ORNL is collaborating with Georgia Tech to improve weeks-to-years forecasts of water conditions that matter for energy production, including water availability, streamflow, and river temperatures across the Tennessee Valley Authority service area.
ORNL and the University of Tennessee are advancing plant-based materials and workforce development through a bioeconomy systems initiative to create opportunities in the state’s agricultural, forestry, and manufacturing sectors.
ORNL’s HydroORBIT, a multimodal AI foundation model trained on the Frontier supercomputer, will predict coupled surface and subsurface groundwater conditions for faster assessment of hydropower potential, groundwater availability for energy, and flood risk. Partners include Georgia Tech, AMD, and the Tennessee Valley Authority.
Partner with us
ORNL partners with federal agencies, industry, and academia to translate scientific advances into operational tools and actionable insights. Contact us to explore collaboration opportunities and licensing of tools and technologies.
AI and Exascale Computing
The Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility accelerates scientific discovery through Frontier, the world’s first exascale supercomputer, and the Lux AI cluster, enabling nationwide grid and energy system modeling, large-scale optimization, and scenario analysis.
Earth System Modeling
DOE’s Energy Exascale Earth System Model and ORNL’s ORBIT AI foundation models harness exascale computing to deliver scalable, high-resolution predictions that strengthen energy planning, reliability, and security.
Hydrological Modeling
ORNL combines physics-based modeling, AI and supercomputing to predict water availability, river temperatures, and flood risk, supporting informed siting, operations, and planning for energy systems and critical infrastructure.
Field Studies and Data Analysis
ORNL scientists collect on-the-ground and remote sensing observations in regions from the Arctic to the Southeast coast. The research generates AI-ready data about natural systems that affect energy infrastructure, ensuring predictions are grounded in real-word data.
Grid Technologies
ORNL advances solutions for grid reliability through AI, quantum and high-performance computing, modeling and simulation, sensing, and technology innovation to increase electricity capacity, resilience, and security while reducing outages and costs.
Cyber and Infrastructure Security
ORNL’s cyber-physical security tools enable rapid threat detection across interconnected energy and water infrastructure, helping operators identify vulnerabilities, anticipate cascading disruptions, and protect systems that support regional economic resilience.
Geospatial AI to Defend Critical
Assets
Geospatial data scientists integrate AI and supercomputing with imagery science, infrastructure modeling, and population dynamics to better understand and predict landscape and human dynamics, strengthening national security and resilience.
Water Power for Reliable, Domestic Energy
ORNL’s water power research is focused on abundant, reliable energy from the nation’s waterways. Hydropower and water reservoirs deliver electricity and energy storage, serving as the backbone of the U.S. power grid.