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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 37 records · Page 2
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2025

Ecovoltaic solar energy development can promote grassland bird communities

Ecologically informed photovoltaic (PV) developments that co-prioritize PV electricity generation with ecosystem function (‘ecovoltaics’) have emerged as a promising land sharing strategy to minimize ecological conflicts associated with PV solar energy development. While habitat-focused ecovoltaic designs can conceptually benefit biodiversity by offsetting or enhancing impacts of PV development, foundational field research is needed to examine how wildlife respond to these novel ecosystems. We conducted passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) in 2023 and 2024 at 13 solar facilities and paired control sites to investigate avian community responses to ecovoltaic facilities in the Midwestern United States. Compared to control sites (row crop agricultural fields), we found that ecovoltaic sites supported more grassland bird species throughout a 17-week monitoring period between May and September. Grassland bird communities on ecovoltaic sites were also more stable than on agricultural controls, as measured by the Jaccard dissimilarity index. We also used PAM-based weekly species occurrences in an occupancy-modelling framework to investigate the influence of PV development and other landscape variables on grassland bird occupancy. 10 out of 13 modelled grassland bird species had greater predicted occupancy probabilities (ψ) on PV sites than control sites. Synthesis and applications. Our findings suggest that properly sited and developed ecovoltaic solar facilities in human altered landscapes can improve habitat for birds and other wildlife, but further research is needed to understand which species may benefit most from these novel ecosystems.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2021

A Spatially Explicit Individual-Based Modeling Approach to Evaluate the Cumulative Effects of Wind Energy Development on the Greater Sage-Grouse: Sensitivity Analysis and Validation of Key Parameters

To address the need for an approach to evaluate cumulative ecological impacts of wind energy development, particularly those on critical wildlife habitats and species, the authors developed a proof-of-concept, landscape-based, spatially explicit individual-based modeling (IBM) framework for populations of the greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) in Albany County, Wyoming, based on published and other available information on the life history of the species. This sage-grouse IBM estimates the spatial and temporal movements of sage-grouse based on modeled effects of habitat characteristics and developments on sage-grouse condition, survivorship, and reproduction. After completing the initial version of the model, we conducted a series of sensitivity analyses of key model parameters and validation of lek occurrences and spatial distributions to better understand performance of the model relative to observed values of important life history characteristics. The parameter sensitivity analysis was conducted as a series of one-factor-at-a-time tests in which the values of selected parameters were individually varied to evaluate the corresponding effects on model output. We examined the model’s response to changes in parameter values to gain insight into the overall robustness of the model, identify key driver parameters, and initiate qualitative validation. Five functions selected for sensitivity analyses were (1) the rate of change in body condition in relationship to habitat suitability index (HSI) of occupied habitat (condition change rate), (2) the effect of competition between individuals with overlapping home ranges expressed as a percentage reduction in HSI (competition factor), (3) value of condition at which survivorship probability is equal to zero (zero survivorship condition), (4) the relationship between female body condition and clutch size, and (5) the relationship between female body condition and nest success. We varied the parameter values to be tested for the sensitivity analysis around the original value used in the model (i.e., tested values were higher and lower than the model’s original value) to examine the effect of this variation on the predicted output of the model. Model outputs evaluated in the sensitivity analysis included (1) predicted age-class distribution (as measured by the percentage of immature individuals within the population); (2) predicted sex ratio; (3) predicted age-sex class distribution (percent of population in each of six age-sex classes, i.e., male and female juveniles, yearlings, and adults); (4) lifespan; (5) population size; and (6) spatial distribution. Of the five parameters analyzed, condition change rate, survivorship, clutch size, and nest success did not substantially affect any of the evaluated model outputs. For the predicted age-class distribution, the percentage of immature individuals predicted by the model for these four parameters ranged from 61.9% to 65.0%, which was reasonable with respect to the reference values of 51.4 to 57.8% in published studies. The ratio of females to males ranged from 1.09 to 1.14, which was comparable to the reference values of 1.2 to 3.0 presented in an existing study. The predicted mean lifespan ranged from 1.62 to 1.74 years, which appears to be reasonable with respect to the reference values of 0.9 to 1.1 years for sharp-tail grouse and greater prairie chickens presented by published studies. The predicted population size ranged from 1,877 to 3,140. This prediction would be reasonable with respect to our estimate of 5,000 yearlings and adults, which was based on the USFWS estimate for the state of Wyoming scaled to the number of leks in the county. The predicted spatial distribution was not substantially affected by the parameter values examined. In our sensitivity analyses, the only tested parameter that had a noticeable effect on model output was competition factor. Over the range of values tested for this parameter, predicted population size exhibited the largest range (from 1,833 to 4,737) of all parameters tested. As the competition factor increased, the predicted population size decreased. This reflects the effect competition had on the number of individuals that could co occur in high-quality habitat patches. Despite this apparently significant effect, the range of values appears to be reasonable with respect to our estimate of 5,000 yearlings and adults, which was based on the USFWS estimate for the state of Wyoming scaled to the number of leks in the county.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
NASA NTRS1985

