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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 1,099 records · Page 61
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2023

Puerto Rico Grid Resilience and Transitions to 100% Renewable Energy Study (PR100)

Puerto Rico has committed to meeting its electricity needs with 100% renewable energy by 2050, along with realizing interim goals of 40% by 2025, 60% by 2040, the phaseout of coal-fired generation by 2028, and a 30% improvement in energy efficiency by 2040 as established in Puerto Rico Energy Public Policy Act (Act 17). To meet these goals and support widespread end-use electrification, Puerto Rico is exploring renewable energy and innovative technologies for energy storage, distributed generation, distribution control, electric vehicles, and energy efficient and responsive loads that can be deployed in each of Puerto Rico's cities and communities. Launched in February 2022, a two-year study entitled Puerto Rico Grid Resilience and Transitions to 100% Renewable Energy (PR100) will perform a comprehensive analysis of stakeholder-driven pathways to Puerto Rico's clean energy future. This fact sheet describes the five activities this robust and objective energy analysis entails.

ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2023

Solar Photovaltaics Durability and Resilience - A Win-Win

Solar photovoltaics (PV) will play a crucial role in decarbonizing the electrical grid and limit the effects of detrimental climate change. Long lifetimes of PV installations are a win-win situation, as it not only reduces carbon emissions directly through avoidance of fossil fuel emissions but also indirectly, as it reduces the demand of needed materials and potentially recycling. However, during their decades-long lifetime expectations installations are also more commonly exposed to extreme weather events. Building durable solar system to withstand extreme weather events is essential in the electrification of the economy and will save lives, particularly when they power critical infrastructure such as hospitals. As more PV is installed in regions prone to extreme weather events, high-quality materials, installation and monitoring practices can mitigate risk. Evaluating resilience requires combined computational, analytical, and experimental capabilities that are best leveraged by teams working across multiple disciplines.

durability↗
DOE OSTI2023

Nuclear-Integrated Energy Units: Advancing Cybersecurity for Resilient Energy Systems

Rapidly increasing usage of nuclear-integrated energy units has created new challenges in terms of cybersecurity. This paper discusses the potential cyberthreat challenges and cyber risks associated with the widespread adoption of these units, and the role of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) techniques in enhancing the security and resilience of these systems.

20 FOSSIL-FUELED POWER PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Resilience Assessments: A Data-Informed and Stakeholder-Driven Approach

NREL's resilience assessment methodology uses a data-driven and stakeholder approach to combine quantitative and qualitative data/information. The reason for this approach is to understand where there is the potential to create unintended consequences and expose additional vulnerabilities. This presentation will provide an overview of the methodology used across the nation and globe and highlight some key lessons.

consequences↗
DOE OSTI2024

FLEXIBLE POWER TRANSFORMERS TO IMPROVE RESILIENCY OF TRANSMISSION NETWORKS

For decades, transformer flexibility of operation has been limited to adjustable voltage ratio and, in some cases, several ratings with staged cooling. Transformers reconnectable to multiple voltage ratings have been primarily applied as emergency replacements. Other versions of “flexible transformers” were developed for continuous, long-term operation at specific sites, with application limited to large utilities. A new technology that supports today’s power systems adaptability requirements has been developed to provide not only voltage and power rating flexibility, but also an adjustable short-circuit impedance. This last, unique feature allows for a closer match to actual system operational requirements and could be used in the future to enhance resiliency and improve dynamic control of electrical grids. While the solution’s fundamentals have already been introduced in several technical forums, the intention of this article is to focus on the potential benefits of this new type of transformer and share the deployment experience of a full-scale prototype that has been in operation in a major U.S. utility since 2021

flexible transformer, resilient grid, variable lea↗
DOE OSTI2024

Learning-Based Building Flexibility Estimation and Control to Improve Microgrid Economics and Resilience: Preprint

