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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 217 records · Page 12
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2025

Day-Ahead Forecasting with Federated LSTM to Plan Energy Sharing in a Community Microgrid

Energy balancing in microgrids is a key enabler of resilience. Community microgrids located close to each other have the added benefit of networking and sharing surplus energy, if available. Such complex decision-making runs on optimization that requires reliable short-term (up to very-short-term) forecasts of energy generation and consumption for scheduling or trading. Each microgrid may also opt to not expose their sensitive data such as consumption patterns of individual businesses or residences. This paper investigates a federated approach to dayahead forecasting that trains naive long short-term memory (LSTM) at each business in a microgrid and aggregates weights at the microgrid controller using proximal regularization. This approach ensures that the controller has access only to energy surplus/deficit and not the actual generation or consumption values, avoiding unwanted exposure of sensitive data. A community microgrid in Adjuntas, Puerto Rico with 3 businesses is selected as a case study with a laboratory-scale computing setup. A central LSTM forecaster, where sensitive data from businesses are aggregated at the controller, is implemented as a baseline for qualifying the results. This work serves as a proof-of-concept for scaling the approach to networked and nested microgrids with more complex control options.

Sundararajan, Aditya [ORNL] (ORCID:000000033577854↗
DOE OSTI2025

Reducing module soiling with scalable and robust photocatalytic coatings

The air-glass interface at the front of a photovoltaic (PV) module reflects approximately 4% of incident light, decreasing the potential power output of the module by the same amount. Today’s modules reduce this loss by adding a low-refractive-index (1.25-1.30) SiO2 coating to the sunward side of the module glass; this antireflection coating recovers approximately 3% of the 4% light that would otherwise be lost. While such antireflection coatings work very well on clean, new modules, they do not inhibit soiling—the accumulation of soilants such as dust, pollen, soot, or other foreign material—on the module glass, and soilants reflect and scatter incident light. An improved coating would serve provide not only an antireflection effect, but also an anti-soiling effect. The goal of this project was to develop such a coating and provide a path for it to be manufactured in the U.S. The project successfully designed and fabricated coatings that provided >3% transmittance gain compared to bare glass (matching the performance of commercial antireflection coatings) and displayed anti-soiling behavior in standard laboratory soiling effects. This was achieved by using a Swift Coat proprietary coating deposition technique, aerosol impact-driven assembly (AIDA), to control the porosity and thus refractive index of coatings of photocatalytic materials—such as TiO2—that would otherwise increase (instead of decrease) reflection. These combined antireflection/anti-soiling coatings passed PV industry standard module reliability tests as well as coating-specific abrasion tests, showing that they have the durability needed for decades in the field. Swift Coat scaled the AIDA hardware and deposition process to make mini-modules that were monitored for nearly two years during field tests administered by a third party, as well as demonstrated scaling to the widths of full-sized modules. The fielded mini-modules outperformed reference modules (with commercial antireflection coatings) in two locations, providing a 1% absolute average performance boost and larger increases during periods of heavier soiling. Swift Coat’s cost analysis indicated a coating manufacturing cost below the sales price of today’s antireflection coatings. More than five module manufacturers sampled and assessed the coatings, and three provided letters of support. The coating developed in this project increases the energy output of PV modules, thereby decreasing the cost per kilowatt-hour of solar energy generated. Cheaper solar electricity benefits the public by accelerating the transition to a stable, affordable, carbon-free energy economy. In addition, for select applications in which PV modules are highly visible—such as on residential rooftops—the coating provides an aesthetic benefit because it stays cleaner than today’s modules. Finally, Swift Coat and its prospective customers are U.S. companies, and successful commercialization of this technology will provide U.S. jobs and a secure solar supply chain.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
NASA NTRS1973

Energetic particles as a source of flare energy

The production of solar flares by the reservoir of energy generated by sunspot magnetic fields is discussed. Electrons play an important part in the flare process since high energy electrons are responsible for X-ray and radio emission. The energy required in the form of protons trapped in sunspot magnetic fields to produce large solar flares is analyzed. A trigger mechanism is described where the particles can be rapidly dumped into the chromosphere when fast electrons are produced by Coulomb collisions and through pion production by the highest energy protons.

Elliot, H.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Energy coupling between the solar wind and the magnetosphere

A description is given of the path leading to the first approximation expression for the solar wind-magnetosphere energy coupling function (epsilon), which correlates well with the total energy consumption rate (U sub T) of the magnetosphere. It is shown that epsilon is the primary factor controlling the time development of magnetospheric substorms and storms. The finding of this particular expression epsilon indicates how the solar wind couples its energy to the magnetosphere; the solar wind and the magnetosphere make up a dynamo. In fact, the power generated by the dynamo can be identified as epsilon through the use of a dimensional analysis. In addition, the finding of epsilon suggests that the magnetosphere is closer to a directly driven system than to an unloading system which stores the generated energy before converting it to substorm and storm energies. The finding of epsilon and its implications is considered to have significantly advanced and improved the understanding of magnetospheric processes.