Pulsars as cosmic ray accelerators: Energy development of protons

Results of numerical integrations of the Lorentz-Dirac-equation with Landau approximation for protons in the electromagnetic vacuum field of a magnetic dipole rotating with its angular velocity omega perpendicular to its magnetic moment mu will be discussed with special attention to the energy development of protons.

Thielheim, K. O.↗
DOE OSTI2023

Considerations for Floating Wind Energy Development in the Gulf of Maine

This report summarizes the primary considerations for developing floating offshore wind energy in the Gulf of Maine based on the current knowledge of the staff at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) as of June 2023. This work was performed as a supplement to information solicited by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) in their Call for Information and Nominations announced in April 2023 (BOEM 2023b). The purpose of this report is to provide general information to the citizens of Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire, and to inform decision makers and stakeholders about the unique challenges of developing floating offshore wind in the Gulf of Maine. This report intends to provide context to show the importance of the energy markets created by the states that floating offshore wind development in the Gulf of Maine will serve.

BOEM↗
DOE OSTI2020

Potential Environmental Effects of Marine Renewable Energy Development—The State of the Science

Marine renewable energy (MRE) harnesses energy from the ocean and provides a low-carbon sustainable energy source for national grids and remote uses. The international MRE industry is in the early stages of development, focused largely on tidal and riverine turbines, and wave energy converters (WECs), to harness energy from tides, rivers, and waves, respectively. Although MRE supports climate change mitigation, there are concerns that MRE devices and systems could affect portions of the marine and river environments. The greatest concern for tidal and river turbines is the potential for animals to be injured or killed by collision with rotating blades. Other risks associated with MRE device operation include the potential for turbines and WECs to cause disruption from underwater noise emissions, generation of electromagnetic fields, changes in benthic and pelagic habitats, changes in oceanographic processes, and entanglement of large marine animals. The accumulated knowledge of interactions of MRE devices with animals and habitats to date is summarized here, along with a discussion of preferred management methods for encouraging MRE development in an environmentally responsible manner. As there are few devices in the water, understanding is gained largely from examining one to three MRE devices. This information indicates that there will be no significant effects on marine animals and habitats due to underwater noise from MRE devices or emissions of electromagnetic fields from cables, nor changes in benthic and pelagic habitats, or oceanographic systems. Ongoing research to understand potential collision risk of animals with turbine blades still shows significant uncertainty. There has been no significant field research undertaken on entanglement of large animals with mooring lines and cables associated with MRE devices.

16 TIDAL AND WAVE POWER↗
DOE OSTI2023

Developing energy flexibility in clusters of buildings: A critical analysis of barriers from planning to operation

This paper examines building energy flexibility at an aggregated level and addresses the main barriers and research gaps for the development of this resource across three design and development phases: market and policy, early planning and design, and operation. We review methodologies and tools and discuss barriers, challenges, and opportunities, incorporating policy, economic, technical, professional, and social perspectives. Although various legal and regulatory frameworks exist to foster the development of energy flexibility for small buildings, financing mechanisms are limited with a significant number of perceived risks undermining private investment. For the early planning and design phase, planners and designers lack appropriate tools and face interoperability challenges, which often results in insufficient consideration of demand response programs. The review of the operational phase highlighted the socio-technical challenges related to both the complexity of deployment and communication, as well as privacy and acceptability issues. Finally, the paper proposes a number of targeted research directions to address challenges and promote greater energy flexibility deployments, including capturing building demand side dynamics, improving baseline estimations and developing seamless connectivity between buildings and districts.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2024

Guide to Developing Energy Services Interfaces

This document provides guidance to develop communications interfaces that are highly interoperable and adhere to a set of energy services interface (ESI) principles. It can be applied in the context of information and communications technology interface standards and implementation profiles that enable the integration of a facility with responsive distributed energy resources (DER) into an electric power system consistent with the fundamental ESI principles. In this context, a DER facility may consist of a single DER with a communicating controller or may be as complex as a microgrid campus with several buildings and many DERs. This document is not a technical interface standard, but the requirements described can be used to check that existing, augmented, or new interface standards meet the interoperability requirements of the ESI concept. In this way, this guide for the ESI specification can support future advancements in developing interoperability standards and implementation profiles. The intended audience for this document is DER integration practitioners and ecosystem groups that are in the business of developing and implementing communications interfaces for DER integration. It is intended that these groups apply the information and processes in this document to develop communications standards and implementation profiles that are consistent with fundamental ESI principles.

