NASA ASRS: Reports of HazMat Incidents
This presentation reviews voluntary safety reports received by NASA's Aviation Safety Reporting System pertaining to Hazardous Materials.
Hooey, Becky↗
Engineering topics
Perez, Richard
Publications and source records attributed to Perez, Richard.
Overbuilding & curtailment: The cost-effective enablers of firm PV generation
Current thinking considers that PV output curtailment is a last resort measure to be avoided. In this article, we argue that supply-shaping, achieved through proactive curtailment associated with PV oversupply, is actually critical to achieving intermittency mitigation and delivering firm PV generation at the lowest cost. We investigate the premium to transform a low-cost, but intermittent solar kWh into a firm, effectively dispatchable kWh. We show that a fundamental ingredient of minimizing this premium is to optimally overbuild and, as necessary and appropriate, curtail PV generation. Drawing on a case study in the State of Minnesota, we show that firm, high-penetration-ready PV generation could be achieved at a production cost at or below current conventional generation, especially when optimally coupled with wind generation. Here, we conclude with a recommendation that in order to achieve this lowest cost firm generation potential, proactive curtailment strategies should inform future transactional PV remuneration systems.
14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
Deploying effectively dispatchable PV on reservoirs: Comparing floating PV to other renewable technologies
In this article, we present a detailed simulation of floating photovoltaic's (PV) energy yield and associated evaporation reduction potential for the largest 128 US hydropower reservoirs. A recent article by Cavusoglu et al., published in the journal Nature Communications, outlined a hypothetical evaporation engine that could harness the energy of lake water evaporation while simultaneously conserving the water resource. Its authors suggest that evaporation engines deployed across all US lakes and reservoirs could, collectively, yield up to 70% of the total U.S. electricity production. We show that floating PV technology could: (1) deliver considerably more electrical energy than evaporation engines, amounting to 100% of the US production with only a fraction of the lakes; (2) deliver this energy on a firm, effectively dispatchable basis; and (3) conserve as much water as the evaporation engines.
14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
An Assessment of New Satellite Data Products for the Development of a Long-Term Global Solar Resource at 10-100 km
A project representing an effort to reprocess the NASA based solar resource data sets is reviewed. The effort represented a collaboration between NASA, NOAA, NREL and the SUNY-Albany and aimed to deliver a 10 km resolution, 3-hourly data set spanning from 1983 through near-present. Part of the project was to transition project capability to NREL for annual processing to extend data set. Due to delays in the key input project called ISCCP, we evaluate only Beta versions of this data set and also introduce the potential use of another NASA Langley based cloud data set for the CERES project. The CERES project uses these cloud properties to compute global top-of-atmosphere and surface fluxes at the 1x1 degree resolution. Here, we also briefly discuss these data sets in potential usage for solar resource benchmarking.
Stackhouse, Paul W., Jr.↗
An Assessment of New Satellite Data Products for the Development of a Long-Term Global Solar Resource at 10-100 km
A project representing an effort to reprocess the NASA based solar resource data sets is reviewed. The effort represented a collaboration between NASA, NOAA, NREL and the SUNY-Albany and aimed to deliver a 10 km resolution, 3-hourly data set spanning from 1983 through near-present. Part of the project was to transition project capability to NREL for annual processing to extend data set. Due to delays in the key input project called ISCCP, we evaluate only Beta versions of this data set and also introduce the potential use of another NASA Langley based cloud data set for the CERES project. The CERES project uses these cloud properties to compute global top-of-atmosphere and surface fluxes at the 1x1 degree resolution. Here, we also briefly discuss these data sets in potential usage for solar resource benchmarking.
14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
Progress Towards Deriving an Improved Long-Term Global Solar Resource
This paper describes an ongoing project to provide the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) with a global long-term advanced global solar mapping production system for improved depiction of historical solar resources and to provide a mechanism for continual updates. This new production system is made possible by the efforts of NASA and NOAA to completely reprocess the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP) data set that provides satellite visible and infrared radiances together with retrieved cloud and surface properties on a 10 km, 3-hourly basis beginning July 1983. We provide a general overview of this project, samples of the new solar irradiance mapped data products, and comparisons to surface measurements. Samples of the use of the SUNY-Albany solar irradiance algorithm applied to the ISCCP data show very good agreement with high quality surface measurements. We identify the next steps in the production of the data set.
