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DOE OSTI2024

Revenue Analysis of Stationary and Transportable Battery Storage for Power Systems: A Market Participant Perspective

The power system faces a growing need for increased transmission capacity and reliability with the rising integration of renewable energy resources. To tackle this challenge, Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESSs) prove effective in enhancing grid capacity and relieving transmission congestion. This paper focuses on the PJM market, conducting a thorough revenue analysis to identify and characterize highly profitable nodes for BESS market participants. A comparison between stationary and transportable BESSs reveals that the transportable BESSs can generate higher potential revenue in energy and regulation markets. Based on these findings, we propose an optimal placement algorithm to support market participants in selecting strategic sites for BESS installation, validated with real PJM market data. This paper provides valuable insights for navigating market-based power system participants and promoting the effective integration of BESSs.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

DOE OSTI2025

Reviews and syntheses: Variable inundation across Earth's terrestrial ecosystems

Abstract. The structure, function, and dynamics of Earth's terrestrial ecosystems are profoundly influenced by how often (frequency) and how long (duration) they are inundated with water. A diverse array of natural and human-engineered systems experience temporally variable inundation whereby they fluctuate between inundated and non-inundated states. Variable inundation spans extreme events to predictable sub-daily cycles. Variably inundated ecosystems (VIEs) include hillslopes, non-perennial streams, wetlands, floodplains, temporary ponds, tidal systems, storm-impacted coastal zones, and human-engineered systems. VIEs are diverse in terms of inundation regimes, water chemistry and flow velocity, soil and sediment properties, vegetation, and many other properties. The spatial and temporal scales of variable inundation are vast, ranging from sub-meter to whole landscapes and from sub-hourly to multi-decadal. The broad range of system types and scales makes it challenging to predict the hydrology, biogeochemistry, ecology, and physical evolution of VIEs. Despite all experiencing the loss and gain of an overlying water column, VIEs are rarely considered together in conceptual, theoretical, modeling, or measurement frameworks and approaches. Studying VIEs together has the potential to generate mechanistic understanding that is transferable across a much broader range of environmental conditions, relative to knowledge generated by studying any one VIE type. We postulate that enhanced transferability will be important for predicting changes in VIE function in response to global change. Here we aim to catalyze cross-VIE science that studies drivers and impacts of variable inundation across Earth's VIEs. To this end, we complement expert mini-reviews of eight major VIE systems with overviews of VIE-relevant methods and challenges associated with scale. We conclude with perspectives on how cross-VIE science can derive transferable understanding via unifying conceptual models in which the impacts of variable inundation are studied across multi-dimensional environmental space.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2023

A Leptonic Model for Neutrino Emission From Active Galactic Nuclei

It is often stated that the observation of high-energy neutrinos from an astrophysical source would constitute a smoking gun for the acceleration of hadronic cosmic rays. Here, we point out that there exists a purely leptonic mechanism to produce TeV-scale neutrinos in astrophysical environments. In particular, very high-energy synchrotron photons can scatter with X-rays, exceeding the threshold for muon-antimuon pair production. When these muons decay, they produce neutrinos without any cosmic-ray protons or nuclei being involved. In order for this mechanism to be efficient, the source in question must produce very high-energy photons which interact in an environment that is dominated by keV-scale radiation. As an example, we consider the active galaxy NGC 1068, which IceCube has recently detected as a source of TeV-scale neutrinos. We find that the neutrino emission observed from this source could potentially be generated through muon pair production for reasonable choices of physical parameters.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

DOE OSTI2021

Characterizing Signatures of Geothermal Exploration Data with Machine Learning Techniques: An Application to the Nevada Play Fairway Analysis

