The federal government first supported a program for energy storage and electric power system technology during the 1970s, before the establishment of the Department of Energy (DOE). In those early days, the program was focused mainly on energy storage—especially to even out the variable power production from rapidly growing use of wind and solar technologies—but also to support large coal and nuclear power plants. The advancement of computer capacity, miniaturization, and industrial controls has expanded the ability of grid operators to monitor and control electric power flows. The subsequent increase in networking of computerized devices for grid data collection and control advanced the ability of operators to anticipate, avoid, and otherwise mitigate potential power crises, such as blackouts. However, in more recent years, Internet-connected networks have become vulnerable to unwanted computer-driven intrusions and disruptions, revealing a new cybersecurity challenge for electric power systems. The nation's energy infrastructure is diverse. It includes a variety of transmission and distribution system network structures (electricity, oil, and natural gas), an array of operating models (public and private), and a variety of hardware and software. The energy sector consists of thousands of electricity, oil, and natural gas assets that are dispersed geographically. Thus, interdependency within the sector and across the nation's critical energy infrastructure sectors is significant. Coordinating the security and resilience of energy assets is complicated by the virtually borderless nature of energy use and the reliance on predominantly privately-owned infrastructure. Key challenges and opportunities facing the electric power industry include a changing power generation mix, replacing aging infrastructure (transmission, storage, distribution, and generation); modernizing and securing communication networks (e.g., analog to digital); accommodating new end-use technologies (for solar and other distributed resources); planning for increased interdependencies of natural gas, water, and electricity systems; and devising business models to manage the challenges while providing reliable and affordable electricity. These activities are constrained by the need for cost control, physical security, cybersecurity, improved system resiliency, and the flexibility to adapt to weather and market uncertainties. Further opportunities arise from growing use of shale gas production and decreasing costs for information technologies which allow improved grid control and more opportunities for customer management of power use. The DOE Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability (OE) is charged with a mission to support more economically competitive, environmentally responsible, secure, and resilient U.S. energy infrastructure. To achieve that mission, OE supports electric grid modernization and resiliency through research and development (R&D), demonstration projects, partnerships, facilitation, modeling and analytics, and emergency preparedness and response. OE is the federal government's lead entity for energy sector-specific responses to national energy security emergencies which are due to either hardware (infrastructure) or software (cybersecurity) problems. OE leads DOE's efforts to strengthen, transform, and improve our energy infrastructure so that consumers have access to reliable, secure, and clean sources of energy. To accomplish this mission, the Office works with a variety of stakeholders, including private industry and federal, state, local, and tribal governments on a variety of initiatives to modernize the electric grid. Grid modernization is needed to address aging infrastructure, achieve public policy objectives, sustain economic growth, support environmental stewardship, and mitigate risks. OE's goal for the future grid is to support economic growth and energy innovation through delivery of reliable, affordable, and clean electricity to consumers where, when, and how they want it. The largest share of OE funding (e.g., about 80% of the FY2016 appropriation) goes to R&D on technology development. The remainder of OE funding (e.g., about 20% of the FY2016 appropriation) goes to a variety of planning and other operational areas. OE divides these responsibilities into five general areas: R&D and Deployment—pursues technologies to improve grid reliability, efficiency, flexibility, functionality, and security. OE makes investments and sponsors demonstration projects to help bring new and innovative technologies to maturity and to help the technologies transition to market. Much of this activity takes place through partnerships with private firms that provide matching funds. Modeling and Analytics—develops core analytic, assessment, and engineering capabilities that can evolve as the technology and policy needs mature to support decisionmaking within DOE and for stakeholders. Also OE supports analyses to explore complex interdependencies among infrastructure systems, such as between electricity and natural gas systems. Institutional Support and Technical Assistance—builds capacity in industry and convenes stakeholders to coordinate grid transformation efforts. Also, OE provides technical assistance to states and regions to improve policies, utility incentives, state laws, and programs that facilitate modernization of electric infrastructure. Coordination of Federal Transmission Permits—streamlines permits, special use authorizations, and