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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 235 records · Page 13
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2023

Machine learning reduces soft costs for residential solar photovoltaics

Further deployment of rooftop solar photovoltaics (PV) hinges on the reduction of soft (non-hardware) costs—now larger and more resistant to reductions than hardware costs. The largest portion of these soft costs is the expenses solar companies incur to acquire new customers. In this study, we demonstrate the value of a shift from significance-based methodologies to prediction-oriented models to better identify PV adopters and reduce soft costs. We employ machine learning to predict PV adopters and non-adopters, and compare its prediction performance with logistic regression, the dominant significance-based method in technology adoption studies. Our results show that machine learning substantially enhances adoption prediction performance: The true positive rate of predicting adopters increased from 66 to 87%, and the true negative rate of predicting non-adopters increased from 75 to 88%. We attribute the enhanced performance to complex variable interactions and nonlinear effects incorporated by machine learning. With more accurate predictions, machine learning is able to reduce customer acquisition costs by 15% ($0.07/Watt) and identify new market opportunities for solar companies to expand and diversify their customer bases. Our research methods and findings provide broader implications for the adoption of similar clean energy technologies and related policy challenges such as market growth and energy inequality.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2023

Day-ahead continuous double auction-based peer-to-peer energy trading platform incorporating trading losses and network utilisation fee

Integration of distributed energy resources, such as photovoltaic solar (PV), introduces new opportunities to establish local energy market frameworks to improve renewable energy utilisation in residential sectors. Such peer-to-peer (P2P) energy trading refers to a local market structure where customers (and prosumers) interact to share excess PV generation to enhance the individual and community social welfare. In this work, a day-ahead continuous double auction (CDA)-based P2P market structure considering network losses and network utilisation fees was designed. Day-ahead PV energy is modelled using fractional integral polynomials and the output is forecasted using an autoregressive integrated moving average model for each market interval. Based on the customer load and excess PV energy, the CDA market is cleared using a bid/ask matching mechanism. The performance of the P2P market was evaluated by computing different welfare metrics while analysing the effect of network constraints. The results show that the designed CDA-based P2P market structure increases the social welfare of all participants by an average of 17.75% compared to the baseline for the presented cases. Moreover, the impact of the forecasting error between the day-ahead and real-time market was also quantified.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2021

Hardware-in-the-Loop Evaluation of an Advanced Distributed Energy Resource Management Algorithm

This paper presents the laboratory performance evaluation of voltage regulation under a new distributed energy resource management system (DERMS) algorithm via an advanced hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) platform. The HIL platform provides realistic testing in a laboratory environment, including the accurate modeling of a full-scale real-world distribution system from a utility partner, the DERMS software controller, and power hardware photovoltaic (PV) inverters. The new DERMS algorithm is developed based on online multi-objective optimization (OMOO) algorithms that perform fast dispatch of distributed solar PV simulated in a real-time digital simulator and real physical hardware devices. Experimental tests confirm the correct functioning of the HIL platform for evaluating controller algorithms and satisfactory voltage regulation performance of the developed OMOO algorithms.

41 EE - Solar Energy Technologies Office (EE-4S)↗
DOE OSTI2024

Quantifying spectral albedo effects on bifacial photovoltaic module measurements and system model predictions

We provide a comprehensive analysis of the effect of spectral albedo on photovoltaic (PV) module measurements and system model predictions. We demonstrate how to account for albedo in indoor bifacial device measurements by adjusting the applied irradiance using the scaled rear irradiance method, exemplified on fabricated silicon heterojunction (SHJ) modules. System model performance is studied using a detailed 3D finite-element model, DUET, for fixed-tilt and horizontal single-axis tracked (SAT) arrays between 15 and 75°N. Spectral effects cause variations in measured SHJ module short-circuit current up to 2% and efficiency variation up to 0.3% abs. We further demonstrate that rear-side spectral mismatch factors (SMMs) resulting from including or omitting spectral albedo in PV system modeling vary between ±13%, while total (front+rear) SMMs vary up to 3%, depending on the deployment configuration and latitude. SAT array SMMs are weakly correlated with latitude, while fixed-tilt array SMMs increase with latitude, driven by an increasing proportion of ground-reflected light on the front-side of modules. Ground-reflections can constitute between 2% and 32% of total incident module irradiance, with notably high (>10%) contributions for fixed-tilt arrays at high latitude. Effects of spectral albedo are most significant for: (1) fixed-tilt deployments at high latitudes, (2) wide bandgap technologies such as perovskite and cadmium telluride cells, (3) albedos which vary steeply over the technology's absorption range, and (4) high albedo ground covers. Overall, we demonstrate that omitting spectral albedo effects can result in PV measurement and system-level modeling uncertainties on the order of several percent in these cases.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Photovoltaic inverter-based quantification of snow conditions and power loss