We are introducing machine learning methods to the play fairway analysis to generate geothermal potential maps to support the evaluation of geothermal resource potential and the exploration for undiscovered blind geothermal systems in the Nevada Great Basin region. Our project aims to identify new ways to combine the play fairway data and empirically organize relationships between feature weights and labels in an improved workflow. As a means of doing this, we introduce machine learning methods to evaluate the influence of certain geological and geophysical features/feature sets in predicting geothermal favorability. This report highlights promising approaches based on supervised and unsupervised learning methods. First, we demonstrate a filter method applied to supervised classification modeling. The supervised filter method is based on permutation analysis to evaluate every possible feature combination/drop out scenario and rank feature influence based on the performance variance of supervised classification models. Additionally, we present an unsupervised factor analysis based on principal component analysis coupled with a semi-supervised kmeans clustering algorithm. This analysis allows us to identify the optimal number of groups/clusters for training sites and structural settings to identify feature patterns including correlation, variance, and latent and dominant feature relationships. The results from these methods offer a promising avenue for identifying favorable sources of predictive information to identify the locations of blind geothermal systems and furthering our understanding of complex geothermal feature and label relationships in the Great Basin region and beyond.

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2021

Gravitomagnetic vorticity generation in black hole accretion discs: a potential spatial constraint on plasma flow stability

We calculate the vorticity generation rate in the accretion disc near a slowly rotating black hole in the low-velocity, weak-field limit of general relativity. Specifically, we find that the frame-dragging effect due to the black hole’s rotation – manifested through the gravitomagnetic field – can generate vorticity in a moving plasma in the accretion disc. The mechanism remains operational as long as the accretion disc has non-negligible vertical height and is independent of the exact thermodynamical profile of the disc. The enstrophy density generation rate, as a measure of turbulence and dissipation, is presented, which indicates that the frame-dragging effect can disrupt the stability of the disc away from the z = 0 plane.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2023

Open Source High Fidelity Modeling of a Type-5 Wind Turbine Drivetrain

The increasing integration of renewable energy resources in evolving bulk power system (BPS) is impacting the system inertia. Type-5 wind turbine generation has the potential to behave like a traditional synchronous generator and can help mitigate the impact on system inertia. A hydraulic torque converter (TC) and gearbox with torque limiting feature are integral parts of a Type-5 wind turbine unit. A high fidelity model of Type-5 wind turbine drivetrain is not openly and widely available for grid integration and transient stability studies. This hinders appropriate assessment of Type-5 wind power plant’s contribution to bulk grid resilience. This work develops and validates a TC model based on those generally used in automobile’s transmission system. Moreover, the concept of torsional coupling is leveraged to integrate the TC and gearbox system dynamics. The entire integrated model will be open sourced and publicly available for grid integration studies.

17 WIND ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2023

Open Source High Fidelity Modeling Of A Type-5 Wind Turbine Drivetrain

The purpose of this code is to provide a high-fidelity model of Type-5 wind turbine drivetrain for grid integration and transient stability studies. The increasing integration of renewable energy resources in evolving bulk power system (BPS) is impacting the system’s inertia. Type-5 wind turbine generation has the potential to behave like a traditional synchronous generator and can help mitigate the aforementioned impact. A hydraulic torque converter (TC) and gearbox with torque limiting feature are integral parts of a Type-5 wind turbine unit. A generic and high-fidelity model of a Type-5 wind turbine drivetrain is not openly and widely available for grid integration and transient stability studies. This hinders appropriate assessment of Type-5 wind power plant's contribution to the BPS resilience. This work develops and validates a TC model based on those generally used in automobile's transmission system.

Hussain, Tanveer↗

DOE OSTI2025

Technical Potential for Hydropower Capacity at Non-powered Dams

In the last decade, retrofits of existing nonpowered dams (NPDs) have made up the largest share of capacity increases for US hydropower. Accurate estimates of potential capacity and generation at NPDs help identify sites that may be worth investing in detailed feasibility analyses and design exploration. This dataset contains estimates of technical potential capacity and generation at 2,616 NPDs in the conterminous US. This is based on a subset of dams that were found by earlier resource assessments to have at least 100kW of theoretical potential. Historical daily streamflow (modeled or from USGS gauge records) and hydraulic head (based on historical observations or primary purpose and dam height) are the main inputs to the HydroGenerate model, which determines design flow, turbine efficiencies, and assumed friction losses and then calculates nominal capacity, daily generation, and capacity factor. These estimates represent the conditions over the historical period of 1980-2015, and are summarized on a monthly basis (i.e., averaged for each month of the year) and overall (i.e., nominal capacity, average annual generation (MWh), and average annual capacity factor). A total of nearly 4 GW capacity is estimated across all 2,616 NPDs included in the dataset.