This paper proposes a learning-based building flexibility estimation and control framework to improve system economics and resilience. A data-driven building load flexibility model consisting of weather forecasting and estimating load consumption is proposed to quantify building heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) load flexibility. A reinforcement learning-based microgrid controller is proposed to dispatch distributed generators, distributed energy resources, and build HVAC loads while taking flexibility information as one of the inputs. Simulation analysis is conducted on the model of a real microgrid in California. The effectiveness of the proposed learning-based building flexibility estimation and control in reducing microgrid energy costs and improving the sustainability of critical loads is demonstrated.

building load flexibility↗
DOE OSTI2024

A Path to Navigating the Storm: Load Forecasting and Increasing Resilience in Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico Grid Resilience and Transitions to 100% Renewable Energy Study (PR100) provided a comprehensive analysis of pathways for Puerto Rico to achieve its goal of 100% renewable energy by 2050, based on extensive stakeholder input. The study illuminates immediate and longer-term investments needed to achieve reliability while pursuing Puerto Rico's energy goals and addressing critical energy needs. Expected benefits of these investments include improvements in safety, security, health, and economic opportunity.

ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Reinforcement Learning to Enhance Optimal Operation of Resilient Community Energy Systems

This paper presents a novel model-free multi-agent Reinforcement Learning (RL) control method to enhance the resilience of community energy systems in island mode, which coordinates multiple objectives without the necessity of identifying system models that require expert knowledge. Specifically, a community-level coordinator agent is designed to allocate renewable energy resources among different buildings, and multiple building-level agents are developed to optimize load schedules based on limited energy resources and requirements of building loads and occupants’ comfort. In a two-day evaluation, our RL approach demonstrated a similar performance against MPC without requiring system models and formulation of optimization problems as required in MPC.

ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION↗
DOE OSTI2024

Is a Generator the Only Solution When the Grid Fails? Optimizing Systems for Resiliency and Carbon Reduction: Preprint

Traditionally, buildings are dependent on utility infrastructure, and when a grid failure happens, end users rely on the closest source of energy storage to sustain operation until power is restored. For buildings, that typically means using an electric generator. This electric generator either uses on-site energy storage such as fossil fuels in a tank or a gas connection which is, in turn, tied to gas wells—also a form of energy storage. Generators are popular for their ease of implementation and low capital costs; however, they have limited value outside of disruptions, and they are a source of scope 1 emissions, or direct greenhouse gas emissions from sources controlled by the building owner. In contrast, some power generation and storage systems, such as photovoltaic (PV) panels and battery energy storage systems (BESS), can serve the same purpose during grid disruptions while presenting advantages outside of power failure. This paper explores methods for storing and converting energy on-site to increase building resiliency, focusing on solutions that minimize scope 1 emissions. We analyze the cost and carbon impacts of energy efficiency measures, PV arrays, and BESS, with and without generators, in a simulation test case. We find significant benefits can be achieved both during and outside of power failure events when designing systems that integrate the on-demand capability of generators, the low carbon energy supplied by PV, and the storage capabilities of BESS. Specifically, adding even minimal BESS and PV can result in downsizing the generator, increasing generator efficiency and requiring less fuel.

ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION↗
DOE OSTI2020

Dynamics and Control of Microgrids as a Resiliency Source

Microgrids can be operated in a utility-connected mode with the neighboring distribution system or in an islanded mode in separation with the distribution system. As the major disasters occur more and more often, islanded microgrid is proposed as a possible solution to serve essential loads until the utility service is restored. This paper evaluates the feasibility of using microgrids as a resiliency resource by a field test. A control scheme, integrating droop control and feedback control, is applied on a modified IEEE 13-node test feeders. The simulation results validate the proposed control scheme and the transient stability

Lee, Lung-An↗
DOE OSTI2021

Multiscale Understanding of Surface Structural Effects on High-Temperature Operational Resiliency of Layered Oxide Cathodes

