SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “balancing areas”

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.

SourceResearch connectionFrom yearThrough year

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 37 records · Page 2

All sources NASA NTRS DOE OSTI

DOE OSTI2022

FREQUENCY REGULATION WITH CONNECTED LIGHTING SYSTEMS

The management of end-use energy resources, e.g., commercial buildings, has been investigated as a promising source of services for the electric power grid. Lighting consumes about 17% electricity of U.S. commercial buildings; however, it may contribute significantly to services that improve the reliability and resilience of the grid due to its rapid speed of response. Connected lighting systems (CLS), which build upon solid-state lamp technology, can change their power demand more quickly than most other building electricity end uses. But the potential of CLS to provide grid services has not been considerably investigated. In this paper, we describe initial research to evaluate the potential of CLS for the grid service of frequency regulation. Frequency regulation is a reliability product that corrects in a matter of seconds for short-term changes in the balance between supply and demand in the balancing area that might affect the stability of the power system. Frequency regulation signals for a medium office building are generated from the normalized test signals for the PJM Interconnection Reg-A and Reg-D regulations services. Control of the CLS locally to follow the Reg-A or Reg-D signal is used to provide contributions to the corresponding frequency regulation service. The performance of CLS for frequency regulation is evaluated using the PJM 40-Minute Performance Score Template. The performance scores obtained for all CLS categories for both Reg-A and Reg-D signals far exceed the minimum score for the qualification, a very promising result for CLS to provide frequency regulation service.

Wang, Peng↗

DOE OSTI2023

End Use Load Profile (EULP) of US Building Sector resulting from mass GHP retrofits

This collection of datasets describes the change (difference) in hourly energy consumption of the U.S. residential and commercial building stock while replacing existing HVAC systems with ground source heat pumps for all the balancing areas in the US, for all buildings eligible for ground source heat pump replacement. Additional county-level data may be requested from the DOE Project Lead.

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2021

Integrating Cambium Marginal Costs into Electric Sector Decisions: Opportunities to Integrate Cambium Marginal Cost Data into Berkeley Lab Analysis and Technical Assistance

NREL’s Cambium tool generates forward-looking simulations of marginal wholesale electricity costs associated with NREL’s Standard Scenarios. The scenarios include growing shares of variable renewable energy (VRE, i.e. wind and solar), among other power sector assumptions, between 2018 and 2050. The tool’s primary output—hourly costs at more than 130 balancing areas—could serve as public and transparent data source that supports electric-sector decision-making processes across the U.S. Berkeley Lab conducts a large range of analyses that use historical and forward-looking wholesale electricity prices to inform electric-sector decisions. In this report, Berkeley Lab uses its expertise to evaluate the Cambium cost data. We compare Cambium data with historical wholesale prices for the year 2018 and other modeled prices for the year 2030. We then present eight case studies in which Berkeley Lab researchers use Cambium data to replicate previous analyses based on other price datasets. We describe where primary findings and underlying key price dynamics align or differ, and highlight possible novel insights from the Cambium data. Finally, we qualitatively evaluate the suitability of Cambium costs in ten additional Berkeley Lab studies, though a direct comparison with alternative price data was not feasible at this time. The goal is to inform how electric-sector decision-makers and DOE program offices may be able to use this cohesive dataset, and to highlight what improvements to Cambium may make it even more useful.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

DOE OSTI2022

Operational Probabilistic Tools for Solar Uncertainty (OPTSUN) (Final Project Report for DOE Solar Forecasting II Project)

