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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 OSTI2020

Annual Technology Baseline: The 2020 Electricity Update

Consistent cost and performance data for various electricity generation technologies can be difficult to find and may change frequently for certain technologies. With the Annual Technology Baseline (ATB), the National Renewable Energy Laboratory annually provides an organized and centralized set of such cost and performance data. The ATB uses the best information from the Department of Energy national laboratories' renewable energy analysts. The ATB has been reviewed by experts and it includes the following electricity generation technologies: land-based wind, offshore wind, utility-scale solar photovoltaics (PV), commercial-scale solar PV, residential-scale solar PV, concentrating solar power, geothermal power, hydropower, utility-scale battery storage. EIA data for coal, natural gas, nuclear, and conventional biopower are included for reference. This webinar presentation introduces the 2020 update to the ATB Electricity data and documentation.

capacity factor↗
DOE OSTI2020

Direct-DC Power in Buildings: Identifying the Best Applications Today for Tomorrow’s Building Sector

Driven by the increased use of direct current (DC) sources (photovoltaics, battery storage) and DC end-use devices (electronics, solid-state lighting, efficient motors), DC power distribution in buildings and DC microgrids have been proposed as a way to achieve greater efficiency, cost savings, and resiliency in a transitioning building sector. Despite these important benefits, several market and technological barriers inhibit the development of DC distribution, and the market for DC in buildings is still largely in the demonstration phase. Therefore, to jumpstart this technology, a clear path forward must emerge at this early stage of deployment. The goal of this paper is to define specific end-use cases for which DC distribution in buildings is a value proposition today by defining clear efficiency and resiliency benefits while addressing barriers to implementation. The paper begins with a technology and market assessment of DC distribution equipment, end uses, and technology standards. That is followed by results from an expert elicitation of DC power and building end-use professionals (e.g., electrical designers, building operators, engineers) and reports on-site visits and lessons learned from successful (and less successful) field deployments of DC distribution projects in North America. We present specific adoption pathways at the community and building level that can be implemented today, and evaluate them using qualitative and quantitative metrics, such as technology and market readiness, energy savings, and resiliency.

building-level electrical distribution↗
DOE OSTI2020

Incorporating Combined Heat and Power Modeling into the REopt Lite Web Tool

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is working with project partners to extend the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) REopt Lite tool to include combined heat and power (CHP) modeling capabilities. REopt Lite currently provides technoeconomic optimization and resilience analysis for grid-connected solar photovoltaics, (PV), wind, and battery storage at a site. The tool analyzes hourly data across the project lifecycle and evaluates the trade-off between capital costs, operating costs, and savings to find the most cost-effective mix of technologies.

Combined Heat and Power, CHP, Modeling, Tool, Fact↗
DOE OSTI2021

Traveling Wave Relays for Distribution Feeder Protection with High Penetrations of Distributed Energy Resources

Increased penetration of power electronics interfaced Distributed Energy Resources (DER) like PV, electric vehicle and battery storage in the distribution system (both in numbers and sizes) may cause bi-directional power flows under normal operation. In addition, they contribute low fault current under short circuit conditions. These two changes can impact the proper operation of legacy protection systems. This can add additional challenges during weak grid and islanded operation. In this research, traveling wave (high frequency) signature based protection scheme is proposed for future distribution systems. Simulations are performed under different transient scenarios to provide insight into the high frequency signatures to show the traveling wave behavior. Finally, this paper discusses the importance of sensing and digital processing requirements for traveling-wave protection in distribution system.

41 EE - Solar Energy Technologies Office (EE-4S)↗
DOE OSTI2021

Direct-DC Power in Buildings: Identifying the Best Applications Today for Tomorrow’s Building Sector

Driven by the increased use of direct current (DC) sources (photovoltaics, battery storage) and DC end-use devices (electronics, solid-state lighting, efficient motors), DC power distribution in buildings and DC microgrids have been proposed as a way to achieve greater efficiency, cost savings, and resiliency in a transitioning building sector.Despite these important benefits, several market and technological barriers inhibit the development of DC distribution, and the market for DC in buildings is still largely in the demonstration phase. Therefore, to jumpstart this technology, a clear path forward must emerge at this early stage of deployment. The goal of this paper is to define specific end-use cases for which DC distribution in buildings is a value proposition today by defining clear efficiency and resiliency benefits while addressing barriers to implementation.The paper begins with a technology and market assessment of DC distribution equipment, end uses, and technology standards. That is followed by results from an expert elicitation of DC power and building end-use professionals (e.g., electrical designers, building operators, engineers) and reports on-site visits and lessons learned from successful (and less successful) field deployments of DC distribution projects in North America. We present specific adoption pathways at the community and building level that can be implemented today, and evaluate them using qualitative and quantitative metrics, such as technology and market readiness, energy savings, and resiliency.