2030.5↗
DOE OSTI2022

Cumulative Effects Analysis for Wind Energy Development: Current Practices, Challenges, and Opportunities (IEA Wind White Paper)

The increasing global deployment of wind energy has given rise to concerns about potential adverse effects on certain wildlife species and habitats. The United States and European nations use environmental impact assessments (EIAs) to evaluate the environmental effects of wind energy and inform wind energy planning, siting, and operational processes. A key component of the EIA is the cumulative effects analysis/assessment (CEA). CEAs consider the effects of a proposed development in the context of past, present, and future developments, as well as other (non-wind) activities. However, practitioners worldwide have struggled to implement cost-effective and consistent processes for CEAs. Further, there is no widely accepted scientific methodology to assess cumulative effects. As wind energy deployment continues to expand, developing a consistent and scientifically based approach to CEAs may provide a more comparable across assessments and cost-effective means of reducing risk during siting, operations, and decommissioning/repowering, while minimizing regulatory hurdles. This technical report evaluates the current state of CEA practices, covering both land-based and offshore wind energy development. It focuses on impacts from the preconstruction, construction, and operational phases of the wind farm, which are the phases where most research currently exists. Emerging research addresses impacts from the perspective of life cycle assessments (LCAs), including the impacts of manufacturing and preconstruction (May et al. 2020). The technical report also summarizes CEA processes and guidelines, analysis approaches, and current challenges. Finally, it highlights opportunities for further research and coordination, and includes a geographically organized CEA information resource bank.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Animal displacement from marine energy development: Mechanisms and consequences

For marine wave and tidal energy to successfully contribute to global renewable energy goals and climate change mitigation, marine energy projects need to expand beyond small deployments to large-scale arrays. However, with large-scale projects come potential environmental effects not observed at the scales of single devices and small arrays. One of these effects is the risk of displacing marine animals from their preferred habitats or their migration routes, which may increase with the size of arrays and location. Many marine animals may be susceptible to some level of displacement once large marine energy arrays are increasingly integrated into the seascape, including large migratory animals, non-migratory pelagic animals with large home ranges, and benthic and demersal mobile organisms with more limited ranges, among many others. Yet, research around the mechanisms and effects of displacement have been hindered by the lack of clarity within the international marine energy community regarding the definition of displacement, how it occurs, its consequences, species of concern, and methods to investigate the outcomes. This review paper leveraged lessons learned from other industries, such as offshore development, to establish a definition of displacement in the marine energy context, explore which functional groups of marine animals may be affected and in what way, and identify pathways for investigating displacement through modeling and monitoring. In the marine energy context, we defined displacement as the outcome of one of three mechanisms (i.e., attraction, avoidance, and exclusion) triggered by an animal's response to one or more stressors acting as a disturbance, with various consequences at the individual through population levels. The knowledge gaps highlighted in this study will help the regulatory and scientific communities prepare for mitigating, observing, measuring, and characterizing displacement of various animals around marine energy arrays in order to prevent irreversible consequences.

16 TIDAL AND WAVE POWER↗
DOE OSTI2020

Foreward: Advancing the U.S. Offshore Renewable Energy Industry through Marine Renewable and Offshore Wind Energy Development

Foreward to special issue of MTSJ Journal: Energy security … it’s what everyone is talking about, and for good reason. Against the backdrop of a changing climate in which nearly two-thirds of electricity generation is credited to fossil fuels (IEA, 2019a), countries around the world are diversifying their energy portfolios, suppliers, and energy routes to reduce vulnerabilities to energy security risks (U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 2020). Energy security concerns are related to fuel supply chains, electricity generation, transmission, distribution, energy market functionality, and energy system resiliency (DOE, 2017). These concerns demonstrate the need for well-functioning and competitive energy markets and diverse sources and routes of energy supply (DOE, 2017). In addition, environmental protection, efficiency and infrastructure improvements, energy innovation, emergency response, and resilience are also needed (DOE, 2017). Renewable energy generation is, and will continue to be, a major contributor in energy portfolio diversification, which will reduce reliance on foreign energy sources (IEA, 2019b; Aslantürk & Kiprizli, 2020) and support global decarbonization (Sims, 2004; Rockström et al., 2017; Arabzadeh et al., 2020).