Cox, Stephen J.↗
Moving Toward Consensus on a Photovoltaic Generation Capacity Valuation Methodology
Maintaining adequate generating capacity to meet electricity demand at all times is a fundamental principle for the electric utility industry. This is accomplished through a variety of means including providing/purchasing sufficient generation capacity as well as acquiring the associated ancillary services for the electricity grid. The generation capacity of dispatchable resources is assessed based on technology design parameters. While dispatchable resources have some uncertainty in their output due to unforeseen equipment failures, their dispatch is managed around the demand for electricity and their marginal operating costs. Photovoltaic resources are non-dispatchable because their electrical output is based on both technology design parameters (technology selection, installation characteristics, and site conditions) and a solar resource that varies over a range of time periods (seasonal, daily, hourly, second to second). These solar resource variations, however, are not random and there is an intuitively positive relationship between PV system output and summer peak electricity demand for many locations throughout the U.S. This is because system demand peaks for most utilities are driven by heat-wave cooling demand, and because heat waves are indirectly fed by solar gain, i.e., by the fuel for PV generation. Despite this relationship, there is no consensus across the utility or solar industries on a method for calculating PV capacity or its practical use in electricity markets and utility planning. The U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar America Initiative has provided funding to evaluate the variety of photovoltaic capacity valuation methods and to bring the solar industry, electric utility, and research communities together with the goal of moving toward consensus on what is the most appropriate PV generation capacity valuation methodology using a consensus-oriented process. Developing a framework for accurately and appropriately calculating photovoltaic capacity, and determining the risk of variation, will provide a means for utilities and generators to calculate and innovate around the new economic propositions that an industry recognized PV capacity value calculation method would present.
14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
Towards an Improved High Resolution Global Long-Term Solar Resource Database
This paper presents an overview of an ongoing project to develop and deliver a solar mapping processing system to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) using the data sets that are planned for production at the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC). NCDC will be producing a long-term radiance and cloud property data set covering the globe every three hours at an approximate resolution of 10 x 10 km. NASA, the originators of the Surface meteorology and Solar Energy web portal are collaborating with SUNY-Albany to develop the production system and solar algorithms. The initial result will be a global long-term solar resource data set spanning over 25 years. The ultimate goal of the project is to also deliver this data set and production system to NREL for continual production. The project will also assess the impact of providing these new data to several NREL solar decision support tools.
Stackhouse, Paul W.↗
Towards an Improved High Resolution Global Long-Term Solar Resource Database
This paper presents an overview of an ongoing project to develop and deliver a solar mapping processing system to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) using the data sets that are planned for production at the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC). NCDC will be producing a long-term radiance and cloud property data set covering the globe every three hours at an approximate resolution of 10 x 10 km. NASA, the originators of the Surface meteorology and Solar Energy web portal are collaborating with SUNY-Albany to develop the production system and solar algorithms. The initial result will be a global long-term solar resource data set spanning over 25 years. The ultimate goal of the project is to also deliver this data set and production system to NREL for continual production. The project will also assess the impact of providing these new data to several NREL solar decision support tools.
14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
Validation of short and medium term operational solar radiation forecasts in the US
This paper presents a validation of the short and medium term global irradiance forecasts that are produced as part of the US data set. The short term forecasts that extend up to 6-h ahead are based upon cloud motion derived from consecutive geostationary satellite images. The medium term forecasts extend up to 6-days-ahead and are modeled from gridded cloud cover forecasts from the US National Digital Forecast Database. The forecast algorithms are validated against ground measurements for seven climatically distinct locations in the United States for 1 year. An initial analysis of regional performance using satellite-derived irradiances as a benchmark reference is also presented. (author)
14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
Quantifying PV power Output Variability
This paper presents a novel approach to rigorously quantify power Output Variability from a fleet of photovoltaic (PV) systems, ranging from a single central station to a set of distributed PV systems. The approach demonstrates that the relative power Output Variability for a fleet of identical PV systems (same size, orientation, and spacing) can be quantified by identifying the number of PV systems and their Dispersion Factor. The Dispersion Factor is a new variable that captures the relationship between PV Fleet configuration, Cloud Transit Speed, and the Time Interval over which variability is evaluated. Results indicate that Relative Output Variability: (1) equals the inverse of the square root of the number of systems for fully dispersed PV systems; and (2) could be further minimized for optimally-spaced PV systems. (author)
14 SOLAR ENERGY↗