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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 91 records · Page 5
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2021

Codes and Standards Assessment for Hydrogen Blends into the Natural Gas Infrastructure

Energy utilities are evaluating emerging energy technologies to reduce reliance on carbon as an energy carrier. Hydrogen has been identified as a potential substitute for carbon-based fuels that can be blended into other gaseous energy carriers, such as natural gas. However, hydrogen blending into natural gas has important implications on safety which need to be evaluated. Designers and installers of systems that utilize hydrogen gas blending into natural gas distribution systems need to adhere to local building codes and engage with the authority having jurisdiction (AHJ) for safety and permitting approvals. These codes and standards must be considered to understand where safety gaps might be apparent when injecting hydrogen into the natural gas infrastructure. This report generates a list of relevant codes and standards for hydrogen blending on existing, upgraded, or new pipelines. Additionally, a preliminary assessment was made to identify the codes and standards that need to be modified to enable this technology as well as potential gaps due to the unique nature and safety concerns of gaseous hydrogen.

03 NATURAL GAS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Recycling Wind Energy Systems in the United States Part 1: Providing a Baseline for America's Wind Energy Recycling Infrastructure for Wind Turbines and Systems

The U.S. investments in building this new wind energy capacity will not only mobilize millions of tons of raw and processed materials in existing supply chains, some of which are critical materials, but also create new types and large volumes of end-of-life (EOL) waste streams. Building efficient, cost-effective, and environmentally responsible EOL management infrastructure of wind energy system components is pivotal in diverting upcoming volumes of waste stream from landfills, recovery of critical materials and reducing life cycle emissions from production of primary commodity materials . The primary goal of this report is to organize and communicate findings from this assessment on how alternate materials, designs and manufacturing processes could enable more efficient, cost-effective, and environmentally responsible disassembly and resource recovery from wind energy technologies. The findings of this assessment could inform prioritization of RD&D investment spending to meet Energy Act of 2020 directions. This assessment focused on key RD&D recommendations for three main temporal phases: Short-term (2023-2026), medium-term (2026 through 2035) and long-term (beyond 2035).

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Field Insights: Strengthening Digital Assurance Through On-Site Network Monitoring

The accelerating deployment of digital energy infrastructure, ranging from inverter-based resources (IBRs), battery energy storage systems (BESS), to advanced grid control platforms, has brought unprecedented visibility, flexibility, and efficiency to the electric grid. However, this digital transformation also introduces new cybersecurity challenges, particularly in the form of supply chain risks and operational blind spots at the grid edge. Over the past year, the Department of Energy’s Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER), through its Rapid Risk Assessment initiative, along with the Grid Deployment Office (GDO), through its Technical Assistance for Digital Assurance (TADA) initiative, have supported a series of on-site network engagements led by Idaho National Laboratory (INL). These engagements, conducted in partnership with asset owners across the country, have focused on identifying real-world vulnerabilities and misconfigurations in operational environments, many of which are not detectable through remote assessments or traditional compliance audits. The goal of this report is to distill key findings and lessons learned during network hunt engagements from INL’s fiscal year (FY) 2024 - 2025. It is intended to help asset owners—regardless of their participation in the program—better understand the evolving threat landscape and adopt practical measures to secure their digital energy infrastructure.

24 - POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2026

Synthetic Digital Environments for Training Robots on Earth & Beyond [Poster]