Snow is a significant challenge for photovoltaic (PV) systems at northern latitudes, where the pace of deployment is rapid but snow-related power losses can exceed 30% of annual production. Accurate snow-related power loss estimation methods for utility-scale sites can support snow mitigation strategies, inform resource planning and validate predictive snow-loss models. This study builds on our previous work on inverter-based detection of snow, and its implications for utility-scale power production, by validating the accuracy of our snow-loss method across different PV sites and system designs and highlighting its value in bringing greater visibility to PV plant operations in winter. Our estimation method is both novel and scalable, requiring only standard monitoring data to correlate snow-related losses with meteorological data. As demonstrated here, our validation method involved three main steps: 1) estimation of performance losses for multiple systems by comparing measured inverter data to modeled data; 2) application of a detection framework to identify which performance losses are snow-related; and 3) comparison of snow-related losses among three utility-scale sites differing in tilt angle. Results show that utility-scale systems at higher tilt angles consistently shed snow more quickly/completely than their lower-tilt counterparts. Further, monthly and seasonal snow losses are inversely and non-linearly correlated with tilt angle when normalized for cumulative snowfall. These results are consistent with the findings of previous studies and support the broad applicability of this method to fixed-tilt utility-scale PV systems around the world that routinely experience snow-related performance losses.

Cooper, Emma C. (ORCID:0000000190554098)↗
DOE OSTI2026

Southern Company Services: Project 2: Tall Tower Wind Technical Potential for the Southeast (Modifications 4, 5), Project 4: Offshore Wind Potential for Southern Company Services (Modifications 7, 8)

Project 2: The National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR) and Southern Company Services (SCS) seek to establish an agreement to assess the technical potential for wind energy in the Southeastern U.S. SCS has requested that NLR conduct a detailed assessment of system performance, available capacity, transmission distance, and levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) at turbine hub heights of 100m to 160m within the SCS service territory. NLR will also provide an assessment of utility photovoltaic (PV) technical potential within the SCS service territory. NLR has unique modeling capabilities to assist SCS with high spatial and temporal resolution assessment of wind and PV technical potential, considering geospatial constraints. Project 4: NLR and SCS seek to develop a spatially explicit techno-economic assessment for offshore wind energy in the Southeastern U.S. The analysis aims to characterize the regional sensitivities of offshore wind plant costs and performance, underwater cabling, potential siting constraints, and landfall spur transmission costs.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2020

Performance Evaluation of Hierarchical Controls for Advanced Distribution Management System-Centered Grid Operations: Preprint

This paper presents a hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) platform to evaluate the performance of voltage regulation using an advanced distribution management system (ADMS) for grid operations to control legacy and grid-edge voltage control devices and coordinate with distributed energy management systems (DERMS) to manage high penetrations of photovoltaics (PV) on a utility distribution system. The HIL platform provides realistic laboratory testing, including accurate modeling (legacy devices, grid-edge devices, and PV) of the real-world distribution system from a utility partner, a real controller (ADMS), software controller DERMS, hardware grid-edge devices, and standard communications protocols. The test results show proper functionalities of the integrated platform and the performance of voltage regulation of the coordinated control systems. Based on laboratory testing, the utility can set up the same grid-automation system to manage DERs, legacy devices, and grid-edge devices to achieve their system-level control and operation objectives (e.g., voltage regulation), thus de-risking potential issues (e.g., instability) for field deployment.

