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Fusion energy technology and design-specific safety considerations

Design of commercial fusion energy technology must be done in a manner safe to the general public. This presentation is intended to cover the major non-radiological categories which must be considered for adequate safety of fusion devices.

70 - PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Technology Strategy Assessment: Findings from Storage Innovations 2030 Bidirectional Hydrogen Storage

Hydrogen is the most common element in the universe, comprising nearly 75% of all normal matter, and it has been used by scientists for centuries, but it was not fully recognized as an element until 1766, when it was isolated by Henry Cavendish. Early work focused on the generation of hydrogen through the oxidation of metals in water, which released hydrogen gas. Hydrogen’s lighter-than-air and flammable properties were immediately used in engines, zeppelins, and as feedstock for a wide variety of chemical reactions. Several approaches were developed for the production of hydrogen with the most common being associated with the production and conversion of hydrocarbon-based fuels. Coal gasification, steam methane reforming, and other reformation processes provide the majority of current hydrogen production due to the relatively low cost of hydrogen produced through these processes. More than 95% of hydrogen production is used for industrial processes rather than energy storage. To facilitate affordable decarbonization of these industrial processes and to advance the use of hydrogen as a fuel in transportation, DOE launched the Hydrogen Shot as part of the Energy Earthshots Initiative. The goal of the Hydrogen Shot is to reduce the cost of clean hydrogen by 80% to $1/kg of clean hydrogen production within one decade (known as the “1 1 1” goal). This is distinct from the Long-Duration Storage Shot, which is the primary focus of this report; however, it is intrinsically linked to bidirectional hydrogen storage. Several important chemical synthesis processes are dependent upon hydrogen, and the production and use of hydrogen is generally driven by its connection to one of these markets. For example, ammonia is one of the most highly produced chemicals in the world and it depends chiefly on hydrogen. Ammonia is primarily used for agricultural fertilizer and is considered to be largely responsible for a doubling of agricultural production per unit of land over the last century. Another one of hydrogen’s primary uses is as a catalyst in petroleum refining during the desulfurization process. Beyond chemical production, hydrogen is used as a reductant in the production of steel and has been demonstrated as a substitute for metallurgical coal in the production of raw iron. It is even used in the hydrogenation reaction for food products to create more shelf-stable semi-solid fats. However, while hydrogen is produced on the order of 100 million metric tons/year globally to feed these industries, more than 95% of hydrogen is produced from hydrocarbons that emit CO2 during the process. Conversely, electrolysis is a process by which electricity is used to separate hydrogen and oxygen in water molecules, usually across a membrane. Hydrogen production via electrolysis lowers the carbon intensity of produced hydrogen when coupled with low-carbon electricity. Currently, global electrolysis capacity is on the order of 1 GW, which equates to about 500 metric tons/day of hydrogen production. To support large-scale industrial decarbonization, capacity will likely need to increase by two to three orders of magnitude. Electrolysis technology is broadly separated into groups that are defined by the electrolyte used, with further subdivision based on the operating characteristics. The majority of commercial electrolyzer systems are based around three main technology groups: liquid alkaline, proton exchange membrane, and solid oxide. Liquid Alkaline (LA) electrolysis is the oldest, most mature, least expensive, and most common commercial technology, with 400 plants in operation by 1902. Its hydrogen output is low relative to the size of the system due to a low current density. LA electrolysis utilizes a liquid potassium hydroxide solution as the electrolyte. Proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolysis (also known as polymer electrolyte membrane electrolysis), described in 1960, relies on an acid-impregnated polymer membrane as the electrolyte and typically offers three to six times higher hydrogen production per unit cell area than LA electrolysis. Solid oxide electrolysis, or high-temperature electrolysis, utilizes a ceramic cell as the electrolyte and operates on steam rather than liquid water, enabling electrical efficiencies of more than 90%, which is up from 60% with PEM. Two pre-commercial electrolyzer technologies to note are alkaline exchange membrane (AEM) and proton-conducting solid oxide electrolysis cell (SOEC). AEM potentially has the advantages of both LA and PEM technologies in that it is able to use low-cost materials like LA but with the ability to operate at higher output pressures with a smaller footprint like PEM. Proton-conducting SOEC is similar to commercial SOEC, which uses an oxide-conducting ceramic; however, it uses a proton-conducting ceramic that has the potential to operate at lower temperatures and has lower capital costs. Each of these technologies is experiencing a rapid improvement in performance and a reduction in installed cost, and each appears to be well suited to specific applications. Besides differences in the type of electrolyzer used, the main difference in the architecture of bidirectional hydrogen systems is how the hydrogen is stored. Currently, the most cost-effective way to store large amounts of hydrogen gas is underground, such as in large salt caverns that have been hollowed out. These salt caverns are geographically concentrated in small portions of the United States and are not generally near large metropolitan areas; however, other subsurface architectures are being investigated to expand this reach. A more widely deployable option is aboveground pressurized tanks. These systems are about 10 times as expensive because of the materials and safety margins required to hold hydrogen at high pressures. A third option is using materials-based storage, such as liquid organic hydrogen carriers. By reversibly attaching the produced hydrogen to other molecules, it can be stored at near atmospheric pressure and room temperature. This has the potential to reduce the material cost of storage but may result in a reduction in the efficiency of the process because there are both hydrogen uptake and release processes. While materials-based storage has not been used extensively for large-scale hydrogen storage in the past, there is currently significant activity regarding developing materials and processes for use in large-scale hydrogen storage applications. Electrolysis-produced hydrogen offers an unusual opportunity for energy storage applications. Unlike more conventional energy storage approaches, such as batteries, which operate entirely within electrical markets, hydrogen is a valuable product beyond the electric market and can be directed to the most lucrative use. Hydrogen also can be directly converted back to electricity using either a fuel cell or turbine, or it can be sold to other markets, such as chemical synthesis, steel production, or even export. In this way, excess electricity can be upgraded to the most valuable product. Finally, its use can be actively managed between multiple off-takers; for example, local hydrogen storage can provide a specific amount of stored electricity and any excess can be exported to ammonia production. This flexibility is amplified by the fact that hydrogen storage has fully decoupled power and energy components, which allows for affordable scaling options. Together, this allows a substantial amount of creativity to enable the economic utilization of variable power resources while supporting decarbonization of the industry.