Increasing levels of solar PV can challenge system operations and may require novel methods to operate the power system reliably and efficiently. Power system operating plans generally use deterministic forecasts, in which the variable energy resources are represented by the expected value for each interval of the decision horizon. Probabilistic forecasts are relatively new but have the potential to address the shortfalls of deterministic forecasts. However, understanding how best to use such forecasts is still a key gap in industry and was the focus of this project. The project had three workstreams. In a forecasting workstream, improvements were made to baseline probabilistic forecasts using a number of new approaches such as machine learning methods and improved input data. In a design workstream, advanced simulation tools used these forecasts to investigate newly proposed reserve determination methods. Lastly, in a demonstration workstream a scheduling management platform (SMP) was developed to leverage probabilistic forecasts in a modular and customizable manner. In order to study the benefits that could be accrued, the project team collaborated with three utility partners (Duke Energy, Southern Company and Hawaiian Electric) to deliver improved probabilistic forecasts for each region and to model each region in case studies using advanced production cost modeling tools. Different methods to determine operating reserve requirements from probabilistic forecasts were developed, simulated, and tested across each region. The benefits of using these newly proposed methods varied by utility, but, in general, using probabilistic forecasts as well as historical data to set the reserve requirements seems to improve reliability related results, with less risk of reserve or supply shortfalls. The cost implications were not always straightforward; in some cases the new methods could show a reduction in expected operating costs, but often the increase in reserves associated with better risk mitigation using probabilistic forecasts could result in an increase in operating costs in the simulations. The SMP tool was developed to process probabilistic forecasts from their initial receipt through to scheduling decisions. This open-source tool consists of several modules for scenario development, reserve requirements calculation, and visualization. The SMP tool was demonstrated to a wide range of operators and stakeholders at all three utilities and further improved based on their feedback. The tool will be available on www.epri.com/optsun. The proposed probabilistic information-based reserve determination approaches have the potential to be implemented by different regions to ensure an economic and reliable power system operation on power systems integrating increasing levels of variable renewable resources. The innovative yet practical methods developed in this project demonstrated tangible benefits from using probabilistic forecasts beyond just study-based assessments to include three unique balancing areas. The demonstrated benefits across the multiple utility environments, are expected to provide system operators in all regions the confidence required and a platform to adopt the new forecasting and operating methods.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2022

Deploying E3’s RESERVE Tool to Enable Advanced Operation of Clean Grids

Energy and Environmental Economics, Inc. (E3) developed an open-source machine learning model, RESERVE, for deriving ancillary services timeseries in deeply decarbonized electricity grids. E3 used a bespoke PLEXOS production simulation model of the California Independent System Operator’s (CAISO) balancing area to validate RESERVE’s ability to enable production cost, greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), and renewable energy curtailment savings. These savings were modeled by comparing PLEXOS cases with RESERVE’s outputs to PLEXOS cases with CAISO’s incumbent reserve product in the Western Energy Imbalance Market (EIM)’s 15-minute market. E3 also tested cases with solar operating flexibly to provide reserves. E3 found that, in a 2030 modeling year, using RESERVE and flexible solar enabled significant production cost, GHG and curtailment savings versus the incumbent CAISO method in cases with low penetrations of lithium-ion batteries. However, with the full 14 gigawatts (about 30% of peak CAISO demand) of 4-hour lithium-ion batteries that are expected to be installed by 2030, these savings approach zero due to batteries saturating ancillary services markets. E3 also found significant savings under a 2019 benchmarking year.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

DOE OSTI2024

Solar and Wind Forecast Error Reserve Sharing in a Multi-Utility Region

As electricity systems transition to higher levels of solar and wind generation, electric system operators will likely need to hold additional reserves to manage solar and wind forecast error. Because solar and wind forecast errors tend to be weakly correlated across space, system operators can reduce their reserve requirements by sharing reserves. This paper examines the benefits of forecast error reserve sharing among balancing areas in the Southeastern United States, in scenarios in which solar and wind generation ranges from 34% to 65% of total generation. It finds that day-ahead forecast error reserve requirements increase linearly with growth in solar and wind generation capacity (6%-10% of total capacity), but that reserve sharing can significantly reduce these requirements (by 6%-29%). It finds that, in economic terms, the value of forecast error reserve sharing ($\$$0.09-$\$$1.24 billion per year, $\$$0.12-$\$$1.68/MWh of load across scenarios) tends to decline with higher levels of solar and wind generation, due to lower reserve and energy prices. Even with declines in reserve prices, forecast error reserve sharing can still provide substantial value, though with higher levels of solar, wind, and electricity storage this value is increasingly tied to avoiding scarcity prices.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2024