ADMS↗
DOE OSTI2021

U.S. Solar Photovoltaic System and Energy Storage Cost Benchmark (Q1 2020)

This report benchmarks U.S. solar photovoltaic (PV) system installed costs as of the first quarter of 2020 (Q1 2020). We use a bottom-up method, accounting for all system and project-development costs incurred during the installation to model the costs for residential (with and without storage), commercial (with and without storage), and utility-scale systems (with and without storage). We also incorporate other system characteristics and performance factors, as well as ongoing costs, to benchmark LCOE for PV-standalone systems, and LCOSS for solar+storage.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Simulation and Postmortem Analysis of Angeles Forest Disturbance Event

Multiple unexpected solar photovoltaic (PV) plant responses in the California region following contingencies in recent years warrant postmortem analysis leveraging digital fault recorder (DFR) data for a better understanding of such events and preventing similar events in the future. Most utilities in US, in general, possess transient stability (TS) phasor-domain models of the power grid. Since traditional phasor-based transient stability planning models cannot perform such analysis, this paper presents an approach to extract a region of such models and convert it to Electromagnetic transient (EMT) models. The approach is based on the determination of the minimum impedance-weighted spanning tree between the fault location and affected PV plants in a Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC) planning model followed by conversion of this region into an EMT model. The accuracy of the proposed approach is validated against DFR records obtained from the 2018 Angeles Forest disturbance event.

Samanta, Sayan↗
DOE OSTI2020

bifiPV2020 Bifacial Workshop: A Technology Overview

The virtual bifiPV Workshop was held in July 2020 to provide the solar industry with a forum for sharing and discussing research into bifacial photovoltaic (PV) technology. This report outlines major insights from the workshop to give the reader an overview of the latest developments in bifacial PV technology worldwide, from the lab to the field. Citations are drawn from this workshop unless otherwise noted. Presentations for the bifiPV2020 Workshop focused on the following areas: bifacial power plant modeling and simulation, albedo improvements, the development of encapsulants, the durability and reliability of current bifacial technologies, performance comparisons between glass-glass and glass-transparent backsheet configurations, the future of passivated emitter and rear contact (PERC) solar cells, and the growing adoption of n-type solar cells. With 650 GW total PV installed worldwide and 1 TW to come very soon, PERC is now the standard PV cell type produced en masse. However, it is already reaching 23% efficiency, the upper limit for this type of technology. PV modules breaking the 0.5-kW barrier are starting to appear, and the costs of standard PERC technology are already below 0.2 USD/Wp. In 2019, five GW of bifacial PV were installed worldwide. In 2020, the majority of bifacial installations are expected to be located in the United States, China, and Middle East and North Africa (MENA) states. N-type bifacial technologies are becoming increasingly viable and have huge potential to dominate the market in the coming years. With bifacial technology mounted on horizontal single-axis trackers (HSAT), bids below 10 USD/MWh will soon be observed in the MENA region, and later in Chile and the United States. Factory audits and reliability testing can reduce field failures by helping buyers to select producers that follow rigorous quality assurance and quality control processes.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2020

Performance Evaluation of Data-Enhanced Hierarchical Control for Grid Operations

This paper presents a hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulation to evaluate the performance of voltage regulation of Data-Enhanced Hierarchical Control (DEHC). This DEHC uses an advanced distribution management system (ADMS) for grid operations to control legacy and grid-edge devices and coordinate with distributed energy management systems (DERMS) to manage high penetrations of photovoltaics (PV) on a utility distribution system. The HIL platform provides realistic laboratory testing, including accurate modeling (legacy devices, grid-edge devices, and PV) of the real-world distribution system from a utility partner, a real controller (ADMS), software controller DERMS, hardware grid-edge devices, and standard communications protocols. The test results demonstrate functionalities of the integrated platform and the performance of voltage regulation of the coordinated control systems. Based on laboratory testing, the utility can set up the same grid-automation system to manage DERs, legacy devices, and grid-edge devices to achieve their system-level control and operation objectives (e.g., voltage regulation), thus de-risking potential issues such as instability for field deployment.

41 EE - Solar Energy Technologies Office (EE-4S)↗
DOE OSTI2026

Powering Circularity Through Data Reporting and Collection

Sustainability and Circular Economy have many metrics for evaluation. Calculating mass intensity, energy return on investment, financial payback, and recycling rate for proposed technology changes and lifecycle management can support decision making. Robust data with modeling tools can perform these calculations, informing good decision making. Analyses show that reliability is more critical than recyclability. Improved data gathering and tool accessibility will support our industry to make more circular choices for PV lifecycle management.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2026

District-Scale Analysis of Electricity Load and Strategies to Improve Energy Reliability Using Prototype District Models