08 HYDROGEN↗

Road Map for the Development of Commercial Maritime Applications of Advanced Nuclear Technology

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is making significant investments in advanced nuclear reactor development and demonstration programs such as the Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program (ARDP). The innovations in advanced nuclear reactor technologies (defined in Section 1.4.1), including concepts of microreactors and small modular reactors (SMRs), have opened the door to a wide range of applications beyond land-based power stations providing electricity to the grid. Applications for transportation and industrial operations could offer reliable carbon-free energy to achieve decarbonization goals by supporting energy-intensive activities such as alternative fuel production, water desalinization, and local power supply. The DOE recognizes the transformational power of these technologies and is investing in foundational research and development as well as reactor demonstration projects. However, unique and significant challenges exist in each application domain to bring projects into reality beyond just the underlying reactor technology maturation.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

Demonstration of a Continuous Motion Direct Air Capture System

Global Thermostat (GT) has developed a process that addresses the primary technical challenges associated with direct air capture (DAC): the ability to process enormous volumetric flowrates of air and provide the energy for regeneration at acceptable cost. However, at current, there is opportunity for improvement in overall capture costs and especially in capital costs. While GT has advanced its base technology to TRL levels supporting commercial deployments, its research strategy includes alternative technology embodiments that enable substantial reductions in the cost per tonne of CO 2 removed. The objective of this project is to advance the most promising of these embodiments, where a DAC plant is operated in a continuous fashion rather than a discrete stepwise fashion (GT’s commercial scale technology approach). The Continuous Motion Direct Air Capture (cDAC) System’s advantages over the GT baseline stepwise DAC platform have been proposed primarily as a reduction in the complexity required for starting and stopping a movement system, relaxing requirements for other components designed for a rapid switching application, and a flattening of the sharp instantaneous fluid flowrates into steady-state mass & energy flows to enable smoother operation and easier heat integration. These advantages can lead to shorter cycle times, greater plant reliability, and lower capital expense. The primary objective of this project is the design, construction, commissioning, and operation of a field-test unit (FTU) at a scale in the range of ~200 tons CO 2 per year. Data generated from the operation campaign would then be used in a prescreening techno-economic analysis (TEA) and life cycle analysis (LCA), allowing this process to be compared to other carbon capture technologies.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Reliability and Durability Testing of Glass Ceramic Seals for Praxair’s Oxygen Transport Membranes