Akasofu, S.-I.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Droplet Core Nuclear Rocket (DCNR)

The most basic design feature of the droplet core nuclear reactor is to spray liquid uranium into the core in the form of droplets on the order of five to ten microns in size, to bring the reactor to critical conditions. The liquid uranium fuel ejector is driven by hydrogen, and more hydrogen is injected from the side of the reactor to about one and a half meters from the top. High temperature hydrogen is expanded through a nozzle to produce thrust. The hydrogen pressure in the system can be somewhere between 50 and 500 atmospheres; the higher pressure is more desirable. In the lower core region, hydrogen is tangentially injected to serve two purposes: (1) to provide a swirling flow to protect the wall from impingement of hot uranium droplets: (2) to generate a vortex flow that can be used for fuel separation. The reactor is designed to maximize the energy generation in the upper region of the core. The system can result in and Isp of 2000 per second, and a thrust-to-weight ratio of 1.6 for the shielded reactor. The nuclear engine system can reduce the Mars mission duration to less than 200 days. It can reduce the hydrogen consumption by a factor of 2 to 3, which reduces the hydrogen load by about 130 to 150 metric tons.

Anghaie, Samim↗
DOE OSTI2026

Technical Assistance for Guam Power Authority

Through the Energy Technology Innovation Partnership Project (ETIPP), Guam Power Authority learned approaches to evaluate existing infrastructure to maximize distributed local energy generation without damaging existing system components.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2025

Hybrid renewable energy systems

In the pursuit of ecologically sustainable and resilient energy systems, increasingly more attention is being devoted to a diversity of energy generation and storage methods. As the landscape of generation technology gains nuance and complexity, a wide-ranging set of technical questions has emerged, touching on topics that range from control and optimization of hybrid systems to finance and economic viability to multi-fidelity modeling and scientific machine learning. In the context of this special issue, hybrid renewable energy systems are any systems that consider the combined dynamics of more than one form of generation, storage, or grid subsystem. Research endeavors have delved into improving the flexibility of energy systems by utilizing existing resources, introducing novel operational strategies, deploying enhanced renewable forecasts, and exploring emerging technologies. In conclusion, the interconnection among various sectors has garnered heightened attention, not only due to the provision of additional tradable energy products but also for furnishing flexible headroom to system operators.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Hydropower capacity factors trending down in the United States

Abstract The United States hydropower fleet has faced increasing environmental and regulatory pressures over the last half century, potentially constraining total generation. Here we show that annual capacity factor has declined at four fifths of United States hydropower plants since 1980, with two thirds of decreasing trends significant at p < 0.05. Results are based on an analysis of annual energy generation totals and nameplate capacities for 610 plants (>5 megawatt), representing 87% of total conventional hydropower capacity in the United States. On aggregate, changes in capacity factor imply a fleetwide, cumulative generation decrease of 23% since 1980 before factoring in capacity upgrades—akin to retiring a Hoover Dam once every two to three years. Changes in water availability explain energy decline in only 21% of plants, highlighting the importance of non-climatic drivers of generation, including deterioration of plant equipment as well as changes to dam operations in support of nonpower objectives.

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Assessing thermal comfort and participation in residential demand flexibility programs

Residential space-conditioning-based demand flexibility (DF) has become an increasingly sought-after method for demand-side load management to enhance grid reliability and facilitate integration of renewable energy generation. However, predicting the effectiveness and flexibility of residential DF resources is challenging due to the variability in household energy use behaviors. Current estimates show that only 50 % of projected savings from DF resources are actualized due to regulatory, technological, and social barriers. From a household perspective, concerns over thermal comfort during space conditioning-based DF events significantly impact participation decisions. Currently, there is a very limited understanding of how thermal comfort during space-conditioning-based DF events in real-world settings impacts household energy use behaviors and, consequently, the success of DF programs in achieving targeted savings. This paper proposes a method to comprehensively assess the thermal comfort implications of DF strategies and presents results of their impacts on DF event participation decisions and demand savings. Here, the proposed method was applied to a heat pump DF field study in Cordova, Alaska. The study’s key findings are: 1) DF event setpoint offsets that maintain indoor operative temperatures between 18 to 22 °C (65 to 71°F) may be preferred in Cordova, Alaska; 2) Household-level thermal comfort is more sensitive to the duration of the DF event than to the degree of temperature offset from baseline conditions; 3) The delayed impact of changes in indoor operative temperature in response to setpoint offsets, both during and after a DF event, influences occupants’ thermal comfort perceptions and willingness to persistently participate in events. The findings from application of the proposed method can help inform future larger-scale occupant-centric DF programs as it can capture information not readily available through utility and device-level energy use data. Thus, it can supplement these sources and help program administrators develop occupant-centric DF strategies, enabling more accurate predictions of participation rates and savings estimates for space-conditioning-based DF programs.