Creating physical replicas of real-world environments to train robots for challenging outdoor tasks, whether constructing energy infrastructure like solar farms on Earth or on the Moon and Mars, is prohibitively expensive. This project will prototype a high-fidelity digital twin framework using NVIDIA IsaacSim to create realistic digital representations of robotic systems and their operating conditions, including varied terrains and environmental factors, allowing robots to learn and adapt in a faster, safer, and more affordable way to tackle unpredictable challenges in terrestrial and extraterrestrial applications. The Robotic Space Exploration (RoSE) Lab at Colorado School of Mines focused on the development and testing of synthetic digital twins to explore multi-physics interactions between robots and unstructured environments, with emphasis on lunar conditions such as deformable regolith, reduced gravity, and terrain-robot contact dynamics. The Industrialized Construction Innovation (ICI) team at National laboratory of the Rockies (NLR), simulated robotic apparatus and construction workflows using synthetic digital twins to inform real-world deployment, targeting application-driven use cases such as robotic construction of a scaled prototype of a photovoltaic energy infrastructure. Joint efforts between RoSE and ICI are continuing to explore how environment-scale multi-physics modeling and application-level robotic system simulation could be integrated to support robotic construction of energy infrastructure in highly unstructured environments, including scenarios relevant to the Lunar South Pole.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2024

Lifespan Impacts to Infrastructure, Renewable Energy Components and Energy Storage Components Related to Fluoropolymer Use

This report focuses on the use of fluoropolymers in infrastructure materials (building construction materials, transportation, and electrical transmission and distribution); renewable energy generation components (specifically wind and solar); and energy storage components (lithium-ion batteries and fuel cells) and product lifespan impacts if fluoropolymers were no longer available or allowed in commerce. Additionally, environmental considerations for fluoropolymer manufacture, use, and end-of-life disposal are discussed. This document is the second of two companion reports. The first report, Assessment of Fluoropolymer Production and Use With Analysis of Alternative Replacement Materials, contained an analysis of use of fluoropolymers and their potential replacement technologies in aerospace, automotive, battery, building construction, chemical processing, electronics, infrastructure, semiconductor, solar panel, and wind energy industries sectors, along with qualitative life cycle assessment (LCA) and cost-benefit analysis of replacing fluoropolymers. This report does not focus on the lifecycle aspects of use of fluoropolymer or alternatives in the designated applications. For more information on those topics, see aforementioned report.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2026

Exploring Wildfire & Energy data toward State Prioritization Index (WESPI)

Energy infrastructure can both induce and suffer risks from wildfires ranging from direct damage to energy assets such as substations and power lines to Public Safety Power Shutoffs. Recent wildfire events underscore the need for data-driven approaches that help states and utilities proactively plan for wildfire risk. Existing national tools such as Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)’s National Risk Index (NRI) are valuable for community hazard planning. However, they are less suited for energy infrastructure, as they emphasize population and building exposure rather than system vulnerabilities. In this paper, we explore relationships between energy and wildfire data and present a Wildfire-Energy State Prioritization Index (WESPI). Our methodology combines data from the US Forest Service’s Fire Simulation (FSIM) dataset with energy resilience metrics, historical fire incidents, and geospatial data on transmission lines and fire stations. Correlation analyses suggest that FSIM burn probability is more strongly associated with power outage metrics (ρ = 0.32) than NRI wildfire frequency, and counties with a greater density of fire stations experience more frequent, but less intense wildfires. We further leverage data for burn probability, transmission line density, and fire station density to develop a Wildfire-Energy State Prioritization Index (WESPI) to highlight counties where wildfire hazard, infrastructure exposure, and limited suppression capacity converge. The index provides a consistent, scalable framework for state energy offices and utilities to screen counties for vegetation management, optimization of outage management system deployment, and to inform wildfire mitigation plans.

Critical infrastructure↗
DOE OSTI2026

Advanced Data Center Energy Opportunities: Cloud and Infrastructure CoP - Data Center Energy and Efficiency with AI Adoption

The NLR portion of the "Cloud & Infrastructure CoP - Data Center Energy and Efficiency with AI Adoption" web meeting will cover data center locations, energy use and load growth, best practices, performance metrics, transition to direct liquid cooled data center equipment, and NLR's approach to optimizing data center.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2026

Cybersecurity at the Grid Edge: Protecting LA's Energy Systems in a Connected World