The worldwide energy demand in electric vehicles and the increasing global temperature have called for development of high-energy and long-life lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) with improved high temperature operational resiliency. However, current attention has been mostly focused on cycling aging at elevated temperature, leaving considerable gaps of knowledge in the failure mechanism and practical control of abusive calendar aging and thermal runaway that are highly related to the eventual operational lifetime and safety performance of LIBs. Herein, using a combination of various in situ synchrotron X-ray and electron microscopy techniques, we report a multiscale understanding of surface structure effects involved in regulating the high temperature operational tolerance of polycrystalline Ni-rich layered cathodes. Our results collectively show that an ultraconformal poly (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) coating can effectively prevent LiNi 0.8 Co 0.1 Mn 0.1 O 2 cathode from undesired phase transformation and transition metal dissolution on the surface, atomic displacement and dislocations within primary particles, intergranular cracking along the grain boundaries within secondary particles, and intensive bulk oxygen release during high state-of-charge and high temperature aging. As a result, the present work highlights the essential role of surface structure controls in overcoming the multiscale degradation pathways of high-energy battery materials at extreme temperature.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2019

Hydraulic conductance, resistance, and resilience: how leaves of a tropical epiphyte respond to drought

Premise Because of its broad range in the neotropical rainforest and within tree canopies, the tank bromeliad Guzmania monostachia was investigated as a model of how varying leaf hydraulic conductance ( K leaf ) could help plants resist and recover from episodic drought. The two pathways of K leaf , inside and outside the xylem, were also examined to determine the sites and causes of major hydraulic resistances within the leaf. Methods We measured leaf hydraulic conductance for plants in the field and laboratory under wet, dry, and rewetted conditions and applied physiological, anatomical, and gene expression analysis with modeling to investigate changes in K leaf . Results After 7 d with no rain in the field or 14 days with no water in the glasshouse, K leaf decreased by 50% yet increased to hydrated values within 4 d of tank refilling. Staining to detect embolism combined with modeling indicated that changes outside the xylem were of greater importance to K leaf than were changes inside the xylem and were associated with changes in intercellular air spaces (aerenchyma), aquaporin expression and inhibition, and cuticular conductance. Conclusions Low values for all conductances during drying, particularly in pathways outside the xylem, lead to hydraulic resilience for this species and may also contribute to its broad environmental tolerances.

North, Gretchen B.↗
DOE OSTI2022

Multi‐objective optimization for cost‐efficient and resilient machining under tool wear

Abstract With the onset and rapid growth of smart manufacturing, there is a constant increase in the demand for automation technologies to enhance productivity while providing uninterrupted, cost‐efficient, and resilient machining. Traditional manufacturing systems, however, suffer from several losses due to machine faults and degradation. Specifically, tool wear directly impacts the precision and quality of the milled parts, which causes an increase in the scrap production. Hence, more attempts are required to meet the desired quota of successful parts, which in turn results in wasted material, longer delays, further tool degradation, and higher energy, machining, and labor costs. As such, this paper develops a multi‐objective optimization framework to generate the optimal control set points (e.g., feed rate and width of cut) that minimize the total cost of machining operations resulting from multiple contradictory cost functions (e.g., material, energy, tardiness, machining, labor, and tool) in the presence of tool wear. Notably, we estimate the total expected cost in dollars, which provides automatic and intuitive weighting in this multi‐objective formulation. The optimization framework is tested on a high‐fidelity face milling model that has been validated on real data from industry. Results show significant dollar savings of up to as compared to the default control scheme.

Wilson, James P.↗
DOE OSTI2018

Risk and resilience in an uncertain world

We report that because the future is uncertain and to some extent unknowable, it is imperative that ecologists become involved in the discussion and planning of future infrastructure and protection from the effects of altered disturbance regimes. Research can test and demonstrate the benefits of protecting or proactively managing important features and places, and processes that enhance provisioning of ecosystem services such as flood control and fire mitigation. In conclusion, it is time to demonstrate how ecological science, when applied to human–environmental systems, can reduce risks and enhance resilience in a complex, changing world.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2018

Evapotranspiration is resilient in the face of land cover and climate change in a humid temperate catchment