Hansen, Carly [Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL↗

DOE OSTI2020

Methods and systems for integrating ion manipulation devices

A switch for coupling a first ion manipulation device to a second ion manipulation device comprises a first surface and a second surface, at least one first electrode coupled to each of the first and second surface and configured to receive a first voltage and generate a first potential, and at least one second electrode coupled to each of the first and second surface and configured to receive a second voltage and generate a second potential, wherein the first potential inhibits the motion of ions along a first direction and the second potential inhibits the motion of ions along a second direction different from the first direction.

42 ENGINEERING↗

DOE OSTI2025

High-quality axions from higher-form symmetries in extra dimensions

The extradimensional axion solves the strong C P problem while largely circumventing the quality problem that plagues its four-dimensional counterparts. Such high quality can be clearly understood in terms of the generalized global symmetries of the higher-dimensional theory. We emphasize that an electric one-form symmetry is entirely responsible for protecting the potential of axions arising from 5D gauge theories and use this to systematically characterize the extradimensional axion quality problem. We identify three ways of breaking this one-form symmetry to generate an axion potential: adding electrically charged matter, gauging a magnetic higher-form symmetry, and turning on an Adler-Bell-Jackiw anomaly. In the latter case, we identify new ways of generating an axion potential via extradimensional magnetic monopoles. We also discuss how the axion is modified if the protective electric one-form symmetry is itself gauged. Finally, we relate these effects to gravitational expectations for the quality problem via generalized weak gravity conjectures. The clarity that generalized symmetries bring to the extradimensional axion quality problem highlights their relevance to particle phenomenology. Published by the American Physical Society 2025

Craig, Nathaniel↗

DOE OSTI2022

Unlocking the Potential of Marine Energy Using Hydrogen Generation Technologies

Marine energy, including ocean waves, ocean currents, ocean thermal gradients, tides, and river currents, is a vast and untapped resource that can be harnessed to help enable the transition to renewable energy. Marine energy is an attractive renewable resource because of its energy density, predictability, and persistence. Further, marine energy has the potential to provide energy for utility-scale applications, remote and distributed applications, and rapidly expanding maritime industries, such as aquaculture and shipping. Marine energy technologies are, however, at a nascent stage of development, and a significant amount of the resource is located far from population centers and transmission infrastructure. Accordingly, to unlock the full potential of marine energy, efficient methods of storing and transporting captured marine energy are needed so that the energy can be used when and where it is needed. A promising solution to these energy storage and transportation challenges is to combine marine energy and hydrogen generation technologies. Herein, we provide a high-level analysis of the unique value proposition and technical challenges of combining marine energy and hydrogen technologies. First, we review marine energy technologies, electrolysis technologies, and hydrogen storage methods. Next, we consider specific applications and opportunities for combining the two technologies. Finally, we identify critical R&D challenges that must be overcome to successfully combine marine energy and hydrogen generation technologies. As part of our fact-finding effort in this area, we held a workshop attended by marine energy and hydrogen technology experts from industry, academia, national labs, and government entities to explore the technical challenges and opportunities for combined marine energy and hydrogen generation systems. Our intent is that this document and the report from the workshop can be used in conjunction to help identify and direct research and development that is needed to realize the potential of marine energy-hydrogen systems.

08 HYDROGEN↗

DOE OSTI2021

Multi-barrier wellbore integrity inspection system with eccentricity correction

A downhole inspection system includes a neutron imaging device operable to generate data for detecting potential wellbore anomalies and an electromagnetic imaging device operable to generate data for detecting potential wellbore eccentricity. The neutron imaging device includes a neutron generator operable to emit neutrons, and a neutron detector fixed relative to the neutron generation unit and operable to detect backscattered neutrons from a surrounding environment. The electromagnetic imaging device includes at least one transmitter for generating electromagnetic pulse, and at least one receiver for detecting returning electromagnetic pulse. Correlation of the neutron imaging data with the electromagnetic imaging data provides additional data regarding the potential wellbore anomalies.

