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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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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2026

The U.S. Agrivoltaic Shading Tool: A National-Scale Interface for Modeling Light and Shade Patterns in Ten Common Agrivoltaic Configurations

Agrivoltaic systems are dual-use configurations that co-locate agriculture and photovoltaic (PV) infrastructure and require careful design to balance crop performance and energy generation. A critical element of agrivoltaic design is the spatial and temporal distribution of irradiance and shade within and around PV arrays. To support research, planning, and stakeholder decision-making, we introduce the U.S. Agrivoltaic Shading Tool, a novel web-based application that delivers high-resolution irradiance and photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) modeling for ten standardized PV configurations across the conterminous United States. The tool leverages the National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR) System Advisor Model (SAM) to perform detailed irradiance simulations, using meteorological data from the National Solar Radiation Database (NSRDB). Outputs include seasonal, monthly, weekly, and diurnal patterns of available sunlight, amount of shade, irradiance, and PAR at ground level within agrivoltaic system footprints. For a user's selected location, these results are visualized through interactive visualizations, heatmaps, and time-series plots, designed to be accessible to both technical and non-technical users. In addition to facilitating rapid spatial exploration of agrivoltaic light environments, the tool will offer seamless integration with the InSPIRE Agrivoltaics Design and Analysis Model (ADAM). This optional workflow will allow users to port selected site and configuration parameters into a more advanced modeling environment for further customization of structural layouts, crop-system compatibility, power generation, and technoeconomic performance. Finally, to promote open science, the entire dataset will be hosted and available for open access through the OpenEI platform. By standardizing and disseminating high-quality irradiance data and design tools, the U.S. Agrivoltaic Shading Tool supports a wide range of users, including researchers, landowners, energy developers, and policymakers, in evaluating the agronomic and energetic feasibility of agrivoltaic systems across the United States.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2019

Photovoltaic and Behind-the-Meter Battery Storage: Advanced Smart Inverter Controls and Field Demonstration

Electric utilities have little visibility of the electrical distribution system, and consequently, limited diagnostic capabilities. The distribution grid was designed for a unidirectional power flow, where energy is supplied by few large centralized power plants; however, this is set to change to meet California’s aggressive decarbonization goals. The large-scale deployment of distributed renewable generation, such as photovoltaics (PV), can have many negative effects on an unprepared grid. As illustrated in the California “duck curve,” PV generation modifies load profiles during the day, which causes steep ramping in the evening. This effect indicates the need to revise the electrical grid’s design and operation. This project sought to (a) create a centralized resource in California to test and validate distribution technology controls with industry standard PV, storage, and high-fidelity sensors, (b) support strategic and operational decisions for new grid architectures by providing simulation models, (c) promote new ways to control clusters of PV smart inverters, in accordance with California Rule 21, and (d) innovate, develop, and field test a predictive controller to maximize economic profit for the customer while supporting the grid. The controller was built using the state-of-the-art model predictive control methodology to optimally control behind-the-meter PV and battery storage. In consideration of the duck curve, the controller optimally controls the battery dispatch by charging during excess generation periods and discharging during the critical afternoon demand hours. The controller was evaluated in annual simulations and revealed the potential cost-effectiveness of behind-the-meter battery storage. The simulations showed that the annual electricity bill could be reduced by as much as 35 percent, with a payback period of the investment in battery storage in about 6 years – significantly shorter than the manufacturer’s 10-year warranty. All developed simulation models, the grid event library, and the MPC controller are open-source and available online.

Model Predictive control↗
DOE OSTI2016

On the Path to SunShot - Emerging Opportunities and Challenges in U.S. Solar Manufacturing

Innovation-driven cost and performance improvements, along with strong projected solar demand in the United States and across the Americas, could increase the attractiveness of U.S.-based solar manufacturing (see Chung et al. 2016). Although improvements to standard PV modules have produced deep cost reductions over the past 5 years, the returns on such incremental improvements appear to be diminishing, and more dramatic innovations in module design and manufacturing are required to continue along the path of rapid progress. At the same time, major opportunities exist for innovation to unlock the potential of CSP technologies. This need for innovation could benefit U.S. PV and CSP manufacturers. The United States has been rated one of the world’s most competitive and innovative countries as well as one of the best locations for PV manufacturing. It is a global leader in PV and CSP R&D and patent production, and U.S. PV manufacturers are already pursuing highly differentiated innovations.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2018

Analysis and Experiment of Management Sciences Inc.'s Arc Fault Protection Connectors