Vossos, Evangelos↗
DOE OSTI2021

REopt Lite Tutorial: International Locations

NREL’s REopt Lite web tool helps users evaluate the economic viability of distributed photovoltaic (PV), wind, battery storage, combined heat and power, and thermal energy storage systems. REopt Lite was designed for locations within the United States; however, with appropriate adjustments, it is possible to use most of its features for international locations.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2021

Development of Integrated Mechanical Pods

This presentation highlights early wins, updated progress, and upcoming developments on ‘national-scale shared development platform’ for rapid prototyping, testing and validation of various integrated Mechanical Pod solutions and form factors. Such pod solutions consist of a set of all-electric heat pump mechanical equipment that have integrated functionalities through built-in controls, with heating, cooling, hot water, ventilation (including energy recovery), electrical management, and battery storage within a single package. The presentation draws inspiration from the success of bathroom pods in the US modular construction industry, UK’s efforts with unitizing mechanical systems as ‘utility cupboards’, and VEIC’s early wins in design-build of all-electric Mechanical Pod solutions in Vermont. The presentation includes researchers and partners involved with NREL in Design for Manufacturing and Assembly (DfMA), Virtual Design and Construction (VDC), and digital twin based process optimization modeling of integrated Mechanical Pod solutions. The presentation aims to highlight early wins from such a platform and how various physical and virtual tools are currently being employed as part of NREL’s ongoing multi-year project funded by US DOE. Streamlined procurement, coordination, installation, and O&M of Mechanical Pods such that the majority of work is delegated to the off-site modular factory implies monetary savings. Such a seemingly basic shift in location of the construction process leads to great reduction in complexity, first cost, lead time, and waste, and greater opportunities for innovative compartmentalization and integration of mechanical systems appropriately sized for each apartment or hotel guest room. However, past studies on unitized combination systems show that high installation costs, maintenance issues, challenges with system integration, limitations in existing electrical infrastructure, and lack of architecturally appealing solutions are key barriers. NREL and partners aim to address key barriers through DfMA approach, rapid prototyping and testing, and digital twin process optimization modeling. The presentation is also a call for interested entities to partner with NREL as part of the national-scale development platform, help drive both product and process innovation, and encourage open source sharing of learnings. Learning objectives include (1) learn about the vision of national-scale shared development platform for process-product innovation on integrated mechanical pod solutions and how to get involved, (2) gain an understanding of the components of an all-electric, high performance home, design characteristics and equipment included in an all-electric mechanical pod, integration of mechanical systems within a modular factories’ assembly line, and the system’s commissioning, operation and maintenance. The pre-planning and coordination with the factory and sub-contractors are also highlighted, (3) gain an understanding of using process modeling tools to quantify resource-constrained performance of operations (such as integration of energy efficiency strategies) to manufacture modules of varying design, (4) gain insights on virtual design, rapid prototyping, and emulated testing of various form factors across different climatic conditions. The need for such preliminary testing with open source sharing of learnings will also be highlighted.