Join SoCalGas and the National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR) for an insightful webinar on securing operational technology and energy systems. Los Angeles has the second-largest metro by population in the nation, making it vital to protect the energy infrastructure that powers day-to-day life. However, cybersecurity for energy systems is an immense challenge due to an increasing number of interconnected devices and stakeholders. While there was traditionally a limited need to secure energy infrastructure, the grid is only becoming smarter and more software-defined. Amid aging infrastructure and evolving cyber threats, the need to ensure the security of energy is at an all-time high. Together, SoCalGas and NLR are assessing the current state-of-the-art of the energy ecosystem to understand gaps in current best practices and technologies relevant to powering the city of Los Angeles.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2023

Renewable Energy Landscapes: Southwest and Pacific Northwest Workshops

To connect landscape architects and the energy sector, the University of Arizona and the University of Oregon hosted two virtual workshops with support from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in January 2023. These workshops were intended to co-create new principles and perspectives for designing renewable energy landscapes for the Southwest and Pacific Northwest, respectively, balancing place-based perspectives and at-scale deployment. Working across six design pathways through three phases, participants in the Southwest Workshop established and prioritized design opportunities by identifying relevant actions that are high impact, low effort; high impact, high effort; low impact, high effort; low impact, low effort. In contrast, participants in the Pacific Northwest Workshop produced a series of design options for the three sites to support broader efforts to visualize energy infrastructure deployment. The workshop outcomes reflect the current state of innovation in designing renewable energy landscapes. Collective understanding is largely focused on the practical—what is feasible in this moment—rather than pushing the boundaries on what might be possible. Achieving that next step requires that we first catch up to existing innovation in implementation and design since it is not yet commonplace. These workshops served as the first step in reimagining the potential of energy infrastructure across landscapes.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2023

Thorium and Rare Earth Monoxides and Related Phases

Thorium was a part of energy infrastructure in the 19th century due to the refractory and electronic properties of its dioxide. It will be a part of future energy infrastructure as the most abundant energy reserve based on nuclear fission. This paper discusses the solid-state chemistry of the monoxides and related rocksalt phases of thorium and the rare earths, both at atmospheric and at high pressure. The existence of solid thorium monoxide was first suggested more than 100 years ago; however, it was never obtained in bulk and has been studied mostly theoretically. Monoxides of lanthanides from Eu to Ho are ferromagnetic semiconductors sought for spintronics and were studied in thin films. La to Sm metallic monoxides were synthesized in bulk at pressures below 5 GPa. Recently, ThO formation in thin films has been reported and the stability of bulk ThO at high pressure was theoretically predicted based on first principles computations at 0 K. New ab initio computations were performed accounting for temperature effects up to 1000 K using lattice dynamics in the quasi-harmonic approximation. New computational results confirm the stabilization of pure ThO above 30 GPa and suggest the possibility of high-pressure synthesis of (Th,Nd)O at 1000 K and 5 GPa.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Deployment Readiness Framework Subtask 1.1 (Literature Review)