marine renewable energy (MRE), offshore wind energ↗
NASA NTRS2018

Vegetation Change Detection in Southern California Solar Energy Developments

Change detection from satellite sensor vegetation indices (VIs) presents an opportunity to monitor trends and disturbances at the regional scale for southern California's Mojave and Lower Colorado Deserts. Renewable energy sites are being constructed in this region on public lands under the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). We have developed a framework for VI change detection over the past two decades, with initial focus on three sites, Joshua Tree National Park, Mojave National Preserve, and a proximal group of Development Focus Areas (DFAs), for comparison between protected and development-targeted lands. Three Terra MODIS VIs (normalized difference [NDVI], enhanced [EVI], soil-adjusted [SAVI]) were evaluated in the Breaks for Additive Season and Trend (BFAST) setting for the regional MODIS 250-m resolution grid to estimate significant time series shifts (breakpoints) from February 2000 to May 2018. All three VIs tended to detect the maximum number of breakpoints at a grid location, but cross-correlations with precipitation and comparison with timing of wildfire burns near the study sites for breakpoint density (proportion of area with a breakpoint) showed that NDVI had the strongest response to these major disturbances, supporting its use for subsequent analysis. Time series of NDVI breakpoint change densities for individual solar energy sites did not have a consistent vegetation response following construction. Bootstrapping showed that the DFAs had significantly larger kurtosis and variance in the positive NDVI breakpoint distribution than did the protected sites, but there was no significant difference in the negative distribution for all three sites. The inconsistent post-construction NDVI signal and the large number of breakpoints overall suggested that the largest changes in vegetation cover density were tied to seasonal precipitation amounts. The distributional results indicated that existing site-specific conditions were the main control on VI responses, given the history of human disturbances in the DFAs. Although the results do not support persistent VI disturbances resulting from recent solar energy development, continued monitoring and examination of other ecological variables and surface temperatures will be vital to the long-term protection of this desert environment.

Potter, Christopher S.↗
DOE OSTI2024

Benefits and Burdens: Exploring the Role of Community Benefits in Wind Energy Development [Slides]

In this webinar hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy's WINDExchange initiative, NREL will provide an introduction to community benefit agreements (CBAs) and related funds and investments that serve as voluntary mechanisms that developers may utilize to provide additional financial and/or non-financial benefits for communities impacted by wind energy projects. Community benefits can come in different forms, be developed through diverse processes, and have varying impacts on key outcomes in the wind industry like project success and equity. This webinar explores the nuances of community benefits from multiple angles and provides insights that are relevant to land-based wind energy, offshore wind energy, and other renewable energy technologies.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

A multisensory approach to understanding bat responses to wind energy developments

Abstract Millions of bats are killed at wind energy facilities worldwide, yet the behavioural mechanisms underlying why bats are vulnerable to wind turbines remain unclear. Anthropogenic stimuli that alter perceptions of the environment, known as sensory pollution, could create ecological traps and cause bat mortality at wind farms. We review the sensory abilities of bats to evaluate potential stimuli associated with wind farms and examine the role of spatial scale on the perceptual mechanisms of sensory pollutants associated with wind energy facilities. Audition, vision, somatosensation and olfaction are sensory modalities that bats use to perceive their environment, including wind farms and turbine structures, but they will not all be useful at the same spatial scales. Bats most likely use vision to perceive wind farms on the landscape, and obstruction lighting may be the first sensory cue to attract bats to wind farms from kilometres away. Research that assesses the risks posed by specific sensory pollutants, when conducted at the appropriate scale, can help identify solutions to reduce bat mortality, such as determining the attractiveness of obstruction lighting to bats at a landscape scale.