Revenue Analysis for Energy Storage Systems in the United States

In this work we evaluate the potential revenue from energy storage using historical electricity prices, forward-looking projections of hourly electricity prices, and actual reported revenue. This analysis examines the impact of storage characteristics, specifically duration and round-trip efficiency, as well as locational elements of storage revenue within the current and projected U.S. power system. Figure ES-1 illustrates the revenue for a 1 MW storage system in seven market regions with durations range from 1 hour to 12 hours using both historical and forward-looking price data. The historical analysis covers more than 500 price nodes for each market region, while the forward-looking analysis includes balancing areas under different 10 scenarios of the electricity generation mix. The results indicate that the revenues consistently increase with duration, though the marginal value declines as duration grows. Moreover, the range of revenue depends on the system's operational location, and the electricity generation mix changes for future years. This range also widens with increased durations. In addition, the sensitivity analysis of round-trip efficiency reveals that as efficiency improves, system revenue increases, though the value of better round-trip efficiency declines as at higher efficiency levels.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

DOE OSTI2024

Solar and Wind Forecast Error Reserve Sharing in a Multi-Utility Region

As electricity systems transition to higher levels of solar and wind generation, electric system operators will likely need to hold additional reserves to manage the forecast error associated with these resources. Because wind and solar forecast errors tend to be poorly correlated across space, system operators can reduce their reserve requirements by sharing reserves. This paper examines the value of forecast error reserve sharing among balancing areas in the Southeast United States. It finds that forecast error reserve requirements increase linearly with growth in solar and wind generation capacity but that reserve sharing can significantly reduce physical (MW) reserve requirements (from 25%-26% to 18%-19% of average load in high solar scenarios). It finds that the value of forecast error reserve sharing declines with higher levels of solar and wind generation, due to lower wholesale energy and reserve prices. Even with declines in wholesale prices, forecast error reserve sharing can still provide substantial value (as much as $\$$400 million per year in a high solar scenario), though with higher levels of solar, wind, and electricity storage, this value is increasingly tied to avoiding scarcity prices. The results suggest the importance of coordinated capacity expansion planning for forecast error reserve sharing.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2025

Initial Testing of a Small Gamma Detector (GR1+) for Detection of Holdup in HEPA Filters

Measuring and assessing holdup is a key component of proper inventorying of a Material Balance Area (MBA). The Nuclear Material Control and Accountability (NMC&A) group at the Savannah River Site is responsible for ensuring that the methods used to determine holdup in the MBAs are valid for the conditions of that MBA. Holdup can be contained inside processing equipment or inside ventilation systems that that pulls air out of the glovebox through HEPA filters and stainless steel piping.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

DOE OSTI2025

Queued Up: 2025 Edition – Characteristics of Power Plants Seeking Transmission Interconnection As of the End of 2024 [Slides]

Electric transmission system operators (ISOs, RTOs, or utilities) require proposed power plants seeking to connect to the transmission grid to undergo a series of impact studies before they can be built. This process establishes what new transmission equipment or upgrades may be needed before a project can connect to the system and assigns the costs of that equipment. The lists of projects in this process are known as “interconnection queues”. In collaboration with interconnection.fyi, Berkeley Lab compiled, aggregated, and cleaned interconnection queue data from >50 transmission grid operators (7 ISO/RTOs and 49 non-ISO balancing areas), which collectively represent ~97% of currently installed U.S. electric generating capacity. The dataset includes requests submitted to queues through the end of 2024, and only includes requests seeking to connect to the transmission grid (not distribution-connected or behind-the-meter projects). The files below include both a PDF report and an Excel data file. The PDF report analyzes interconnection data and metrics through the end of 2024. The Excel data file includes (a) the full project-level interconnection queue dataset through 2024, (b) a codebook (data dictionary) describing each data field, and (c) 35 additional tabs featuring tables summarizing a range of interconnection metrics. Key highlights from the Queued Up: 2025 Edition (featuring data through 2024) include: • As of the end of 2024, there were ~10,300 projects actively seeking grid interconnection in the U.S., representing 1,400 GW of generation and approximately 890 GW of storage. • Historic withdrawal rates alongside relatively fewer new requests resulted in a 12% decrease in total active queue volume compared to the prior year. • Active natural gas capacity (136 GW, +72% year-over-year) increased in 2024, while solar (956 GW, -12%), storage (890 GW, -13%), and wind (271 GW, -26%) capacity decreased. • 408 GW of capacity already has a draft or executed interconnection agreement (IA) but has not yet reached commercial operations. • The time projects spend in queues before reaching COD is increasing. For the regions with available data, the median duration from IR to COD has doubled from <2 years for projects built in 2000-2007 to over 4 years for those built in 2018-2024. • Ultimately, most of this proposed capacity will not be built. Only 13% of capacity that submitted interconnection requests from 2000-2019 had reached commercial operations by the end of 2024; 77% of that capacity had been withdrawn and 10% was still active. • FERC Order 2023 and various other reforms are being implemented. These are important measures to reduce interconnection bottlenecks and enhance grid system reliability, but it is too early to measure and assess their full impact. • New additions for the 2025 edition include: (a) additional detail on data processing and gaps; (b) updates on interconnection reforms; (c) new analysis on interconnection agreements, and more.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