30 DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION↗
DOE OSTI2021

Solar PV Curtailment in Changing Grid and Technological Contexts: Preprint

Solar photovoltaic (PV) systems generate electricity with no marginal costs or emissions. As a result, PV output is almost always prioritized over other fuel sources and delivered to the electric grid. At increasing levels of PV penetration situations arise where PV is curtailed, either because of local supply/demand imbalances or to maintain system flexibility. In 2018, we estimate that about 6.5 million MWh of PV output was curtailed in four key countries: Chile, China, Germany, and the United States. We find that PV curtailment peaks in the spring and fall, when PV output is relatively high but electricity demand is relatively low. Similar to the case of wind, some PV curtailment is attributable to limited transmission capacity connecting sparsely populated solar-heavy regions to load centers.Grid policies generally seek to minimize curtailment because it is viewed as an economic and environmental loss. However, we argue that changing grid and technological contexts warrant new thinking on PV curtailment. In the grid context, as grids integrate more PV and other renewable energy generation, seeking an optimal level of accepted curtailment becomes more efficient than preventing it. In the technological context, emerging technologies such as advanced inverters and low-cost battery storage are making PV systems more flexible. With flexible PV, grid operators can use withheld PV output to provide various non-generation grid services. This withheld PV output is a form of curtailment under prevailing definitions of the term. Hence, policies that aim to minimize curtailment may undercut the ability of grid operators to fully use the emerging capabilities of flexible PV systems. We argue that the changing grid and technological contexts require a re-examination of the curtailment paradigm. We argue that PV output that is withheld to provide grid services is fundamentally different from output that goes unused in response to system constraints. As a result, we propose a more exclusive definition of curtailment as unused PV output rather than the more expansive conventional definition as any reduction in system output from its technical potential. The terminological distinction is more than a question of semantics. Facilitating grid services by withholding PV output may increase the potential value of flexible PV systems to the grid. This shift in thinking may allow grid operators and policymakers to think in terms of PV curtailment management rather than minimization. Effective curtailment management may include policies that increase PV system dispatchability, alternative PV compensation schemes that decouple generator revenue from system output, and policies to increase grid flexibility.

Chile↗
DOE OSTI2022

Scalable Predictive Control and Optimization for Grid Integration of Large-Scale Distributed Energy Resources: Preprint

Integration of a large number of distributed energy resources (DERs) into the power grid needs a scalable power balancing method. We formulate the power balancing problem as a look-ahead optimization problem to be solved sequentially by a power distribution system aggregator based on a model predictive control (MPC) framework. Solving large-scale look-ahead control problem requires proper configuration of the control steps. In this paper, to solve large-scale control problems, we propose a variable time granularity where control time steps nearby the current control step have finer resolutions. The aggregator objective includes maximization of power production revenue and minimization of power purchasing expense, renewable power curtailment, and mileage costs for energy storage and electric vehicle (EV) charging stations while satisfying system capacity and operational constraints. The control problem is formulated as a mixed-integer linear program (MILP) and solved using the XpressMP solver. We perform simulations considering a copper plate representation of a large distribution network consisting of 2507 devices (controllable DERs) including curtailable photovoltaics (PVs), energy storage batteries, EV charging stations, and buildings with heating, ventilation, and air conditioning units (HVACs). We show the effectiveness of the proposed approach in managing DERs interactively for maximum energy trading profit and local supply-demand power balancing. Finally, we demonstrate that the proposed method outperformed other benchmark controllers regarding computation time without compromising operational performance.

DER↗
DOE OSTI2022

Impact of Thermal Plant Operational Flexibility on VRE Curtailment: The Curtailment Paradox

This presentation provides an overview of a previously published paper in Joule "The curtailment paradox in the transition to high solar power systems." The adoption of PV and battery storage has accelerated globally in recent years, driven by rapid cost declines. A corresponding increase in curtailment is anticipated as PV growth continues. This study explores the effect of system flexibility options on curtailment across increasing PV penetration levels. Results highlight a paradox where thermal generator flexibility matters most only at mid-PV penetration levels (25%-40%), and a misalignment exists where PV provides system value by providing operating reserves without sufficient opportunity for monetary compensation.

capacity expansion modeling↗
DOE OSTI2020

Optimal Sizing of Resilience Solutions for the U.S. Army Reserve

Power or water outages in buildings threaten the ability of the military to support surrounding communities during natural disasters. Outages can last for days, weeks or months. Typical solutions include very expensive batteries and onsite generation that are sized based on historical power needs. The U.S. Army Reserve (USAR) has teamed up with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) to develop a simulation framework that optimizes future power needs to reduce the cost of resilience solutions. The approach starts with the building. Power needs during an emergency event are simulated at the building end-use level, then loads are reduced through the selection of life cycle cost-effective building-level technology improvements. These new optimized loads are then fed into a microgrid sizing tool that dynamically constructs many different combinations of solar photovoltaic, battery storage, and generator resources to meet the load for hundreds of statistically generated outage scenarios. Six site assessments completed by USAR and PNNL in 2019 have resulted in a 1-14% reduction in overall investment when optimizing the buildings first before determining the generation requirements. This approach helps the Army secure critical missions and provide a 14 day-minimum supply of necessary energy and water in the most efficient manner.