other approvals required under federal law to site electric transmission facilities. Emergency Preparedness and Response—pursues enhancements to the reliability, survivability, and resiliency of energy infrastructure, and facilitates faster recovery from disruptions to energy supply. In 2007, DOE established an independent Assistant Secretary for OE and, thereby, elevated the office to an administrative status equal to that for the major energy technologies (nuclear, fossil, renewables). OE currently has five deputy assistant secretaries, each of whom reports to the Assistant Secretary. The corresponding five offices are: Power Systems Engineering R&D, National Electricity Delivery, Infrastructure Security and Energy Restoration, Energy Infrastructure Modeling and Analysis, and Advanced Grid Integration. OE's mission is guided mainly by two key DOE planning documents: the Quadrennial Technolo gy Review and the Grid Modernization Multi-Year Program Plan . DOE's second (2015) Quadrennial Technology Review (QTR) outlined key elements of the department's strategy for grid modernization. The report concluded that: Fundamental changes in both supply and demand technologies are placing new requirements on the electric power system... Accompanying these changes is a convergence of digital communications and control systems ("smart grid" technologies) to improve performance and engage consumers... These trends create new technical requirements for a grid that is more flexible and agile, with the ability to dynamically optimize grid operations in near-instant time frames." Further, from DOE's cross-cutting programs viewpoint, the report stressed the R&D aspects of grid modernization: The electric grid is transitioning from a centrally-controlled, predictable system with one-way power flows in distribution to a much more distributed, stochastic, and dynamic system with bi-directional flows in distribution... Grid-related technologies need to evolve with the changing supply and end-use technologies landscape. Simultaneously, the RDD&D [research, development, demonstration, and deployment] associated with technologies that connect to the grid (e.g., renewable power supplies, efficient motor controllers, and smart loads) should consider the evolving interface with the grid. If electricity displaces petroleum and natural gas in electric vehicles and heating applications, respectively, the grid may serve an even more central role in the future energy system. DOE's 2015 Grid Modernization MYPP describes its vision for "a future electric grid that provides a critical platform for U.S. prosperity, competitiveness, and innovation by delivering reliable, affordable, and clean electricity to consumers where they want it, when they want it, how they want it." To help achieve this vision, DOE aims at three key national targets: A 10% reduction in the economic costs of power outages by 2025. A 33% decrease in the cost of reserve margins while maintaining reliability by 2025. A 50% decrease in the net integration costs of distributed energy resources by 2025. Progress toward the targets will be assessed by looking at RD&D efforts in individual technical areas and by looking at three integrated demonstrations, referred to in the MYPP as "major technical achievements." They are: (1) a transmission and distribution system operating reliably on a lean reserve margin, (2) resilient distribution feeders with high percentages (50%) of low-carbon distributed energy resources, and (3) an advanced modern grid planning and analytics platform. The MYPP states that multiple demonstrations will be conducted across various regions of the country to underpin these "major technical achievements." OE programs are aligned with the Obama Administration's priorities, as documented in A Policy Framework for the 21 st Century Grid: Enabling Our Secure Energy Future (June 2011), the President's Climate Action Plan (June 2013), and other DOE efforts to address energy infrastructure needs and challenges. The FY2017 OE request aimed to support the Obama Administration's "all-of-the-above" energy strategy and emphasized priorities that increase electric grid resilience—through managing risks, increasing system flexibility and robustness, increasing visualization and situational awareness, and deploying advanced control capabilities. Historically, electric systems technology development programs have supported all four major types (nuclear, fossil, renewable, efficiency) of energy technology. For most of DOE's funding history, OE programs received a relatively small portion of funding, compared to the portion provided for the energy technology programs. However, the OE program received a major one-time boost in funding—$4.5 billion—from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act, P.L. 111-5 ). The funding was targeted for "grid modernization." Thus, much of it was used to provide grants to the electric utility industry to deploy smart grid technologies to modernize the electric grid. As a part of these programs, independent system operators (ISOs), regional transmission organizations (RTOs), and electric utilities installed about 1,100 synchrophasors and other related technologies in their electric power transmission systems. That deployment of synchrophasors, however, covered only a small portion of the total national grid. Figure 1 provides a condensed visual summary of the relative portion of funding for electric systems in three different historical time periods.