Kasten, Ansas Matthias↗

DOE OSTI2025

Floating Photovoltaic Technical Potential: A Novel Geospatial Approach on Federally Controlled Reservoirs in the United States

Floating photovoltaic generation is a rapidly expanding sector of the solar energy industry, and understanding the quantity that can feasibly be installed is a crucial step to understand its role in future energy systems. This paper presents a novel spatially explicit methology of FPV potential for federally owned and managed reservoirs in the United States that uses site-specific attributes of reservoirs to estimate available area and potential generation capacity. The analysis finds that the proportion reservoir area that is found to be available for FPV development is similar to assumed values used in previous research on average, however there is a wide variability in this proportion on a site by site basis. Potential FPV generation capacity on these reservoirs is estimated to be in the range of 861 to 1,042 GWdc depending on input assumptions, likely representing a significant portion of future US solar generation needs. This work represents an advancement in methods used to estimate FPV potential that presents many natural extensions for further research.

floating solar↗

DOE OSTI2023

A comparison of the power potential for surface- and seabed-deployed tidal turbines in the San Juan Archipelago, Salish Sea, WA

The San Juan archipelago lies along the axis of tidal movement between Straits of Juan de Fuca and Strait of Georgia in the Salish Sea. The amplitude of the tidal exchange produces significant tidal currents between the islands, as well as in Rosario and Haro Straits. These are of interest as a future source of electrical power generation, given the islands’ dependence on electricity supply by a subsea cable from the mainland. Here, we evaluate the tidal current energy potential in this region through a re-analysis of measurements collected by the National Ocean Service (NOS) and a high-resolution numerical model. Given the considerable variations in water depth and vertical velocity profiles across candidate tidal energy sites, we consider the trade-offs between tidal turbines deployed from a floating platform and those anchored to the seabed. Measurement re-analysis indicates several locations that could support tidal current power generation by MW-scale turbines with an acceptable balance between turbine size, rated power, and capacity factor. Even for relatively large (30 m) turbine diameters, surface-deployed turbines would be expected to produce up to 30 % more electricity than the same turbine deployed near the seabed due to vertical shear, with this difference increasing for smaller diameter turbines. A benchmark comparison at the measurement locations with the highest power generation potential shows relatively good model fidelity, though, even with relatively high resolution, time-average power density disagreements of ± 50 % persist throughout the water column. Nonetheless, the simulation identifies several locations with power generation potential more than twice as high as locations in the measurement re-analysis. These sites were either not surveyed by NOS or excluded due to data quality issues. Altogether, these results demonstrate the complimentary of models and measurements for tidal energy site assessment and suggest that tidal currents could be an important source of electricity generation in the San Juan archipelago.

16 TIDAL AND WAVE POWER↗

DOE OSTI2024

Strategies to Obtain Reliable Energy Landscapes from Embedded Multireference Correlated Wavefunction Methods for Surface Reactions

Embedded correlated wavefunction (ECW) theory is a powerful tool for studying ground- and excited-state reaction mechanisms and associated energetics in heterogeneous catalysis. Several factors are important to obtaining reliable ECW energies, critically the construction of consistent active spaces (ASs) along reaction pathways when using a multireference correlated wavefunction (CW) method that relies on a subset of orbital spaces in the configuration interaction expansion to account for static electron correlation, e.g., complete AS self-consistent field theory, in addition to the adequate partitioning of the system into a cluster and environment, as well as the choice of a suitable basis set and number of states included in excited-state simulations. Here, in this work, we conducted a series of systematic studies to develop best-practice guidelines for ground- and excited-state ECW theory simulations, utilizing the decomposition of NH 3 on Pd(111) as an example. We determine that ECW theory results are relatively insensitive to cluster size, the aug-cc-pVDZ basis set provides an adequate compromise between computational complexity and accuracy, and that a fixed-clean-surface approximation holds well for the derivation of the embedding potential. Additionally, we demonstrate that a merging approach, which involves generating ASs from the molecular fragments at each configuration, is preferable to a creeping approach, which utilizes ASs from adjacent structures as an initial guess, for the generation of consistent potential energy curves involving open-d-shell metal surfaces, and, finally, we show that it is essential to include bands of excited states in their entirety when simulating excited-state reaction pathways.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