Praxair has been developing Oxygen Transport Membrane (OTM) systems for the efficient conversion of natural gas to syngas which can subsequently be used in chemical synthesis, generation of industrial gases (H2, CO) or synthesis of liquid fuels. One of the technical barriers for commercialization of this technology is the reliability of key components of OTM systems – Seals and Membranes. Praxair has been testing these components at the process conditions expected for commercial systems. However, long-term durability data is currently limited and is not sufficiently available to make well informed predictions of OTM reliability which represents one of the major risks that could prevent the technology from being fully commercialized. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) has been developing high temperature seals and ceramic membranes for applications similar to OTM systems such as Solid Oxide Fuel Cells. The goal of the cooperative development between Praxair and PNNL is to generate long-term data such that there is sufficient confidence in the OTM seal and membrane reliability predictions to enable the process technology to be fully commercialized.

03 NATURAL GAS↗

SMART: Simplified Melting And Rotation-joint Technology

Oil based parabolic trough solar power plants are the most commercially mature CSP technology. However, the upper limit of about 400°C of the current organic heat transfer fluid(HTF)significantly limits the future potential of the technology. Advances in parabolic trough receiver and collector technology have enabled higher operating temperatures of potentially 500°C or above. The search for an improved higher temperature HTF has identified inorganic molten salts, specifically the mix referred to as Solar Salt, a 60:40 mix of sodium nitrate and potassium nitrate salt. However, Solar Salt starts to freeze at about 240°C. This poses a significant challenge for large parabolic trough plants that could have many kilometers of header piping and hundreds of kilometers of receiver piping all filled with molten salt. Plants using molten salt need to be designed to minimize the risk of freezing and to be able to recover from freeze events. Studies and field experiments have shown that this appears to be feasible and the approach appears to have strong economic advantages over conventional trough plants. However, some technical challenges remain related to the use of molten salt in trough solar fields, the cost of the freeze recovery system is significant, and many still question whether the risk of using molten salt is worth the economic upside. In our view, the potential economic upside justifies the continued look at molten salt HTF in parabolic trough plants. The objective of this project was to address the key technical issue remaining, look for opportunities to reduce the cost of the freeze recovery system, and improve the general information and tools available for assessing the design, performance and economics of trough plants using molten salt HTF.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

Halide Perovskite Solar Photovoltaics

Technological progress in photovoltaic (PV) technologies provides hope that a comprehensive and desperately needed decarbonization of the energy sector is possible. Commercially successful PV technologies based predominantly on silicon wafer technology are reliable and cost-effective, but remain capital- and carbon-intensive. In this context, emerging PV technologies, such as metal-halide perovskites (MHPs), could further catalyze the energy transition by providing technological opportunities for even lower-cost, mass-producible, high-efficiency solar cells with a significantly reduced "carbon footprint." This themed issue of MRS Bulletin on "Halide perovskite solar photovoltaics summarizes the current state of the art, challenges, and opportunities of perovskite photovoltaics with contributions and perspectives from six expert teams worldwide. The topics covered provide a status update on perovskite PV, remaining hurdles to their deployment, and challenges to realizing the potential of this technology to impact climate goals. Articles in this collection address scalability of perovskite PV and prospects for industrial manufacturing; perovskite PV as an add-on technology on top of commercial silicon PV; environmental and sustainability considerations; and durability and reliability considerations. Further considerations include prospects of automation, coupled to artificial intelligence and machine learning, for accelerating material-based solutions to these outstanding challenges including the possibilities of discovering new absorber and device component materials to enable success and ultimately deployment of these next-generation PVs.

metal-halide perovskites↗

Workshop on Materials & Manufacturing for Marine Energy Technologies (Summary Report: October 5, 2021)

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Water Power Technologies Office (WPTO) enables research, testing, development, and commercialization of emerging technologies to advance marine energy, as well as next-generation hydropower and pumped storage systems, for a flexible, reliable grid. This report summarizes the results of a WPTO-sponsored public workshop held virtually on October 5, 2021.