DOE OSTI2026

Queued Up: 2026 Edition, Characteristics of Power Plants Seeking Transmission Interconnection As of the End of 2025 [Slides]

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

DOE OSTI2020

Solar-to-Grid Public Data File for Utility-scale (UPV) and Distributed Photovoltaics (DPV) Generation, Capacity Credit, and Value

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) estimates hourly project-level generation data for utility-scale solar projects and hourly county-level generation data for residential and non-residential distributed photovoltaic (PV) systems in the seven organized wholesale markets and 10 additional Balancing Areas. To encourage its broader use, Berkeley Lab has made this data file public here at OEDI. The public project-level dataset is updated annually with data from the previous calendar year. For more information about the research project, including a technical report, briefing material, visualizations, and additional data, please visit the project homepage linked in this submission. A newer version of the data exists and can be found linked in the resources of this submission under "Solar-to-Grid Public Data File Updated 2021".

annual solar value↗

DOE OSTI2021

Solar-to-Grid Public Data File for Utility-scale (UPV) and Distributed Photovoltaics (DPV) Generation, Capacity Credit, and Value for 2012-2020

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) estimates hourly project-level generation data for utility-scale solar projects and hourly county-level generation data for residential and non-residential distributed photovoltaic (PV) systems in the seven organized wholesale markets and 10 additional Balancing Areas. To encourage its broader use, Berkeley Lab has made this data file public here at OEDI, covering the years 2012-2020. The public project-level dataset is updated annually with data from the previous calendar year. For more information about the research project, including a technical report, briefing material, visualizations, and additional data, please visit the project homepage linked in this submission.

annual solar value↗

DOE OSTI2025

Deployment Potential of Concentrating Solar Power Technologies in California

As states within the United States respond to future grid development goals, there is a growing demand for reliable and resilient nighttime generation that can be addressed by low-cost, long-duration energy storage solutions. This report studies the potential of including concentrating solar power (CSP) in the technology mix to support California’s goals as defined in Senate Bill 100. A joint agency report study that determined potential pathways to achieve the renewable portfolio standard set by the bill did not include CSP, and our work provides information that could be used as a follow-up. This study uses a capacity expansion model configured to have nodal spatial fidelity in California and balancing-area fidelity in the Western Interconnection outside of California. The authors discovered that by applying current technology cost projections CSP fulfills nearly 15% of the annual load while representing just 6% of total installed capacity in 2045, replacing approximately 30 GWe of wind, solar PV, and standalone batteries compared to a scenario without CSP included. The deployment of CSP in the results is sensitive to the technology’s cost, which highlights the importance of meeting cost targets in 2030 and beyond to enable the technology’s potential contribution to California’s carbon reduction goals.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2026

Impact of Space Heating Options on Electricity Rates and Affordability

Electricity prices have increased in many regions of the U.S., with a national average of 18 cents/kWh projected for 2026, up from 16 cents/kWh in 2020. While the increases can be attributed to a number of factors, increasing electricity use in an efficient and strategic manner - with energy efficient building envelope upgrades and high performance HVAC systems - has the potential to increase revenue for utilities without significantly increasing electricity demand, and therefore could help moderate rate increases. This effect has been studied for electric vehicle charging[1] and dual-fuel heat pumps in Minnesota[2]. Leveraging a recently developed system cost methodology and FERC data on utility revenue, spending, and profits, this poster will present the direction and relative magnitude of rate impacts for efficient space heating upgrades in utility balancing areas across the contiguous U.S., using current prices and showing how the rate impacts would evolve under future grid scenarios.