Projected increases in electricity demand in the U.S. highlight the urgent need for effective load management to ensure grid reliability. As the building sector accounts for approximately 75% of electricity usage, enhancing energy efficiency and flexibility in this sector is crucial. Adopting district-level approaches offers significant advantages over traditional individual building analyses by enabling shared infrastructure and economies of scale. To navigate the data and computational challenges associated with modeling energy at the district level, prototype district models have been proposed as holistic, system-level solutions that capture complex interactions within typical configurations. This study presents these models as a reference tool for analyzing district-scale energy systems across various climate zones in the U.S. Developed with input from stakeholders, these models integrate varied building characteristics, inter-building connections, and energy system interactions. A case study utilizing the Urban Edge prototype district model, implemented on the URBANopt™ platform, evaluates multiple demand scenarios and the impact of distributed energy resources such as fuel-fired backup generators, photovoltaic systems, and batteries. Findings suggest that while new electric systems can significantly reduce annual energy use, they may also elevate peak electricity loads, with a notable 43% increase in heating-dominant climate zone 5B. The optimal backup power solutions vary based on location, influenced by factors such as utility rates and incentives. For example, PV and batteries perform well in high-cost regions like New York City, while diesel backup generators are more suitable for backup needs in climate zone 3A, such as Atlanta. Thus, this research highlights the importance of prototype district models for future district-scale energy planning.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2023

Faster-than-real-time Simulation with Demonstration for Resilient DER Integration

The US electric grid is facing operational, stability, and security challenges. Transmission system operators need some measure of visibility into distribution system renewable generation. Distribution system generation needs to support transmission system voltage. The grid is experiencing an expansion in measurement systems. How to take full advantage of this expansion and defend against attacks, both cyber and physical, poses additional challenges. The Faster-than-real-time Simulation with demonstration for Resilient DER Integration project set out to do the following: a. Flatten the voltage profile through the feeders and system for cost saving and voltage stabilization needs. b. Increase the amount of intermittent distributed energy resources (IDERs) that could be deployed on a utility feeder and provide 100% or more energy needed for the demands on that feeder, and c. based on an accurate model (Digital Twin) of the utilities system, be able to detect any abnormalities on the utilities distribution system. To manage the voltage and increase IDER penetration (a,b), Graph Trace Analysis is employed in a time-series, optimal power flow to coordinate the time-varying feedback control setpoints of a distribution feeder’s utility control devices. Under the coordinated control are a Load Tap Changing Transformer, a voltage regulator, and five switched capacitor banks. The feeder serves over 2000 customers, the feeder secondaries are modeled, and the feeder has 2.3 MW of PV generation, corresponding to a 17.4% penetration of PV generation. The feeder model has over 12,000 components, where every customer load bus and PV generator are modeled. The accuracy of the power flow solution is compared against historical meter voltage measurements, the improvement in conservation voltage reduction energy savings as a function of the coordinated control desired voltage profile is investigated, and the increase in PV penetration of the coordinated control over the existing control is presented. To achieve improved control performance while observing system operation constraints, bellwether Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) voltage measurements are used to adjust the desired voltage profile used by the optimal power flow analysis. To detect and alleviate or negate attacks or failures on the distribution and transmission utility grids (c) the grid needs to be resilient and self-healing. In this project software was designed to do just that. At the center of the software is an Integrated System Model (ISM) that spans from transmission to secondary distribution. The ISM is employed in real-time abnormality detection, voltage stability forecasting, and multi-mode control. Testing results are presented for: 1—attacks on utility infrastructure; 2—energy savings from optimal control; 3—distribution system control response during a low voltage transmission system event; 4—cyber-attacks on PV inverters, where physical inverters are used in hard-ware-in-the-simulation-loop studies. Contributions of this work include real-time analysis that spans from three-phase transmission through secondary distribution; an approach for detecting abnormalities that employs measurements from three independent measurement systems; and a multi-mode distribution system control that responds to cyber-attacks, physical attacks, equipment failures, and transmission system needs.

