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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 OSTI2024

Advanced Guide to Understanding Power System Model Results for Long-Term Resource Plans

This guide is for public utility commission staff, state energy office staff, and other stakeholders who review model results for utility integrated resource plans (IRPs). It builds on the "Beginner's Guide to Understanding Power System Model Results for Long-Term Resource Plans," and delves into more advanced topics that were not included or not fully covered in the beginner's guide. The topics included here are evolving and may or may not be important to the resource plan you are evaluating. Due to limitations in resources, it's also not possible to give the highest level of detail or attention to every topic within a plan. An important part of planning for an uncertain future involves deciding which topics deserve the most focus and resources. It's all about prioritizing efforts where they will have the most impact or be most beneficial despite uncertainties ahead. As with the beginner's guide, we intend for this guide to help improve decision-making in the electricity planning process by strengthening understanding and dialogue between electricity system planners and relevant stakeholders. The following information is designed to allow you to better engage in the planning process by evaluating results, asking questions, and thinking through what is most important. We allocate significant discussion in the guide to electricity demand evolution, demand-side resources, and resource adequacy. These topics have garnered increasing attention, hence their prominence in this guide. Other topics are also presented, but their incorporation into the planning process might vary based on interest and relevance. The absence of certain topics doesn't diminish their importance; rather, it reflects the reality that in planning, trade-offs necessitate prioritizing certain aspects over others.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2026

A Comprehensive Comparison of Methods for Evaluating Dispatch of Long-Duration Energy Storage in Power Systems Models

Long-duration energy storage (LDES) could play a pivotal role in the transformation of electricity grids with high shares of variable renewable energy (VRE) such as solar and wind. However, the weather-dependent nature of VRE introduces challenges for grid balancing and stability, which LDES - along with short-duration energy storage (SDES) - can help address. However, modeling LDES in production cost models (PCMs) is particularly challenging due to the need for high temporal resolution over extended optimization windows while preserving chronology, which ensures the alignment of energy storage operations with VRE generation over multi-day periods. This report compares traditional dispatch methods with advanced LDES dispatch strategies, such as the extended horizon approach, across different PCM platforms and examines tradeoffs and scalability. The comparison reveals that the traditional 1-day optimization horizon within the PCM leads to inefficient utilization of LDES. In contrast, extending the optimization horizon as much as possible significantly reduces curtailment and improves storage dispatch, especially in renewable-dense systems. There is also promise in using state-of-charge or end volume targets set by an external model, however this requires an additional modeling set and generally increases computational burden. This paper presents a comparison of these various methods in a number of power systems, showing algorithms initially in small test systems and scaling up to large, country-wide simulations. Overall, the research presents the trade-offs of various computational methods and illustrates how LDES may play an essential role in power systems of the future.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Modeling Spacecraft Power Systems Using the SPACE Code

The NASA Glenn Research Center’s Power Architecture and Analysis Branch performs spacecraft electrical power system (EPS) performance analysis using the System Power Analysis for Capability Evaluation (SPACE) model. Accurately predicting EPS performance requires a wide range of inputs, including the spacecraft’s position, attitude, solar array temperature, load demand, and data on the EPS itself. By operating as a combined analysis tool with integrated orbit mechanics, attitude, shadowing, thermal, solar array, battery, and electrical component models, SPACE provides flexibility for the analyst to examine various scenarios without a time-consuming iterative process involving separate analysis tools and groups. SPACE also achieves short run times by tailoring the complexity of the included models, providing enough fidelity to ensure accurate EPS performance predictions without being bogged down by unnecessary detail. These advantages that SPACE has over similar power system models has contributed to its successful use on a variety of human spaceflight programs for over three decades, and makes it applicable across the development cycle from early conceptual design up through on-orbit operations.

Electrical Power System↗
DOE OSTI2024

An integrated transportation-power system model for a decarbonizing world

Rising demand for electricity from electric vehicles (EVs) will require new paradigms to guarantee reliable and low-cost electricity. This study couples an agent-based travel demand simulator and an electricity grid model to assess the economic costs of supplying power to meet EVs' added demand across the Chicago region. Results suggest that shifting from personal EVs to a fleet of shared, fully-automated all-electric vehicles (SAEVs) could lower per-mile emissions, congestion, and embodied vehicle and charging infrastructure emissions. Further, the results should compel policymakers to shift the cost of providing power onto commercial customers, like electric ride-hail fleets, through price-indexed electricity prices, which can shift charging to off-peak periods or away from resource-scarce hours.

Integrated modeling↗
DOE OSTI2026

A comprehensive framework for validating simulation models of power system equipment using terminal measurements

Accurate simulation of power-plants is essential to the planning and operation of modern power grids. The current methods used to periodically check power-plant simulation models have many open questions about their limitations and accuracy. The research in this project explored using Monte-Carlo Experimentation (MCE) as a means for answering these important questions.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
NASA NTRS2007

Stirling System Modeling for Space Nuclear Power Systems

A dynamic model of a high-power Stirling convertor has been developed for space nuclear power systems modeling. The model is based on the Component Test Power Convertor (CTPC), a 12.5-kWe free-piston Stirling convertor. The model includes the fluid heat source, the Stirling convertor, output power and heat rejection. The Stirling convertor model includes the Stirling cycle thermodynamics, heat flow, mechanical mass-spring damper systems, and the linear alternator. The model was validated against test data. Both nonlinear and linear versions of the model were developed. The linear version algebraically couples two separate linear dynamic models; one model of the Stirling cycle and one model of the thermal system, through the pressure factors. Future possible uses of the Stirling system dynamic model are discussed. A pair of commercially available 1-kWe Stirling convertors is being purchased by NASA Glenn Research Center. The specifications of those convertors may eventually be incorporated into the dynamic model and analysis compared to the convertor test data. Subsequent potential testing could include integrating the convertors into a pumped liquid metal hot-end interface. This test would provide more data for comparison to the dynamic model analysis.

