When the grid goes down: an internship perspective

This summer, I joined the NPS in Monterey through the ORISE fellowship program, which places students inside federal research labs to work on projects with direct operational relevance. For me, it was the chance to bring the battery modeling and estimation experience I’ve gained at the Stanford Energy Control Lab, led by Professor Simona Onori, into a setting where energy systems research meets mission-driven applications.

At NPS, I worked with Professors Giovanna Oriti and Ron Giachetti to advance a high-fidelity digital twin of an islanded electric microgrid – systems designed to keep operating even when the main grid goes down. My role focused on integrating a detailed battery energy storage model into the existing microgrid simulation, improving how energy storages are managed to ensure resilient operation during both normal conditions and disruptive scenarios.

A meaningful part of the experience was the challenge of building something that wasn’t just academically rigorous, but potentially useful for Navy operational needs, as well. Knowing that the digital twin could help inform resilience strategies pushed me to think more critically about accuracy, practical constraints, and usability. It made the work feel both demanding and exciting in a way that differed from purely theoretical research.

This internship highlighted how interdisciplinary energy research truly is, and reinforced the importance of merging modeling, power electronics, and system-level thinking. It also clarified how tools developed in an academic setting can support real resilience challenges, something I’m eager to continue pursuing in my research going forward.