buidlings, efficiency, resilience, FEDS, MCOR↗
DOE OSTI2022

AI-Driven Smart Community Control for Accelerating PV Adoption and Enhancing Grid Resilience

Rapid deployment of residential photovoltaic (PV) systems helps decarbonize our electricity supplies, but under certain circumstances, high-penetration PV may pose challenges to the electrical distribution grid. In a project funded by the U.S. Department of Energy's Solar Energy Technologies Office and Building Technologies Office, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and its partners studied how flexible building loads and battery storage, when coordinated at home-level and community-level scales, can be used to address those challenges and enhance grid resilience. In this webinar, we will discuss the methodology, simulation and field pilot results, insights from partners, and lessons learned from the project.

artificial intelligence↗
DOE OSTI2022

Scalable Predictive Control and Optimization for Grid Integration of Large-Scale Distributed Energy Resources

Integrating a large number of distributed energy resources (DERs) into the power grid needs a scalable power balancing method. We formulate the power balancing problem as a look-ahead optimization problem to be solved sequentially by a power distribution system aggregator based on a model predictive control (MPC) framework. Solving large-scale look-ahead control problems requires proper configuration of the control steps. In this paper, to solve large-scale control problems, we propose a variable time granularity where control time steps nearby the current control step have finer resolutions. The aggregator objective includes maximization of power production revenue and minimization of power purchasing expense, renewable power curtailment, and mileage costs for energy storage and electric vehicle (EV) charging stations while satisfying system capacity and operational constraints. The control problem is formulated as a mixed-integer linear program (MILP) and solved using the XpressMP solver. We perform simulations considering a copper plate representation of a large distribution network consisting of 2507 devices (controllable DERs), including curtailable photovoltaics (PVs), energy storage batteries, EV charging stations, and buildings with heating, ventilation, and air conditioning units (HVACs). We show the effectiveness of the proposed approach in managing DERs interactively for maximum energy trading profit and local supply-demand power balancing. Finally, we demonstrate that the proposed method outperforms other benchmark controllers regarding computation time without compromising operational performance.

DER↗
DOE OSTI2022

If One GEB is Good, a Community of GEBs is Better

Energy efficient, connected, grid-interactive, smart and flexible buildings are key to decarbonization, lowering energy use and improving the nation’s electricity grid. The U.S. Department of Energy’s Connected Communities initiative works to demonstrate how coordinated groups of highly efficient buildings combined with other distributed energy resources (DERs), such as electric vehicle (EV) charging, batteries, storage, demand response and photovoltaic (PV) generation can reliably and cost-effectively serve as grid assets by strategically deploying efficiency and demand flexibility while reducing carbon emissions. In 2021, DOE competitively awarded $61 million to a diverse portfolio of 10 pilot projects to promote grid-interactive efficient buildings (GEBs) working together to reliably and cost-effectively serve as grid assets while decarbonizing. Two of the main tenets of the program are measuring the communities’ energy and carbon performance and understanding how to replicate project successes in other communities. This paper begins with a discussion of what Connected Communities are (including a brief history) and their many benefits, including reduced carbon emissions and increased building efficiency and demand flexibility. Next, it provides an overview of the 10 projects, highlighting the diversity of approaches to measure success and replicate the projects: geographic locations; building types; utility, regulatory, market environments; and building vintages that will be used to test the ability of buildings to serve as grid resources. It concludes with a discussion of anticipated project impacts and the metrics that will be used to evaluate the Connected Communities projects.