Jonasson, Kristin A.↗
DOE OSTI2025

Analysis of Electricity Price Differentials for the Utah Office of Energy Development

Operation Gigawatt is a vision for Utah to meet its growing energy needs with a focus on doubling energy generation. One of the greatest challenges to meet this goal will be the transmission and distribution system. Utah seeks analysis to inform discussions on new generation, the likely network congestion based on new power flows, and modeling of the state's energy infrastructure. To support this need, LBNL developed a baseline understanding of recent historical congestion in the existing transmission system based on electricity market prices. The resulting products visualize and provide metrics on congestion within Utah and between Utah and its neighbors during 2015-2023.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2023

Solar Energy Development on the FSST Reservation

FSST undertook this project to install PV solar with the goal of reducing retail power consumption at 11 Tribal buildings. A combined total of 318kW has been installed over these sites and power savings are being recorded on a regular basis. The Tribe entered into the project with several specific objectives that made this a unique effort. First of all, all of the systems were installed by Tribal maintenance personnel with some technical support. This model had been developed with previous projects that Nebraska Renewable Energy Systems (NRES) had completed and had shown great success. This approach helped to ensure we met the DOE goal of ‘building capacity’ within the Tribe. There was some skepticism about this model in Flandreau at the onset of discussions, but the excellent final results spoke for themselves! A second objective was to overcome the sore lessons that were learned after FSST invested in early deployment of pole mounted solar systems that were not sturdy enough for SD winds. It was a very courageous decision to move forward again with solar pole mounts (and other types) in this very high wind area. We shall report that the Tribe was fully successful in achieving what they set out to do there. The final major objective was to deploy the PV Solar systems in such a way as to integrate them into their surroundings wherever possible. In some cases the mounting choice was clear, but in several locations, the system was designed to be a functional and aesthetically enhancing part of their surroundings. These elevated systems allowed the PV system to act as a shade structure and create useful space under them as well as making power. FSST had these elevated ground mount systems specially designed for our application by Ironridge and were rated for the tough winds of South Dakota (120MPH+).

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Land Resources for Wind Energy Development Requires Regionalized Characterizations

Estimates of the land area occupied by wind energy differ by orders of magnitude due to data scarcity and inconsistent methodology. Here, we developed a method that combines machine learning-based imagery analysis and geographic information systems and examined the land area of 318 wind farms (15,871 turbines) in the U.S. portion of the Western Interconnection. We found that prior land use and human modification in the project area are critical for land-use efficiency and land transformation of wind projects. Projects developed in areas with little human modification have a land-use efficiency of 63.8 ± 8.9 W/m 2 (mean ±95% confidence interval) and a land transformation of 0.24 ± 0.07 m 2 /MWh, while values for projects in areas with high human modification are 447 ± 49.4 W/m 2 and 0.05 ± 0.01 m 2 /MWh, respectively. We show that land resources for wind can be quantified consistently with our replicable method, a method that obviates >99% of the workload using machine learning. To quantify the peripheral impact of a turbine, buffered geometry can be used as a proxy for measuring land resources and metrics when a large enough impact radius is assumed (e.g., >4 times the rotor diameter). Our analysis provides a necessary first step toward regionalized impact assessment and improved comparisons of energy alternatives.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2023

Public perceptions of wave energy development on the west coast of North America: Risks, benefits, and coastal attachment

While solar and wind energy continue to grow as significant sources of renewable energy, a global energy transition away from fossil fuels will require an expanding portfolio of generating resources. Marine renewable energy has the potential to contribute greatly in the coming decades, as the more predictable nature of wave energy can support the resiliency of the power grid and complement solar and inland wind generation. Yet, the broad deployment of marine energy technologies like wave energy will depend on public support, making it critical to identify the relevant factors associated with public attitudes and risk/benefit perceptions. This paper draws on social representations theory to specifically examine perceptions of wave energy on the west coast of North America, a site chosen because of the high suitability for wave energy generation and the fact that one of only three wave energy test sites in the world is under development off the coast of Oregon. Using an online survey in June 2020, we recruited a sample of 2000 respondents from California, Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia. We found a majority of respondents held positive attitudes to wave energy, but respondents also had low familiarity – with a quarter of respondents lacking sufficient information to form an opinion. We used logistic regression to identify factors correlated with wave energy attitudes, finding that respondents who were more supportive of wind and solar energy, more optimistic about new technology, and reported more familiarity with wave energy were significantly more likely to have a positive impression of wave energy. Respondents with higher levels of place attachment to coastal areas were more split, as they perceived higher benefits of wave energy – but also higher risks. Our results indicate broad appeal of wave energy on the west coast, but we caution policymakers and developers to not take initial siting processes for granted. As experience has shown for offshore wind, broad appeal does not guarantee a smooth siting process in a local context. Furthermore, the role of place attachment to coastal areas must be taken seriously or risk alienating local communities.

16 TIDAL AND WAVE POWER↗