In temperate humid catchments, evapotranspiration returns more than half of the annual precipitation to the atmosphere, thereby determining the balance available to recharge groundwaters and support stream flow and lake levels. Changes in evapotranspiration rates and, therefore, catchment hydrology could be driven by changes in land use or climate. Here, we examine the catchment water balance over the past 50 years for a catchment in southwest Michigan covered by cropland, grassland, forest, and wetlands. Over the study period, about 27% of the catchment has been abandoned from row-crop agriculture to perennial vegetation and about 20% of the catchment has reverted to deciduous forest, and the climate has warmed by 1.14 °C. Despite these changes in land use, the precipitation and stream discharge, and by inference catchment-scale evapotranspiration, have been stable over the study period. The remarkably stable rates of evapotranspirative water loss from the catchment across a period of significant land cover change suggest that rainfed annual crops and perennial vegetation do not differ greatly in evapotranspiration rates, and this is supported by measurements of evapotranspiration from various vegetation types based on soil water monitoring in the same catchment. Compensating changes in the other meteorological drivers of evaporative water demand besides air temperature—wind speed, atmospheric humidity, and net radiation—are also possible but cannot be evaluated due to insufficient local data across the 50-year period. In conclusion, regardless of the explanation, this study shows that the water balance of this landscape has been resilient in the face of both land cover and climate change over the past 50 years.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

Governance and Resilience: A Holistic Approach to Systems Security in Complex and Chaotic Environments

Here, a systems governance approach emphasizes a holistic perspective that identifies and navigates the interdependencies and conflicts between security and operational needs. Governance is defined as a collection of metasystems that provide the necessary constraints and processes to support, steer, adapt, transform, and sustain a system (Keating et al. 2022). Utilizing the Cynefin framework, which distinguishes between simple, complicated, complex, and chaotic environments (Snowden and Boone 2007), the article highlights the challenges faced by nuclear power plants in predatory contexts and the importance of integrating security objectives into governance frameworks. By incorporating security as a fundamental aspect of governance, the article underscores its significance for persistence, adaptation, and transformation in the face of uncertainty. Additionally, it introduces key heuristics of systems security, such as the importance of context, knowledge‐based decision‐making, and organization‐specific sociological factors (Williams and Caskey 2024). Ultimately, this work provides valuable insights into enhancing resilient operations in complex environments by reinforcing the connection between effective governance and security in systems engineering.

Caskey, Susan A. [Sandia National Laboratories (SN↗
DOE OSTI2016

Reimagining watershed restoration: a call for new investment and support structures for greater resiliency and long‐term impact

Hundreds of locally based watershed initiatives have mobilized stakeholders to take voluntary action to restore the ecological conditions of North America's watersheds. Lead organizations rely on project‐based grant funding, alignment with government programs, and volunteerism to incrementally restore what is ultimately a vast and complex ecosystem. Structurally, the vision and goals of these initiatives often exceed available resources and capacity. In 1999, the Bonneville Environmental Foundation began to test ways by which a funder might increase the capacity of local watershed organizations to achieve long‐term watershed restoration goals through a 10‐year commitment of funding and technical support. We partnered with other funders, collectively seeking solutions to increase the impact of this work. Reflecting on 13 years experience across 21 watersheds in 7 western states ( USA ), we have concluded that the scale of ecological change desired requires a time frame for planning, implementation, and public engagement that is inconsistent with present‐day approaches. This has left us asking how can the capacity and impact of a watershed initiative be sustained over many decades—a time frame that exceeds the tenure of any individual leader, the proven life cycles of many nonprofit organizations, and the commitment of most funders? Clear themes have emerged: (1) engaging diverse stakeholders in planning, (2) orienting the work around broader goals, (3) emphasizing human well‐being, and (4) developing resilient partnerships. Reimagining watershed restoration in this context, we suggest a new agenda for action and research that emphasizes a multidecadal planning horizon integrating climate change projections and changing demographics and social values. WIREs Water 2017, 4:e1174. doi: 10.1002/wat2.1174 This article is categorized under: Water and Life > Conservation, Management, and Awareness Engineering Water > Planning Water Human Water > Water Governance

Warren, Robert F.↗