Island and remote coastal communities face some of the most challenging environments for building, operating, and maintaining energy infrastructure, as well as the highest costs for electricity, fuels, and other essential energy sources. As sea-levels rise and storms become more intense and frequent, these communities and the energy infrastructure that supports coastal lives and livelihoods are also at increasing risk from natural hazards. To address these challenges, many coastal communities are envisioning energy solutions that will support the triple bottom line goals of the blue economy: economic growth, environmental sustainability, and social equity. Yet, island and remote coastal communities often face limited resources and capacity to tackle complex energy and coastal resilience issues. To support community-driven energy transitions in island and remote communities, and to better understand relationships between energy, community, and ecosystem resilience, the Department of Energy’s Water Power Technologies Office (WPTO) has initiated the development of a Deployment Readiness Framework (DRF). The objective of the work is to co-produce and test practical tools and approaches that assess the readiness of coastal communities for marine energy demonstration, deployment, and operation. The DRF aims to build on and support the Energy Transitions Initiative Partnership Program (ETIPP) and other community-oriented energy transition programs. This project is jointly led by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The development of the DRF includes three main phases: 1) a learning phase involving stakeholder engagement and literature review to synthesize metrics of community readiness to advance through an energy transition and to understand the state of the research and practice of participatory science-policy processes in various sectors, 2) a design phase to define readiness approaches and tools that will be developed as part of the DRF, and 3) an implementation phase to create the applications and interfaces for WPTO and the national laboratories to interact with the DRF. All three phases include close collaboration with communities and end-users of the framework, first to identify gaps in the science and tools needed to achieve community-driven energy transition goals and second, to test and improve the framework iteratively. Through technical assistance programs like ETIPP and utilizing the completed DRF to understand the influencing factors which motivate or deter energy transitions, WPTO hopes to engage a number of near-term marine energy demonstration opportunities. Here we report on the results from the literature review (Subtask 1.1) to inform the stakeholder engagement (Subtask 1.2) and design phase (Task 2) of the project.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Offshore Advanced Infrastructure Integrity Model (AIIM) Dashboard

The Advanced Infrastructure Integrity Model (AIIM) is a multivariate, multi-machine learning modeling technology applied to evaluate the integrity of offshore energy infrastructure (e.g., pipelines, platforms) in the U.S Gulf Region. Offshore energy infrastructure plays an essential role in ensuring access to safe and secure energy for the United States. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), production in the U.S. Gulf Region accounts for 15% of total crude and 5% of total natural gas from the United States. Many of these structures have been operating for close to or past their design life, while others have the chance of attrition before return on investment. To better understand the potential for reuse or life extension opportunities, an assessment of the infrastructure integrity is critical to inform safe decision making. Assessing structural integrity, AIIM provides key insights that inform infrastructure use and reuse, as well as hazard prevention planning, in support of stakeholders including researchers and industry.

Advanced Infrastructure Integrity Model↗
DOE OSTI2026

Developing a Deep Learning-Computer Vision Framework to Monitor Avian Interactions with Solar Energy Facility Infrastructure (Final Technical Report)

The project addressed an inability to monitor avian interactions with photovoltaic (PV) solar energy facilities necessary for understanding PV solar impacts on birds. In the project, machine-vision technology that continuously monitors avian activities at PV solar facilities was developed. The technology includes four machine-learning (ML) models, each of which accomplishes a specific task in detecting birds and classifying their activities in live or recorded videos—detecting and tracking moving objects, differentiating birds from other objects, detecting bird collisions with solar panels, and classifying non-collision bird activities around PV facilities. Major project outcomes include adoption by two of DOE SETO’s SolWEB projects, providing novel observational data on birds to promote co-location of PV solar development and habitat conservation, known as ecovoltaics.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

RENEWABLE MARINE-SOURCE INTEGRATED HEAT PUMP FOR SPACE CONDITIONING, WATER HEATING, AND FRESH WATER HARVESTING IN REMOTE COASTAL AND ISLAND COMMUNITIES

US coastal and island communities have vulnerable energy infrastructure and high energy costs, which are exacerbated by climate change. A unique opportunity exists to use thermal energy from year-round mild temperature variations to satisfy the broad energy needs of these communities. The US Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory designed a small-scale marine-source integrated heat pump (MS-IHP) that, as a single appliance, combines space conditioning, dehumidification (including fresh water harvesting from humid air), and water heating for home and commercial building applications in remote coastal and island communities. The unique, innovative features of the MS-IHP offer improved efficiency and substantially reduced costs for space conditioning, dehumidification, and water heating by seamlessly integrating a heat pump, heat pump water heater, and dehumidifier by using a single compressor; optimal year-round space cooling and heating, dehumidification, water harvesting, and water heating; and improved thermal comfort and reliable operation without frosting and defrosting because of the ocean’s warm temperatures and high heat capacity. Preliminary testing was conducted by retrofitting a commercial heat pump, demonstrating an outperformed performance compared with traditional air-source heat pumps. The MS-IHP technology can help decarbonize energy systems in remote coastal and island communities.