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2021

NREL Price Series Developed for the ARPA-E FLECCS Program

The price data for four regions (CAISO, ERCOT, MISO-W, and PJM-W) are developed using the ReEDS to PLEXOS conversion as described in (Gagnon et al. 2020). The reference ReEDS case chosen is based on the 2020 Standard Scenario Mid-case, which uses the 2020 ReEDS model version (Cole et al. 2020; Ho et al. 2021). All ReEDS model inputs use 2020 Standard Scenarios Mid-case assumptions except for CO2 prices, which are implemented as linearly increasing CO2 price trajectories beginning at $0/tCO2 in 2020 and ending at either $100/tCO2 or $150/tCO2 in 2035 to dive capacity expansion towards a low-carbon system that could support CCS deployment. However, these scenarios also prohibit CCS deployment in this time frame so that resulting price data are not influenced by the deployment and operation of CCS itself. Implementing the ReEDS to PLEXOS conversion tool, PLEXOS is then simulated using the 2035 ReEDS infrastructure for both CO2 price scenarios, with the following model version and setup: PLEXOS Version: 8.2 Solver: Xpress-MP 35.01.01 Mixed integer optimization relative gap 1% System configuration: • Total number of nodes: 134 (consistent with ReEDS balancing areas) • Line losses enforced using piecewise linear approximation • Energy dump was enabled Price data is aggregated to the ISO/RTO level using load-weighted averages. References: Cole, Wesley, Sean Corcoran, Nathaniel Gates, Daniel Mai, Trieu, and Paritosh Das. 2020. “2020 Standard Scenarios Report: A U.S. Electricity Sector Outlook.” NREL/TP-6A20-77442. Golden, CO: National Renewable Energy Laboratory. https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy21osti/77442.pdf. Gagnon, Pieter, Will Frazier, Elaine Hale, and Wesley Cole. 2020. “Cambium Documentation: Version 2020.” NREL/TP-6A20-78239. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States). https://doi.org/10.2172/1734551. Ho, Jonathan, Jonathon Becker, Maxwell Brown, Patrick Brown, Ilya (ORCID:0000000284917814) Chernyakhovskiy, Stuart Cohen, Wesley (ORCID:000000029194065X) Cole, et al. 2021. “Regional Energy Deployment System (ReEDS) Model Documentation: Version 2020.” NREL/TP-6A20-78195. Golden, CO: National Renewable Energy Laboratory. https://doi.org/10.2172/1788425.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

NASA NTRS1981

Market assessment of photovoltaic power systems for agricultural applications in Colombia

The market potential for photovoltaic systems in the agricultural sector of Colombia is assessed. Consideration was given to over twenty specific livestock production, crop production, and rural services applications requiring less than 15 kW of power without backup power. Analysis revealed that near-term potential exists for photovoltaic technology in applications in coffee depulging, cattle watering, rural domestic users, rural water supply and small irrigation, rural telephones, rural health posts, and vaccine refrigeration. Market size would be in the 1200 to 2500 kWp range in the 1981 to 86 timeframe. Positive factors influencing the market size include a lack of electrical services, potential for developing the Llanos Orientales Territory, high fuel costs in remote areas, balance of system availability, the presence of wealthy land owners, and a large government-sponsored contract for photovoltaic (PV)-powered rural telephone systems. The anticipated eligibility of photovoltaic equipment for loans would be a further positive factor in market potential. Important negative factors include relatively inexpensive energy in developed locations, reliance on hydropower, lack of familiarity with PV equipment, a lack of financing, and established foreign competition in PV technology. Recommendations to American PV manufacturers attempting to develop the Colombian market are given.

Steigelmann, W.↗

NASA NTRS1982

XSECT: A computer code for generating fuselage cross sections - user's manual

A computer code, XSECT, has been developed to generate fuselage cross sections from a given area distribution and wing definition. The cross sections are generated to match the wing definition while conforming to the area requirement. An iterative procedure is used to generate each cross section. Fuselage area balancing may be included in this procedure if desired. The code is intended as an aid for engineers who must first design a wing under certain aerodynamic constraints and then design a fuselage for the wing such that the contraints remain satisfied. This report contains the information necessary for accessing and executing the code, which is written in FORTRAN to execute on the Cyber 170 series computers (NOS operating system) and produces graphical output for a Tektronix 4014 CRT. The LRC graphics software is used in combination with the interface between this software and the PLOT 10 software.

Ames, K. R.↗