Integrated System Model, Graph Trace Analysis, Adv↗
DOE OSTI2020

bifiPV2020 Bifacial Workshop: A Technology Overview

The virtual bifiPV Workshop was held in July 2020 to provide the solar industry with a forum for sharing and discussing research into bifacial photovoltaic (PV) technology. This report outlines major insights from the workshop to give the reader an overview of the latest developments in bifacial PV technology worldwide, from the lab to the field. Citations are drawn from this workshop unless otherwise noted, with all proceedings available online at bifipvworkshop. com. Presentations for the bifiPV2020 Workshop focused on the following areas: bifacial power plant modeling and simulation, albedo improvements, the development of encapsulants, the durability and reliability of current bifacial technologies, performance comparisons between glass-glass and glass-transparent backsheet configurations, the future of passivated emitter and rear contact (PERC) solar cells, and the growing adoption of n-type solar cells. With 650 GW total PV installed worldwide and 1 TW to come very soon, PERC is now the standard PV cell type produced en masse. However, it is already reaching 23% efficiency, the upper limit for this type of technology. PV modules breaking the 0.5-kW barrier are starting to appear, and the costs of standard PERC technology are already below 0.2 USD/Wp. In 2019, five GW of bifacial PV were installed worldwide. In 2020, the majority of bifacial installations are expected to be located in the United States, China, and Middle East and North Africa (MENA) states. N-type bifacial technologies are becoming increasingly viable and have huge potential to dominate the market in the coming years. With bifacial technology mounted on horizontal single-axis trackers (HSAT), bids below 10 USD/MWh will soon be observed in the MENA region, and later in Chile and the United States. Factory audits and reliability testing can reduce field failures by helping buyers to select producers that follow rigorous quality assurance and quality control processes.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2019

Transmission Expansion Planning Test System for AC/DC Hybrid Grid With High Variable Renewable Energy Penetration

Test systems are important tools and benchmark for power system research. Currently, there is a lack of standard test systems for modern transmission expansion planning (TEP) research, especially under high variable renewable energy (VRE) penetrations. This article describes a 38-bus test system named the HRP-38 system dedicated to TEP. “HRP” stands for high renewable penetration. The objective of establishing such a system is to provide a consistent platform for different TEP methods to be tested and compared. The test system considers high VRE penetration of more than 30% energy share, which will be an important feature in many power systems in the future. Both AC and DC candidate lines are given to provide sufficient transmission planning alternatives. The complexity of the test system is well balanced considering calculation tractability and the ability to test the performance of the TEP planning model. The network topology, generation mix and load characteristics are described in detail. Year-round time series of VRE (wind power and PV) output and load curves for each bus are provided to facilitate a detailed evaluation of the transmission grid configuration under high VRE penetration. Finally, four benchmark results with different optimization settings are provided for the HRP-38 system.

AC/DC hybrid↗
DOE OSTI2020

bifacial_radiance: a python package for modeling bifacial solar photovoltaic systems

bifacial_radiance is a national-laboratory-developed, community-supported, open-source toolkit that provides a set of functions and classes for simulating the performance of bifacial photovoltaic (PV) systems. (Bifacial PV modules collect light on the front as well as the rear side.) bifacial_radiance automates calculations of PV system layout and performance to use along with the popular ray-tracing software tool RADIANCE (Ward, 1994). Specific algorithms include design and layout of PV modules, reflective ground surfaces, shading obstructions, and irradiance calculations throughout the system, among others. bifacial_radiance is an important component of a growing ecosystem of open-source tools for solar energy (William F Holmgren et al., 2018).

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2022

Understanding Economic and Deployment Benefits of Wind-PV Hybrid Power Plants

The least-cost approach to decarbonizing the U.S. electricity supply will likely involve a significantly expanded share of variable renewable energy (VRE) generation. Many strategies and approaches have been identified to address integration challenges in a VRE-dominated system, including standalone and coupled battery systems. In this study, we explored the current and future potential of utility-scale hybrid energy systems comprising PV, wind, and lithium-ion battery technologies (PV-wind-battery systems). Analysis results include temporal complementarity of wind and PV resources across the contiguous United States, with an emphasis on metrics that quantify reductions in variability that can be achieved through hybridization. We further use a price-taker model with simulated hourly energy and capacity prices to determine the revenue-maximizing dispatch of a range of PV-wind-battery configurations across Texas, from the present through 2050. We find that coupling PV, wind, and battery technologies allows for more effective utilization of interconnection capacity by increasing capacity factors to 60-80%+ and capacity credits to close to 100%, depending on battery capacity. We also compared the energy and capacity values of PV-wind and PV-wind-battery systems to the corresponding stability coefficient metric, which describes the location-and configuration-specific complementarity of PV and wind resources. Our results show that the stability coefficient effectively predicts the configuration-location combinations in which a smaller battery component can provide comparable economic performance in a PV-wind-battery system (compared to a PV-battery system). These PV-wind-battery hybrids can help integrate more VRE by providing smoother, more predictable generation and greater flexibility. Finally, capacity expansion modeling of PV-wind systems indicates that hybridization can reduce transmission expansion requirements associated with a heavily decarbonized U.S. electricity system.

complementarity↗