Demand side management↗
NASA NTRS1982

Multiple and variable speed electrical generator systems for large wind turbines

A cost effective method to achieve increased wind turbine generator energy conversion and other operational benefits through variable speed operation is presented. Earlier studies of multiple and variable speed generators in wind turbines were extended for evaluation in the context of a specific large sized conceptual design. System design and simulation have defined the costs and performance benefits which can be expected from both two speed and variable speed configurations.

Andersen, T. S.↗
NASA NTRS2018

Pyroelectric Sandwich Thermal Energy Harvesters

Systems, methods, and devices of the various embodiments provide pyroelectric sandwich thermal energy harvesters. In the various embodiment pyroelectric sandwich thermal energy harvesters, generated electrical energy may be stored in a super-capacitor/battery as soon as it is generated. The various embodiment pyroelectric sandwich thermal energy harvesters may harvest electrical energy from any environment where temperature variations occur. The various embodiment pyroelectric sandwich thermal energy harvesters may be power sources for space equipment and vehicles in space and/or on earth, as well as the for wireless sensor networks, such as health monitoring systems of oil pipes, aircraft, bridges, and buildings.

Xu, Tian-Bing↗
DOE OSTI2026

Development of a 95-Year Solar Dataset for Resource Adequacy Studies

Long-term high-resolution solar data provides enhanced understanding of variability of solar generation and enhances our ability to develop strategies for a resilient and reliable electric grid under high deployment of solar energy. Therefore, it is important to develop long-term synthetic datasets that can provide multiple occurrences of various severe weather scenarios that are expected to test the limits of resource adequacy under scenarios contain various energy generation sources. Examples of such scenarios could be long periods of high temperatures when demand for electricity is high or periods where high winds could lead to a shut-down of transmission lines for long periods of time to ensure fire safety. NREL has developed the first version of such a dataset covering a 95-year period covering 2006-2100 at a 4km hourly resolution. This dataset contains all variables necessary to calculate solar generation. During development of this dataset, we focused on creating unbiased, high-resolution solar irradiance through statistical downscaling methods, using Regional Climate Model (RCM) simulations from the North American Coordinated Regional Climate Downscaling Experiment (NA-CORDEX) as input. The National Solar Radiation Database (NSRDB) containing over 25 years of observations was used to calibrate the statistical downscaling models. This presentation will outline the primary steps in developing this dataset, including (1) regridding RCM data to a common grid at 20-km resolution, (2) correcting RCM biases with NSRDB, (3) applying temporal and spatial downscaling methods to generate high-resolution (4-km, hourly) solar and ancillary data. Additionally, we will present an evaluation of the downscaled data against the NSRDB across various zones in the CONUS. Lastly, we will present a user guide for accessing the datasets.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Vibrational sum frequency generation spectroscopy reveals the inertness of chromium oxide (001) surfaces

Nanoengineered metal oxides such as Cr(III)-oxide (chromia) films have diverse potential applications in corrosion inhibition, remediation, energy generation, catalysis, data storage, and biological and environmental systems. Concerns about material degradation or oxidation to toxic chromate necessitate an understanding of chromia/aqueous interfaces, beginning with their hydroxylation and hydration behavior. Vibrational sum-frequency generation spectroscopy (vSFG) provides specific molecular-level information about water at the oxide/aqueous junction with high surface selectivity. To overcome the strong absorber problem typical of certain metal oxides in the UV–visible range during nonlinear optical studies, we employed molecular beam epitaxy to deposit transparent, epitaxial nanofilms of Cr 2 O 3 with (001) crystalline orientation on sapphire (Al 2 O 3 (001)) substrates, as confirmed by atomic force microscopy and X-ray diffraction. vSFG spectra of the air and water interfaces of the Cr 2 O 3 (001) films reveal hydroxyl features corresponding to both dissociated and molecular water on the surface. In contrast to the dangling hydroxyls found on the bare Al 2 O 3 (001) substrate, the hydroxyl groups on the deposited Cr 2 O 3 (001) nanofilm do not readily undergo isotopic H/D exchange when exposed to varying forms of D 2 O under ambient conditions. When considering the chemistries of the corresponding trivalent cations in aqueous solution, the finding is at variance with their similar acidities and proton exchange dynamics but consistent with markedly slower inner-sphere water ligand exchange of hexaquo Cr 3+ . This finding challenges the idea that proton and water exchange at the water/Cr₂O₃(001) interface are solely correlated, driven by the strength of metal-bridging oxygen bonds and surface hydroxyl distribution, without direct causation.