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗

Improving bioenergy recovery from municipal wastewater with a novel cloth-filter anaerobic membrane bioreactor

Anaerobic membrane bioreactors (AnMBR) have been used for treating high-strength industrial wastewater at full-scale and the potential to use them for mainstream municipal wastewater treatment presents an important opportunity to turn energy-intensive plants into net-energy producers. However, several limitations of the AnMBR technology have prevented their adoption in the municipal wastewater industry, namely, high membrane cleaning energy demand and low membrane flux. This study demonstrated a novel AnMBR configuration that uses a commercially available cloth filter technology to address the key limitations of cleaning energy and membrane flux. The cloth filter anaerobic membrane bioreactor (CFAnMBR) is comprised of an anaerobic fixed-film bioreactor coupled with a cloth filter membrane with nominal pore size of 5 µm. The pilot CFAnMBR was operated for 150 days through the winter at a municipal wastewater plant in central Illinois (minimum/average influent temperature 5/13°C). The CFAnMBR increased membrane flux by more than 2 orders of magnitude (3,649 ± 1,246 L per meter squared per hour) and reduced cleaning energy demand by 78%—92% (0.0085 kWh/m 3 ) relative to previously reported AnMBR configurations. With the CFAnMBR, average chemical oxygen demand and total suspended solids removal were 66% and 91%, respectively, and were shown to be increased up to 88% and 96% by in-line coagulant dosing with ferric chloride. Average headspace methane yield was 154 mL CH 4 /g COD removed by the end of the study period with influent temperatures of 11°C± 4°C. The CFAnMBR resolves major limitations of AnMBR technology by employing a commercially-available technology already used for other municipal wastewater treatment applications.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Operational and scaling-up barriers of SOEC and mitigation strategies to boost H 2 production- a comprehensive review

Solid oxide electrolysis cells (SOECs) proffer a flexible and environmentally friendly solution to reduce CO 2 emissions and/or produce H 2 fuel for various applications. Here, the integration of this technology with renewable energy systems makes them even more promising in realizing a near-perpetual green energy infrastructure in the near future. SOEC technology has achieved stupendous improvement in recent years, and some of the limiting factors to the commercialization of this technology have been explored. It is, therefore, necessary to have a succinct outlook of the different factors that contribute to the recent developments in SOEC technology. The current work presents a comprehensive review of the state-of-the-art SOEC component materials and their degradation mechanisms, SOEC modeling essentials and efficiencies, and the scalability of SOECs. Although SOEC is considered a highly promising technology and sufficient multifaceted research has been done, yet not been widely commercialized. Despite the improvement to mitigate degradation of the SOEC materials, a large share of the degradation concerns sprang from charge transfer reaction at the triple-phase boundaries of the H 2 -electrode. Part of which can be improved by microkinetic modeling of these materials supported by their characterization to give insight into their development. Some other directions for the future in advancing this technology toward the commercialization stage are thoroughly addressed.

