ORNL and Southern California Edison’s AWARE platform won a bronze 2026 R&D100 Market Disruptor Award for its innovative approach to grid reliability and wildfire prevention. Using AI and advanced waveform analysis, AWARE detects and classifies dangerous grid disturbances—including hard-to-detect electrical arcing—to help utilities respond faster and improve grid resilience.
ORNL has developed a new californium-252 processing method that reduces separation time by about a week while maintaining the same quality. As the only producer of californium-252 in the western world, ORNL is also increasing production to meet growing demand for the isotope.
Researchers at ORNL developed a high-performance computing and physics-based modeling framework that predicts how large-scale lithium-ion battery systems age under different grid operating conditions. The tool helps optimize battery design and operation to extend system lifespan, reduce costs, and improve the performance of grid-scale energy storage before deployment.
Tom King, a longtime leader in electric grid research at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, has been named director of the Next-Generation Data Centers Institute (NGDCI). The institute aligns ORNL’s capabilities across computing, energy systems and applied engineering to provide the scientific foundation for the next generation of affordable, efficient, reliable AI data centers integrated with the U.S. electric grid.
Robert Wagner, associate laboratory director for the Energy Science and Technology Directorate at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, has been awarded the prestigious 2026 Henry Laurence Gantt Medal from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).
ORNL has developed an AI-powered tool that detects dangerous power grid faults, including wildfire-causing electrical arcing, and alerts utilities in real time. The technology is being validated with Southern California Edison using five years of grid data.
ORNL has licensed its Cyber Grid Guard technology to GridForge Energy Solutions to commercialize a blockchain-based platform that detects cyber threats and verifies grid data in real time, helping improve grid reliability, security, and transparency.
DOE's ROVI initiative, led in part by ORNL, successfully demonstrated the ROVI DataHub, a secure platform that unifies energy storage data across national labs and field projects to accelerate validation and deployment of long-duration energy storage technologies. The system supports real-time analytics, AI workflows and standardized reporting for next-generation battery technologies.
ORNL researchers developed a compact, high-efficiency power converter using gallium nitride semiconductors instead of traditional silicon. The new technology switches electricity faster with less energy loss, making converters smaller, lighter and more affordable. Researchers say the converters could help meet growing power demands in AI data centers, where large numbers of efficient converters are needed for servers.
ORNL researcher Vivek Sujan was named Inventor of the Year for his contributions to advanced mobility and energy technologies. His work has helped improve vehicle efficiency, power systems and transportation innovation. Sujan was recognized at Battelle’s Celebration of Solvers in May.
Scott DeNeale is a water resources engineer whose work at ORNL’s Water Power Program centers on how hydropower research can be applied to water-energy systems. His specialty is bridging the gap between the intellectual products, like data and theory, and real-world infrastructure solutions. Recently, he has been studying in-conduit hydropower, a type of largely unutilized energy production that harnesses the water flowing through water pipes in municipal settings and industrial plants to make energy, no dam required.
ORNL received more than $5 million from DOE;s Technology Commercialization Fund to advance research in grid security, artificial intelligence, nuclear energy and advanced manufacturing, helping move lab innovations toward industry use.