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Robichaud, Robi

Publications and source records attributed to Robichaud, Robi.

5 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2021

Electrical Systems of Pumped Storage Hydropower Plants: Electrical Generation, Machines, Power Electronics, and Power Systems

Adjustable-speed (AS) pumped storage hydropower (PSH) technology has the potential to become a large, consistent contributor to grid stability enabling higher penetrations of wind and solar energy on the future U.S. power system. AS-PSH has high-value characteristics, such as fast response to provide ancillary services to the grid, because it is a power converter interface with the grid (like battery storage), but at the same time it has the energy content large enough to supply both short-term (seconds-to-minutes) and long-term (minutes-to-hours) of energy needs, like more conventional power plants. However, designs must be optimized to lower the capital expenditure (CapEx) and to provide a high-quality grid interface capability (e.g. power quality, ancillary service provider, fault-tolerant or fault ride-through capability), which is a primary factor in the acceptance of AS-PSH into a utility’s generation mix. This CapEx will be greatly affected by the cost savings associated with the civil structure, turbine design, power electronics, control systems, or unique generator designs. A holistic design must be considered to get a full picture of the benefits of the technology proposed. The AS-PSH can be controlled to reduce the impact of transient disturbance on a power system and at the same time can be controlled to minimized subsequent component fatigue and potential oscillation modes within the plant, with the overall impact in reducing the operational expenditures (OpEx).Generating clean power to meet standards such as Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 519 and International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) 1000-3-2 will be a continuing challenge. For many technology developers, however, improved AS-PSH technologies will become a key component of generator-storage systems of the future given the prospects of increased performance and decreasing costs, and the ever-increasing penetration of renewables (e.g wind power and solar power).

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2019

Powering the Blue Economy: Exploring Opportunities for Marine Renewable Energy in Various Maritime

The blue economy is an emerging sector that will require energy to allow many scientific and commercial endeavors to reach their potential. The U.S. Department of Energy’s Water Power Technologies Office seeks to understand marine and coastal opportunities for which marine energy could fulfill those energy needs. This report documents the material gathered during a year-long fact-finding effort engaging users and developers, through literature review, workshops, interviews, and national lab analyses, as well as a Request for Information process. Each market was assessed by a set of common analyses: opportunity summary; application description and power requirements; market description, power options, and geographic relevance; marine energy potential value proposition; and path forward including research and development needs and potential partners. The major finding is that there are more markets with potential than anticipated, both for Power at Sea (including ocean observation and navigation, underwater vehicle charging, marine aquaculture, marine algae, and seawater mining), and Resilient Coastal Communities (including desalination, coastal resiliency and disaster recovery, and community-scale isolated power systems). The enabling attributes of marine energy resources include that they are abundant, geographically diverse, energy dense, predictable, and complementary to other energy sources. This report can help direct analysis and research and development efforts by government, scientists, developers, and other stakeholders to more deeply understand and meet specific technical and economic requirements to power emerging opportunities in the blue economy.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2018

Maritime Renewable Energy Markets: Power from the Sea

Marine renewable energy (MRE) is in the early stages of contributing to the energy portfolios of the US and many other nations around the world. Although many MRE developers are designing devices that will harvest energy to contribute to the electrical grid from waves, tides, and ocean currents, a number of other promising maritime markets could be supplied with MRE power at sea. These maritime markets are often less price sensitive than utility-scale electricity markets and can handle some degree of intermittency. Some of the promising maritime markets that could benefit from co-located power generation include ocean observation nodes, underwater recharge of autonomous vehicles, desalination of seawater for remote coastal areas, offshore aquaculture, shoreline protection and electricity generation, providing electricity and freshwater following coastal emergencies, providing power to islanded and isolated communities, powering and cooling nearshore of underwater data centers, recharging of electric surface vessels, and personal charging of electronics. Pairing of MRE power generation with these and other maritime markets is in the early stages, but the potential for synergy and growth of MRE coupled to these markets is promising.

Marine renewable energy↗
DOE OSTI2016

Emerging Wind Energy Opportunities in the Federal Sector

Robi Robichaud made this presentation as part of an Energy Technology session at the Energy Exchange event, which is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy. The presentation discusses a wind energy industry update, technology trends, financing options at federal facilities, and creative approaches for developing wind projects at federal facilities.

17 WIND ENERGY↗