Nemtzow, David↗
DOE OSTI2022

EVSE Cybersecurity and Resilience

Consequence-driven Cybersecurity Analysis for Extreme Fast Charging Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Electric vehicle (EV) development and associated charging infrastructure are expected to advance rapidly. Thirty percent of all global vehicle sales may be EVs and hybrid EVs by 2025, and they will rely on increasingly sophisticated strategies for grid integration. Next-generation EV charging infrastructure is expected to include interconnected renewable resources, such as photovoltaic (PV) arrays and battery storage systems, along with grid-edge devices. Although distributed energy resources (DERs) are useful in several ways, such as peak shaving at high demand times and backup supply for added resilience, the integration of vehicle charging and DERs could create more avenues for cyberattack. Physical and/or remote access to EV charging station components, including charge ports, power electronics, controllers, and local generation (e.g., PV and energy storage) could be paths to cause power fluctuations, leading to altered operations at the charging station, escalated privileges to administrative systems, exfiltration of financial information (including personally identifiable information), and reduced grid stability. One compromised EV supply equipment component can open the door to a variety of exploitable vulnerabilities. Cloud computing and mobile application control have the potential to expand the threat surface to non-repudiation and firmware integrity challenges. Vendor clouds have access to hundreds of chargers, and if compromised, can scale the attack surface exponentially. The high power and voltage levels of xFC infrastructure (e.g., 400 kW at 1000- V DC) increase the hazards and ability to impact the grid and vehicles more than lower-power charging systems. Legacy communications systems and protocols could also put EV infrastructure at risk of cyberattacks requiring a robust patch management process. Communications networks link EVs and chargers to several stakeholders - including charging station operators, grid operators, vendors/manufacturers, and aggregators - who have both physical and network access to share information for control, monitoring, and analytics. Information in these networks that is vulnerable to compromise includes the state of charge, charging duration, payment information, electricity price, and load control. Analyzing and prioritizing these interconnections risks could help address cybersecurity related to data leakage and manipulation.

charging↗
DOE OSTI2023

Energy-Efficient and Resilient Infrastructure: Simulation, Validation, and Installation

Advanced, high-performance computing at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has enabled access to vast data resources with cutting-edge software techniques to understand, design, plan for, and maintain energy-efficient and resilient infrastructure. We have focused on cities and airports, but the technology we have developed will easily translate to seaports, inland ports, military installations, or other complex and large-scale energy-intensive systems. We can digitally simulate and explore current and future scenarios to make datadriven decisions for optimizing advanced energy systems, transportation and building operations, infrastructure planning and expansion, and battery storage to guide short- and long-term investments, electrification strategies, and integration of new technologies.

Athena↗
DOE OSTI2023

Onsite Energy Techno-Economic Analysis Using REopt

Since 2019, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has collaborated with IEDO's Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Deployment Program and the CHP Technical Assistance Partnerships (TAPs) to expand the capabilities of NREL's publicly available REopt® tool for techno-economic analysis of on-site energy. As a result, capabilities to analyze heating and cooling loads and serve those loads with CHP were added to the REopt tool in 2021. Currently, NREL is using REopt to evaluate the economics and feasibility of deploying distributed energy resources at sites of 3-5 manufacturers. The analysis is based on location, site-specific load data, customized utility bill analysis, and other criteria such as resilience needs and decarbonization targets. The objectives of the current effort are to (1) assist manufacturers with analyzing on-site energy options, including CHP, solar photovoltaics (PV), wind, and battery storage, (2) validate the capabilities and use of REopt to provide technical assistance to manufacturers, and (3) publish case studies showcasing the engagement, key takeaways, and lessons learned. Future work is expected to include additional REopt capabilities for evaluating other technologies to reduce scope 1 emissions, such as electrifying process heating loads, using carbon-free fuels, and other clean heat strategies.

ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2023

Evaluation of Communication Issues in Primal-Dual-Based Distributed Energy Resource Management Systems (DERMS): Preprint

With the increasing adoption of distributed energy resources (DERs) in distribution networks, DERMS is becoming an attractive option to coordinate the control of DERs, especially primal-dual-based DERMS which is a well-developed class of them. In order to help lower the uncertainty in commercializing them, we evaluate and find the upper limits of severity for some common issues that can occur within the communication systems on which a primal-dual-based DERMS relies on; these include packet losses, link failures, and delays. This information can help a DERMS operator decide on the specifications for the communication infrastructure it will invest in for the DERMS. Our evaluation is based on numerical simulations of a real-world feeder with around 2,000 nodes and a DERMS that controls 163 PV generators and 140 energy storage batteries. In general, we found that the DERMS becomes less resistant to communication issues as the information flows closer to the DERs implementing the controllable power injections.

communication delay↗