SuperLab 2.0 Showcase: Connecting Five Labs To Tackle Grid Complexity and Unlock Unique Grid Asset Potential

SuperLab 2.0 (a five-lab demonstration) is a collaborative, national-scale experiment showcasing the coordination of geographically distributed energy assets in real time. The demonstration integrates 25 physical and digital assets, spanning wind, photovoltaics, batteries, electrolyzers, DC fast chargers, microgrid controllers, building automation systems, small modular reactors, control centers, and gas turbines, across five U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratories: National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR), Idaho National Laboratory, National Energy Technology Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and Sandia National Laboratories. These assets are unified using Energy Sciences Network (ESnet), a low-latency, high-performance DOE network, and are controlled via a centralized energy controller hosted at NLR's Advanced Research on Integrated Energy Systems facility. The demonstration validates the ability to stress-test hybrid energy systems under dynamic scenarios to de-risk advanced control strategies for greater resilience and flexibility.

SuperLab 2.0 showcased a major advancement in federated national laboratory collaboration, enabling real-time, cross-laboratory experimentation to coordinate geographically dispersed distributed energy resources using various communication protocols and networks. SuperLab 2.0 built on previous demonstrations conducted between NLR and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and between NLR and Idaho National Laboratory to connect diverse assets such as distant protection devices, a small modular reactor simulator, and a high-temperature electrolyzer. Previous demonstrations were based on a single connection between two labs with minimal coordination challenges. The five-lab demonstration—which included a centralized controller, distributed test beds across different geographical locations, and use of protocols-based communication—represents a scenario closer to real-world grid operations that coordinate resources across a region to meet system needs. This experiment studied how local distributed energy resource controllers interact with a centralized energy controller during normal and abnormal events to maintain reliability.

The SuperLab team across the five labs implemented a notional power system model equivalent to transmission and distribution lines, represented by the data networks interconnecting the labs. Each lab continuously exchanged local parameters (such as real and reactive power) from its controller hardware-in-the-loop (CHIL) and power hardware-in-the-loop (PHIL) assets through a centralized energy controller at NLR, enabling real-time interaction and coordination across sites. By leveraging ESnet as the communication backbone, the team successfully operated the distributed assets as a unified power system, with each bus represented by a different laboratory. This setup mirrors how assets interact in real-world power systems across dispersed locations with various protocols and latencies. At each lab site, assets were operated using their own local controllers, which were coordinated through an overarching operation and control layer of centralized energy controller, equivalent to how an energy management system orchestrates assets across a regional or national grid.

SuperLab's federated connectivity utilized a digital real-time simulator type of gateway to connect CHIL and PHIL assets between labs. To enable this federated connection through ESnet, a deterministic network was established where latency variations were consistent. This consistency allowed the development of digital filters for the power system assets across CHIL and PHIL interfaces to avoid unstable and unreliable grid conditions. 

This report provides an overview of the cross-laboratory configuration and offers insights into interconnecting geographically distributed research assets to test them as if they were co-located. The experiment represents a step toward linking nine DOE national laboratories, enabling nation-wide simulations that can address utility-driven challenges with grid resilience, flexibility, and modernization.

This is a multi-lab report led by NREL