Lewandowski, Edward J.↗
NASA NTRS2008

Stirling System Modeling for Space Nuclear Power Systems

A dynamic model of a high-power Stirling convertor has been developed for space nuclear power systems modeling. The model is based on the Component Test Power Convertor (CTPC), a 12.5-kWe free-piston Stirling convertor. The model includes the fluid heat source, the Stirling convertor, output power, and heat rejection. The Stirling convertor model includes the Stirling cycle thermodynamics, heat flow, mechanical mass-spring damper systems, and the linear alternator. The model was validated against test data. Both nonlinear and linear versions of the model were developed. The linear version algebraically couples two separate linear dynamic models; one model of the Stirling cycle and one model of the thermal system, through the pressure factors. Future possible uses of the Stirling system dynamic model are discussed. A pair of commercially available 1-kWe Stirling convertors is being purchased by NASA Glenn Research Center. The specifications of those convertors may eventually be incorporated into the dynamic model and analysis compared to the convertor test data. Subsequent potential testing could include integrating the convertors into a pumped liquid metal hot-end interface. This test would provide more data for comparison to the dynamic model analysis.

Lewandowski, Edward J.↗
DOE OSTI2021

Networked HIL Simulation System for Modeling Large-scale Power Systems

This paper presents a networked hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulation system for modeling large-scale power systems. Researchers have developed many HIL test systems for power systems in recent years. Those test systems can model both microsecond-level dynamic responses of power electronic systems and millisecond-level transients of transmission and distribution grids. By integrating individual HIL test systems into a network of HIL test systems, we can create large-scale power grid digital twins with flexible structures at required modeling resolution that fits for a wide range of system operating conditions. This will not only significantly reduce the need for field tests when developing new technologies but also greatly shorten the model development cycle. In this paper, we present a networked OPAL-RT based HIL test system for developing transmission-distribution coordinative Volt-VAr regulation technologies as an example to illustrate system setups, communication requirements among different HIL simulation systems, and system connection mechanisms. Impacts of communication delays, information exchange cycles, and computing delays are illustrated. Simulation results show that the performance of a networked HIL test system is satisfactory.

Xie, Fuhong↗
DOE OSTI2022

Emerging Trends in Power System Planning Models

This presentation highlights NREL's power system modeling capabilities, both existing and the future direction of improvements. Specific enhancements to the ReEDS (Regional Energy Deployment System) model and a new electricity market design testbed called EMIS (Electricity Markets and Investment Suite) were described. This content was part of a broader discussion to help inform the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Committee on the Future of Electric Power in the U.S. on existing power system models and improvements needed in these models to capture the increasing complexity and interconnectedness of the power system.

capacity expansion modeling↗
DOE OSTI2020

Modeling Needs for Power Semiconductor Devices and Power Electronics Systems: Preprint

As energy systems move towards wide-spread electrification, penetration of power semiconductor devices and power electronics continues to grow at a rapid pace. This paper attempts to review the state of the art in power semiconductor modeling and the existing state of modeling in general when in it comes to design of devices and systems. The modeling needs for semiconductor devices vary depending on the end goal, and the level of abstraction needed towards model formulation also changes with the size and complexity of system to be designed. Finally, key aspects of thermal design and modeling for power electronics are also discussed.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2020

Data Repository for Power system Open models With Evolving Resources (DR POWER) (Final Scientific/Technical Report)

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) created a Data Repository for Power system Open models With Evolving Resources (DR POWER) to establish, curate, and evolve open-access power grid models and scenarios, and measurements and observations, collectively referred to as datasets. Existing open-access datasets are inadequate (too small and not representative of the complexity of the modern grid, and scattered all over the world wide web) for the investigation and benchmarking of the advanced optimization methods needed for next-generation grids. Open-access datasets are static and inadequate in other aspects: they do not provide format transformation tools; there is missing information needed for advanced applications; hard to cite; no model evolution history; difficult to update current collections; and little to no community involvement and feedback. Overall, the current landscape is hindering model evolution and benchmarking standards needed for transformational approaches to be developed, tested, and accepted by the power modeling community.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2026

Toward Energy-Efficient HPC: Insights from Power Profiling a Cloud-Resolving Earth System Model

Power is a fundamental constraint as supercomputing advances to exascale. Efficient operation within strict power budgets requires application-aware power management based on a detailed understanding of application-level power behavior. This work analyzes the Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM) atmosphere component, SCREAM, on Perlmutter (NERSC) and Frontier (OLCF). We characterize power variation across inputs, concurrency levels, and power caps, evaluate the energy impact of code optimizations, and attribute energy within the code using a newly developed GPU energy model. Results show that SCREAM’s peak power remains stable during its core execution phase and decreases gradually as concurrency increases. Power capping experiments reveal a performance–energy "sweet spot". On Perlmutter, limiting GPU power to 50% of thermal design power (TDP) achieves up to 15% energy savings with a 7% performance penalty. On Frontier, a 40% TDP cap yields up to 10% energy savings with less than 10% performance loss. Code optimizations reduce SCREAM energy by shortening run time without increasing power. Modeling reveals a critical insight: data movement accounts for approximately 70% of SCREAM’s GPU energy. This fundamentally shifts the optimization focus from FLOPS to data transfer reduction for this class of applications, offering the most impactful strategy for improving energy efficiency. This work establishes a foundation for practical, application-aware power management at exascale.

Zhao, Zhengji [Lawrence Berkeley National Laborato↗