08 HYDROGEN↗

Tailored Fiber Placement for Complex Preforms

Tailored Fiber Placement (TFP) offers a novel approach to optimize fiber architecture for the fabrication of complex, structural parts not traditionally suitable for advanced composites. This technology not only offers new routes for weight reduction via metal substitution, it also offers cost reduction through minimization of material scrap and reduced labor. This reduction in component weight leads to increased fuel efficiency, and reduced production energy consumption, thereby, helping to achieve the stated IACMI technical goals. This technology leverages centuries of manufacturing development in support of the textile and embroidery industry. One major drawback to this technology is the lack of commercial or non- proprietary structural performance data and robust analytical tools used to optimize fiber architecture and predict performance. This project was structured to utilize common sub-element features to validate analytical performance tools, generate performance data, and gather cost and performance data on components of interest. This project was designed to give industry sponsors the confidence and ability to take full advantage of TFP to fabricate primary, highly loaded structure and integrate features such as metallic fasteners. The project focused principally on the use of high strength carbon fiber, such as T700, and the use of aerospace epoxy resin matrix to primarily support development of new composite applications in vehicle, aerospace, and industrial markets. This project applied previously developed analytical tools to predict the performance of TFP produced parts. This work focused on developing the pipeline to characterize material in order to accurately predict component performance when modifying the TFP print paths and stitch density. This focused on experimental characterization via standardized ASTM testing, alongside experimental testing of more representative service components by testing curved beam strength, beam shear performance, a large scale TFP lug, and ultimately designing a fully TFP clip bracket that reduced weight and cost compared to a traditional metallic component. The new knowledge gained from this program included: 1) development and demonstration of novel analytical tools applied to analysis of TFP preforms; 2) development and demonstration of a building block approach using coupons and sub-elements to optimize the design of a more complex component; 3) demonstration that optimized fiber orientation using TFP can exceed performance of conventional textile composite materials and can open new applications currently limited to metallic components; 4) Demonstration of performance and cost benefits of the TFP process as compared to metallic and conventional textile composites. Recommendations for follow-on work include development of design allowables to assess the impact of high temperature/moisture exposure or saturation during loading, tracking the impact of stitching needle wear on the performance of parts and ability to stitch thicker preforms, using TFP preforms as local reinforcement at areas of bearing or complex loading, and topology optimization of components by tow steering. The expertise developed during the course of this project can be leveraged to provide commercial engineering design and fabrication services using TFP. UDRI is in the process of formalizing their partnership with Spintech, who will serve as the commercialization partner for this technology and provide molding services and deliver finished components to the end user. UDRI will continue to produce the preforms until the economics allow Spintech to procure its own TFP equipment or lease UDRI equipment, at which point UDRI will step away from manufacture and serve as the engineering and design lead on product development.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Biomanufacturing from gaseous C1 feedstocks: A perspective on opportunities and challenges

Single-carbon (C1) substrates including carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and methane are abundantly available from natural and anthropogenic sources and present potential feedstocks for biomanufacturing. Utilizing these C1 gas feedstocks in bioprocesses for sustainable production of chemicals and fuels could prove pivotal in removing excess carbon from the atmosphere. This perspective describes the spectrum and sources of CO2, CO, and CH4 and examines emerging opportunities in microbial bioconversion and bioelectrochemical processes for these feedstocks. We discuss existing challenges in bioprocess development that currently restrict the commercialization of C1 biomanufacturing technologies. We detail different aerobic and anaerobic bioconversion approaches for C1 feedstocks employing pure and mixed cultures and examine the suitability of each scenario for producing specific molecules. Beyond strain engineering and bioprocess constraints, we address often overlooked factors that limit the development of efficient and reliable bioprocesses, including technology availability for research and safety considerations. We then discuss and recommend the necessary safety features and technological research tools for developing fast, safe, and efficient bioprocesses using gaseous feedstocks to support the scale-up and commercialization of C1 biomanufacturing technologies. This perspective provides an overview of the current scientific and industrial state of the art and offers insights into future technological needs that must be addressed to realize the potential of biomanufacturing from gaseous feedstocks. Synopsis: C1 gases offer a sustainable feedstock for biomanufacturing of fuels and chemicals. This work analyzes bioconversion methods, challenges, and safety considerations, and emphasizes the need for improved technology to enable commercialization.