Gao, Zhiming [ORNL] (ORCID:0000000271397995)↗
DOE OSTI2024

Net Zero World COP28 Outcomes Report – Indonesia

This report describes Net Zero World Initiative activities initiated with Indonesia in 2023. The Net Zero World Initiative is a collaborative effort of eight countries, nine U.S. government agencies, 10 U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratories, and partnering philanthropies and nongovernmental organizations. Its goal is to elevate and enact climate ambition pledges and accelerate the transition to net-zero, resilient, and inclusive energy systems globally. The Net Zero World team, the Government of Indonesia’s Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (MEMR), and other stakeholders jointly identified and are advancing action in the four priority focus areas -- Energy Infrastructure Analysis, Island Energy Transition, Building Decarbonization, and Sustainable Transport.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2022

An overview of the operation architectures and energy management system for multiple microgrid clusters

The emerging novel energy infrastructures, such as energy communities, smart building-based microgrids, electric vehicles enabled mobile energy storage units raise the requirements for a more interconnective and interoperable energy system. It leads to a transition from simple and isolated microgrids to relatively large-scale and complex interconnected microgrid systems named multi-microgrid clusters. In order to efficiently, optimally, and flexibly control multi-microgrid clusters, cross-disciplinary technologies such as power electronics, control theory, optimization algorithms, information and communication technologies, cyber-physical, and big-data analysis are needed. This paper introduces an overview of the relevant aspects for multi-microgrids, including the outstanding features, architectures, typical applications, existing control mechanisms, as well as the challenges.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2025

Development and Experimental Validation of a High-Power DC Distribution Testbed for Advanced Charging Infrastructure and Energy Management

This paper presents the development of a hardware testbed for DC-distributed high-power charging (HPC) stations. As DC distributed solutions emerge as a viable solution to optimize HPC site operations, challenges such as interoperability, protection, and seamless integration of distributed energy resources (DER) persist. These issues underscore the need for a robust testing facility to investigate compliance of available commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) market devices. The developed testbed features a DC-distributed charging hub including a charger, emulated energy storage system (ESS), and site level communication and controller implementation. It facilitates the testing of COTS hardware, charger prototypes, standards validation and site energy management system (SEMS) controllers at rated power. This paper details the development of the charging infrastructure platform, implementation of communication system, validation of different SEMS algorithms, and understanding improvements required for future expansion. Using the developed testbed, interoperability gaps for SEMS implementation with multi-vehicle concurrent charging via a multi-port charger are experimentally observed. Aimed at supporting the transition to large-scale EV charging infrastructure deployment and DER integration, this testbed plays a crucial role in conformity testing of COTS device interoperability.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2025

Activity-based Informed Curtailment: Using Acoustics to Design and Validate Smart Curtailment to Reduce Risk to Bats at Wind Farms

Rapid expansion of renewable energy infrastructure is a key part of any global strategy to reduce the pace and severity of anthropogenic climate change, although the potential impacts of renewable energy infrastructure on wildlife are also becoming increasingly apparent. Bats appear vulnerable to population-level impacts from the cumulative effect of turbine-related fatalities at commercial wind energy facilities in North America, particularly as the industry continues to expand to meet renewable energy generation targets. Turbine curtailment is the most widely used and consistently effective method to reduce bat fatality rates and involves pitching turbine blades parallel to prevailing winds to restrict turbine rotation when turbines would otherwise be operating and capable of producing power. Recognizing the need to expand the wind industry while managing risk to bats highlights the need to understand and manage turbine-related impacts to bats more aggressively and strategically than the current use of blanket curtailment allows.

17 WIND ENERGY↗