The photovoltaics industry is in dire need of a cheap, robust, reliable arc fault detector that is sensitive enough to detect arc faults before they can develop into a fire while robust enough to noise to limit unwanted tripping. Management Sciences has developed an arc fault detector that is housed in a standard PV connector, which will disconnect the PV array when it detects the surge current from an arc fault. Sandia National Labs, an industry leader in the detection, characterization, and mitigation of arc faults in PV arrays, will work with Management Sciences to characterize, demonstrate, and develop their arc fault detection/connector technology.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

Moving to a Higher Level for PV Reliability through Comprehensive Standards Based on Solid Science (Presentation)

PV reliability is a challenging topic because of the desired long life of PV modules, the diversity of use environments and the pressure on companies to rapidly reduce their costs. This presentation describes the challenges, examples of failure mechanisms that we know or don't know how to test for, and how a scientific approach is being used to establish international standards.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2018

Final Project Report: Performance Models and Standards for Bifacial PV Module Technologies

This project has three main objectives: (1) to field and collect performance data from bifacial PV systems and share this information with the stakeholder community; (2) to develop and validate bifacial performance models and deployment guides that will allow users to accurately predict and assess the use of bifacial PV as compared with monofacial technologies and (3) to help develop international power rating standards for bifacial PV modules.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Transferring Photovoltaic Lessons Learned to Concentrating Solar Power

This presentations outlines the following: 1) Points worth noting in the history of the PV industry, 2) PV benefits from standardization, 3) PV sharing reliability challenges since the 1975, 4) PV projects from an independent engineering (IE) perspective, 5) Site selection (what NOT to do), 6) PV Operations & Maintenance over time, 7) Soiling research (remove the silos), 8) Noting a few relevant PV IEC standards, and 9) PVfleets data sharing.

bio-soiling↗
DOE OSTI2021

Path Toward Cybersecurity Standards for Solar PV and Other DERs

Presentation for a webinar hosted by Underwriters Laboratory (UL) for California Public Utilities Commission. UL invited NREL to present their efforts related to DER cybersecurity standards development that national labs are working on with IEEE, SunSpec, UL, IEC, and other key industry stakeholders.

41 EE - Solar Energy Technologies Office (EE-4S)↗
DOE OSTI2022

Performance Evaluation of an Advanced Distributed Energy Resource Management Algorithm

This paper presents performance evaluation of 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 sub-transmission and distribution networks, the DERMS software controller, and 84 power hardware solar photovoltaic (PV) inverters, standard communication protocols, and a capacitor bank controller. The DERMS algorithm is also called, Grid-Optimization of Solar (GO-Solar) platform which includes predictive state estimation (PSE) and online multiple objective optimization (OMOO) to dispatch the legacy devices and distributed energy resources (e.g., PV). The voltage regulation performance is evaluated under three scenarios, volt-var smart inverter (baseline), and DERMS control for 100% and 30% of PV. The results show that controlling 30% of PV systems with the GO-Solar platform may provide the best balance of control performance and implementation cost.

distributed energy resource management system (DER↗
DOE OSTI2021

PV System Owner's Guide to Identifying, Assessing, and Addressing Weather Vulnerabilities, Risks, and Impacts

The report is designed to help federal facility managers, engineers, contractors, and consultants identify the most common PV system vulnerabilities that could lead from mild to catastrophic loss of PV systems during severe weather events. The guide helps users understand the type and severity of severe weather that can occur at any given location, and provides pre- and post-storm operations and maintenance (O&M) measures that can reduce the potential for damage to a PV system during a severe weather event and help speed the recovery of a PV system damaged during a storm. The guide emphasizes safety in responding to damage from severe weather events.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Creating a Universal PV Plug and Socket Standard

Photovoltaic connectors are designed to be quick and easy to install. Current connector qualification standards, such as UL 6703 and IEC 62852, are only intended to evaluate connectors from the same manufacturer and were recently changed to explicitly proscribe the mating of connectors from different manufacturers. Unfortunately, the industry has chosen to design connectors that will commonly connect together with those from other manufacturers. This is done to simplify installation avoiding the situations such as when the connectors on a microinverter, or other module level power electronics, do not match the connectors on the modules in the system. This rampant violation of electrical codes worldwide indicates that there is a strong desire and need to develop a universal connector standard. Here we present the initial approach and philosophy behind the formation of an IEC subgroup under TC82 WG2 looking at this problem. We intend to develop a standard where the materials and geometry of construction are specified to ensure compatibility and the design is intended to be of the highest quality. We expect that this connector will be more costly but especially in rooftop installations where power electronics requires matching components from several manufacturers, that this may still result in a net cost savings. These connectors must be of the highest quality because we wouldn’t want to develop a connector that precluded the manufacturing of a higher quality product, and because these will most commonly be used on rooftop installations where safety is more of a concern. Additionally, because we do not know which brands of connectors will be used together, we cannot simply rely on test results to ensure safety but must create a design that is as inherently safe as possible.

connectors↗