Biomanufacturing↗

An Investigation of Innovative Energy Technologies Entering the Market between 2009-2015, Enabled by EERE-Funded R&D

This report documents technologies that have been commercialized by the private sector and other partners—such as technology developers in startups, companies, and universities—in part because of R&D funding from EERE. It also documents emerging technologies that have the potential to reach the market within the next three years with the support of EERE R&D investments. Commercial and emerging technology tracking in this manner assists EERE technology managers, analysts, communications staff, and senior management in describing and explaining the benefits of EERE-funded research. Policy- and decision-makers would then have the latest information to guide future program development and direction.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

Development of Advanced Ultra-Supercritical (AUSC) Pulverized Coal (PC) Plants

This report presents an independent assessment of pulverized coal (PC) power plants operating at advanced ultrasupercritical (AUSC) steam conditions. At AUSC conditions, PC plants generate electricity at higher efficiencies and with lower carbon footprints than PC plants operating at subcritical, supercritical (SC), and ultrasupercritical (USC) steam conditions, such as those examined in previous National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) reports. However, advanced materials are required for commercial operation under these AUSC steam conditions which impact plant economics. In 2001, the United States (U.S.) Department of Energy (DOE) with the Ohio Coal Development Office launched a research program carried out by a consortium of industry and research organizations (the AUSC Consortium) to develop the materials necessary to commercially demonstrate AUSC technology. The results contained in this report incorporate findings by the AUSC Consortium.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗

Critical Review of Platinum Group Metal-Free Materials for Water Electrolysis: Transition from the Laboratory to the Market : Earth-abundant borides and phosphides as catalysts for sustainable hydrogen production

To combat the global problem of carbon dioxide emissions, hydrogen is the desired energy vector for the transition to environmentally benign fuel cell power. Water electrolysis (WE) is the major technology for sustainable hydrogen production. Despite the use of renewable solar and wind power as sources of electricity, one of the main barriers for the widespread implementation of WE is the scarcity and high cost of platinum group metals (pgms) that are used to catalyse the cathodic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and the anodic oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Hence, the critical pgm-based catalysts must be replaced with more sustainable alternatives for WE technologies to become commercially viable. This critical review describes the state-of-the-art pgm-free materials used in the WE application, with a major focus on phosphides and borides. Several emerging classes of HER and OER catalysts are reviewed and detailed structure-property correlations are comprehensively summarised. The influence of the crystallographic and electronic structures, morphology and bulk and surface chemistry of the catalysts on the activity towards OER and HER is discussed.

Chemistry↗

Microbial Curing of Cement for Energy Applications

Rutgers University, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and the University of Arizona executed this program over 36 months with a 4-Task Program: (M1)-Microbial Engineering (M2)-Microstructure Modelling, (M3) Cement and Concrete Formulation, (M4)-Techno-economic analysis (TEA) and lifecycle assessment (LCA). This program developed a new carbonate cement concrete manufacturing process called microbial curing (MBC). MBC utilizes in-situ microbial production of CO 2 that dissolves into pore-bound water to carbonate a cementitious material creating a bonding matrix of CaCO 3 and SiO 2 that hardens and densifies the material. This is the first work of this type where calcium silicate was used in microbial studies. All other work reported in the literature always used a soluble form of calcium. This final report describes the work done in the final quarter, the best procedures and results, and the final techno-economic and lifecycle analyses. This quarter, we cast and cured twenty-five (4”x8”) cylinder samples. The compressive strength, split tensile, Young’s modulus, chloride permeability, and creep measurements were performed. These measurements demonstrated that MBC of calcium silicate concrete exhibits scaling problems due to the escape of ammonia gas, a product of the microbial reaction to generate CO 2 . As curing proceeds, the ability for the gas to escape from within the cylinder is restricted by the outer cylindrical portions densifying, making the outer portion highly impermeable to gas flow. In contrast, the small samples cured are uniformly cured, forming materials whose mechanical properties are 7x better than the large samples. This problem needs to be solved before this technology can be commercialized. The techno-economic and lifecycle analyses indicate that the technology developed in this program exhibits a significant opportunity to reduce the cost of cement and CO 2 emissions associated with concrete, provided the curing issue associated with larger samples can be addressed.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

CSP Systems Analysis 2022-2024 (Final Technical Report)