Boamah-Agyemang, Mavis D. [Pacific Northwest Natio↗
DOE OSTI2025

A Study of Emerging Ancillary Service Markets in Non-Restricted Regions of the Western Power Grid (CRADA Final Report)

Rising penetrations of renewable energy generation in the Western United States pose new requirements for ancillary services, which are the services required, in addition to energy service, in order to maintain the system reliability. This project combines the research capabilities of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the University of Colorado at Boulder (CU-Boulder) to provide more accurate information to market participants and regulators about the present and future size and composition of ancillary service markets in the non-restructured regions of the West. This information would provide market participants and state and federal regulators with a more transparent view of future ancillary service markets, and allow for more efficient system planning in both the private and public sectors of the electricity market.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2025

A Portable Wave Tank and Wave Energy Converter for Engineering Dissemination and Outreach

Wave energy converters are a nascent energy generation technology that harnesses the power in ocean waves. To assist in communicating both fundamental and complex concepts of wave energy, a small-scale portable wave tank and wave energy converter have been developed. The system has been designed using commercial off-the-shelf components, and all design hardware and software are openly available for replication. This project builds on prior research conducted at Sandia National Laboratories, particularly in the areas of WEC device design and control systems. By showcasing the principles of causal feedback control and innovative device design, SIWEED not only serves as a practical demonstration tool but also enhances the educational experience for users. This paper presents the detailed system design of this tool. Furthermore, via testing and analysis, we demonstrate the basic functionality of the system.

educational↗
NASA NTRS1975

Wind energy utilization: A bibliography with abstracts - Cumulative volume 1944/1974

Bibliography, up to 1974 inclusive, of articles and books on utilization of wind power in energy generation. Worldwide literature is surveyed, and short abstracts are provided in many cases. The citations are grouped by subject: (1) general; (2) utilization; (3) wind power plants; (4) wind power generators (rural, synchronous, remote station); (5) wind machines (motors, pumps, turbines, windmills, home-built); (6) wind data and properties; (7) energy storage; and (8) related topics (control and regulation devices, wind measuring devices, blade design and rotors, wind tunnel simulation, aerodynamics). Gross-referencing is aided by indexes of authors, corporate sources, titles, and keywords.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1976

On the origin of the solar system and of Jupiter and its satellites

The evolution of the middle part of the primitive solar nebula is traced through seven stages: (1) a gravitational instability which clumps condensed material into bodies of appreciable size; (2) the formation of a larger body as a result of mutual collisions; (3) gravitational condensation of the gas in the nebula; (4) subsequent hydrodynamic collapse of the gas onto a heavy-element planetary core; (5) the attainment of a highly distended hydrostatic configuration and its subsequent slow gravitational contraction; (6) the formation of a gaseous disk around proto-Jupiter; and (7) the formation of the Galilean satellites (and Amalthea) within this disk. Different theories on the origin of the primitive solar nebula are reviewed, models of Jupiter are evaluated, and the origin and evolution of the planet are traced through the indicated stages. It is proposed that Jupiter's current excess luminosity is due mostly to a loss of internal energy generated during the initially more rapid contraction period and, to a lesser degree, to the planet's current release of gravitational energy. The question of when the icy constituent was added to the outer two Galilean satellites is considered.

Cameron, A. G. W.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Magnetic energy storage and conversion in the solar atmosphere

According to the approach employed in this investigation, particularly important simple configurations of magnetic field and plasma are identified, and it is attempted to achieve an understanding of the large-scale dynamic processes and transformations which these systems can undergo. Fundamental concepts are discussed, taking into account aspects of magnetic energy generation, ideal MHD theory, non-MHD properties, the concept of 'anomalous' resistivity, and global electrodynamic coupling. Questions of magnetically controlled energy conversion are examined, giving attention to magnetic modifications of plasma transport, the transition region structure and flows, channeling and acceleration of plasma, channeling and dissipation of MHD waves, and anomalous dissipation of field-aligned currents. A description of the characteristics of magnetohydrodynamic energy conversion is also provided, and outstanding questions are discussed.

Spicer, D. S.↗