DOE OSTI2022

An Assessment of Hydropower Potential at National Conduits

In support of the mission of the US Department of Energy Water Power Technologies Office to promote domestic next-generation hydropower growth, this study provides a first-of-its-kind assessment of the hydropower development potential on existing water conduits nationwide. This study evaluates the potential for conduit hydropower development in the municipal, agricultural, and industrial sectors across the United States. The research team developed systematic methods to evaluate conduit hydropower capacity potential (MW) and energy generation potential (GWh/year) at four categories of conduits across the United States. They include the following: (1) Water supply pipelines for municipal and industrial uses, (2) Wastewater discharge conduits from municipal and industrial systems, (3) Agricultural water conduits including irrigation canals and ditches in the 17 western states that rely heavily on irrigation, and (4) Thermoelectric power plant cooling water discharge conduits. For each type of conduit, the team developed and implemented a method to estimate hydraulic head and annual water flows—and the hydropower potential—based on analyses of satellite imagery, topography, and existing data sets on water systems and power plants. These methods support a consistent, replicable estimate of conduit hydropower potential across 3 sectors and all 50 states, aggregated at the county and state levels. The assessment was conducted at the reconnaissance level, considering resources that could be available for development at the state and national levels using present-day assumptions about conduit hydropower technology.

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2022

Spatiotemporally resolved measurements of electric field around a piezoelectric transformer using electric-field induced second harmonic (E-FISH) generation

When a piezoelectric transformer (PT) is actuated at its second harmonic frequency by a low input voltage, the generated electric field at the distal end can be sufficient to breakdown the surrounding gas, making them attractive power sources for non-equilibrium plasma generation. Understanding the potential and electric fields produced in the surrounding medium by the PT is important for effectively designing and using PT plasma devices. In this work, the spatiotemporally resolved characteristics of the electric field generated by a PT operating in open air have been investigated using the femtosecond electric field-induced second harmonic generation (E-FISH) method. Here, electric field components were determined by simultaneously conducting E-FISH measurements with the incident laser polarized in two orthogonal directions relative to the PT crystal. Results of this work demonstrate the spatial distribution of electric field around the PT’s output distal end and how it evolves as a function of time. Notably, the strongest electric field appears on the face of the PT’s distal surface, near the top and bottom edges and decreases by approximately 70% over 3 mm. The time delay between the PT’s input voltage and measured electric field indicates that there is an about 0.45 phase difference between the PT’s input voltage and output signal.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

DOE OSTI2023

Cataloging and Quantifying Value Streams from Non-Powered Dam Conversion

Hydropower is a key resource in the United States’ renewable energy transition; however, only 3% of existing dams in the United States currently generate electricity. While many non-powered dams (NPDs) have the potential for energy generation, hydropower addition to these dams has been slow. This is likely due, in part, to perceptions that hydropower development has prohibitively long payback periods, especially in comparison to other renewable energy resources that have shorter development processes. On the other hand, powering some NPDs may unlock new value streams in addition to the value obtained from selling generated energy. There is a need to understand and quantify a wider range of additional value streams to help increase the feasibility of such hydropower projects. In this work, we catalog indirect value streams and difficult-to-quantify direct value streams from NPD retrofitting, specifying which stakeholders are affected, and what kind of impacts (positive or negative) might occur. We identify appropriate quantification methodologies for these indirect value streams and describe the best practices around their implementation for NPD site-level analysis. We also demonstrate the quantification of a few indirect value streams for a selected NPD site, allowing for easier integration of these value streams into future studies by providing basis and background for quantifying these elements.

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