The CSP Systems Analysis project estimates the current market cost of CSP subsystems and technologies for use by the DOE Program and within NREL analysis tools. The project addresses upgrades to NREL's System Advisor Model (SAM) related to CSP, as well as development of new modules within SAM to expand the types of CSP systems that can be simulated and new tools for evaluating CSP subsystem performance or optimizing CSP system layouts, for example, SolarPILOT and SolTrace. The project evaluates the potential cost and performance of new CSP-relevant technologies and generally includes assessment of CSP technologies in support of the DOE subprogram. A primary goal of the CSP System Analysis project is to provide timely and accurate cost data to the DOE to assess the current state of CSP technologies as well as predict performance and cost for pre-commercial and emerging technologies that may impact the industry. Prior work in this task has produced technology cost reports and roadmaps for DOE and highlighted promising research paths that could reduce overall CSP cost, such as the supercritical CO2 power cycle and molten-salt trough systems. CSP Systems Analysis produces modeling tools to evaluate the performance of CSP systems, subsystems, or components, and journal articles, conference papers, technical reports and databases to disseminate information to the CSP industry. CSP technology costs are estimated and tracked using these tools as well as analysis of literature and industry sources. The CSP modeling tools and NREL analysis results are used by researchers; government, financial, and industry analysts; and other CSP stakeholders. The purpose of this final technical report is to summarize the key accomplishments of the past three years of this project. The project was divided into seven separate tasks, and in what follows, we describe the background, objectives, key accomplishments, and path forward for each task within the project, with one section of this report summarizing each task.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

Data Driven Commercial Building Energy Code Compliance and Technology Inventory for New York City

Building Performance Standards (BPS) are gaining national traction. A BPS will require new processes in the design, construction, and operation of buildings that take the occupants into account and enable predictive analysis to ensure compliance with current and future GHG emissions caps. In New York City, most buildings over 25,000 square feet will be regulated by a BPS starting in 2024, regardless of whether it is new construction permitted under current energy codes or an existing building. This research is one of the first to begin the evaluation of a long-term series of building policies in the context of an open data ecosystem, in cooperation with city agencies. Existing building policies enacted in NYC have ranged from building energy benchmarking and labeling to energy audits to the regulation of GHG emission in buildings. Through the development of a dataset related to building technologies and energy consumption, this project can help to evaluate if meaningful conclusions can be drawn for the data that has been largely self-reported in compliance with city regulations. This project will also provide lessons learned from a deep dive into these types of datasets to provide best practices for municipalities or states seeking to embark on policies like those enacted in NYC. In addition, a Building Automation System (BAS) Stretch Standard of Care (SSOC) for owners, designers, and building operators will enable the measurement and predictive analysis of energy consumption and GHG emissions at the plant, system, or component level, in anticipation of regulated GHG limits on buildings based on energy use. The SSOC is expected to be suitable for use on a national level. The primary feature of an SSOC is a standardized format for a set of BAS points that can be used to control and to gather data from individual plants, systems, or components that are related to building energy consumption. This project examined how measurements compare to prescriptive or simulation-based energy code targets, finding little correlation between predictive 8760-hour energy modeling and actual energy consumption for a small sample (n=27) of buildings constructed after 2015. Other analysis found that, while large multifamily housing (MFH) buildings showed a general trend similar to predicted reductions in energy use from the implementation of model commercial energy codes, this trend was not evident in the office, K-12 school, and hotel use groups in NYC. No upward or downward trends in energy consumption were found when buildings were grouped by size. Energy audit data were analyzed and it appears that there is bias by audit company on measures recommended to clients. Further research should be performed to cross-analyze this with other attributes, such as building size, vintage, and number of stories. Analysis found that for 281 buildings that were permitted and completed after 2015 and had submitted benchmarking data in 2022, between 81% and 96% (by use group) were found to be in compliance with the 2024 to 2029 NYC BPS emission caps, and between 55% and 89% were in compliance with the 2030-2034 caps. This work is beneficial to the public in helping policymakers and building stakeholders better understand the wide-ranging implications of a BPS.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