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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 1,603 records · Page 89
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2016

Visible and near-infrared photothermal catalyzed hydrogenation of gaseous CO 2 over nanostructured Pd@Nb 2 O 5

The reverse water gas shift (RWGS) reaction driven by Nb 2 O 5 nanorod-supported Pd nanocrystals without external heating using visible and near infrared (NIR) light is demonstrated. By measuring the dependence of the RWGS reaction rates on the intensity and spectral power distribution of filtered light incident onto the nanostructured Pd@Nb 2 O 5 catalyst, it is determined that the RWGS reaction is activated photothermally. That is the RWGS reaction is initiated by heat generated from thermalization of charge carriers in the Pd nanocrystals that are excited by interband and intraband absorption of visible and NIR light. Taking advantage of this photothermal effect, a visible and NIR responsive Pd@Nb 2 O 5 hybrid catalyst that efficiently hydrogenates CO 2 to CO at an impressive rate as high as 1.8 mmol gcat –1 h –1 is developed. The mechanism of this photothermal reaction involves H 2 dissociation on Pd nanocrystals and subsequent spillover of H to the Nb 2 O 5 nanorods whereupon adsorbed CO 2 is hydrogenated to CO. Here, this work represents a significant enhancement in our understanding of the underlying mechanism of photothermally driven CO 2 reduction and will help guide the way toward the development of highly efficient catalysts that exploit the full solar spectrum to convert gas-phase CO 2 to valuable chemicals and fuels.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2023

Water Network Tool for Resilience (WNTR)

The Water Network Tool for Resilience (WNTR) is an open source Python package designed to simulate and analyze resilience of water distribution networks. The United States Environmental Protection Agency, in partnership with Sandia National Laboratories, developed WNTR to integrate critical aspects of resilience modeling for water distribution networks into a single software framework. The software includes capability to: • Generate water network models • Modify network structure and operations • Assign fragility and survival curves to network components • Model disruptive events such as power outages, earthquakes, fires, pipe breaks, and contamination incidents • Model response and repair strategies • Simulate hydraulics and water quality • Evaluate resilience using a wide range of metrics • Integrate dependency with other critical infrastructure and supply chains • Analyze results and generate graphics SAND2019-450 M

Villa, Daniel↗
DOE OSTI2015

Value Streams in Microgrids: A literature Review

Microgrids are an increasingly common component of the evolving electricity grids with the potential to improve local reliability, reduce costs, and increase penetration rates for distributed renewable generation. The additional complexity of microgrids often leads to increased investment costs, creating a barrier for widespread adoption. These costs may result directly from specific needs for islanding detection, protection systems and power quality assurance that would otherwise be avoided in simpler system configurations. However, microgrids also facilitate additional value streams that may make up for their increased costs and improve the economic viability of microgrid deployment. This paper analyses the literature currently available on research relevant to value streams occurring in microgrids that may contribute to offset the increased investment costs. A review on research related to specific microgrid requirements is also presented.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2023

A portable ion-energy diagnostic for transformative ARPA-E Fusion R&D

The Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory seeks to develop a diagnostic to measure the energy distribution of ions (IED) in innovative confinement concept devices being investigated under ARAP-E grants. The Princeton Field-Reversed Configuration (PFRC) fusion project aims to develop small, simple, and clean fusion power generators in the 1–10 MW “micro-reactor” class. The PFRC explores a new approach to fusion power-generation design, prioritizing low radioactivity and modular units of MEW-scale power output. The team’s proposed power plant design provides a small footprint for a compact, potentially transportable energy source that is fully deployable and emissions-free. A critical diagnostic to accomplish this mission and to test the theory of ion heating necessary for fusion in PFRC reactors is called a stripping-cell ion-energy analyzer (SC-IEA).

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2015

Neutronics and Transient Calculations for the Conversion of the Transient Reactor Rest Facility (TREAT)

The Transient Reactor Test Facility (TREAT) is a graphite-reflected, graphitemoderated, and air-cooled reactor fueled with 93.1% enriched UO2 particles dispersed in graphite, with a carbon-to-235U ratio of ~10000:1. TREAT was used to simulate accident conditions by subjecting fuel test samples placed at the center of the core to high energy transient pulses. The transient pulse production is based on the core’s selflimiting nature due to the negative reactivity feedback provided by the fuel graphite as the core temperature rises. The analysis of the conversion of TREAT to low enriched uranium (LEU) is currently underway. This paper presents the analytical methods used to calculate the transient performance of TREAT in terms of power pulse production and resulting peak core temperatures. The validation of the HEU neutronics TREAT model, the calculation of the temperature distribution and the temperature reactivity feedback as well as the number of fissions generated inside fuel test samples are discussed.

Kontogeorgakos, Dimitrios C.↗
DOE OSTI2017

Transactive Energy Simulation Platform

TESP combines existing domain simulators in the electric power grid, with new transactive agents, growth models and evaluation scripts. The existing domain simulators include GridLAB-D for the distribution grid and single-family residential buildings, MATPOWER for transmission and bulk generation, and EnergyPlus for large buildings. More are planned for subsequent versions of TESP. The new elements are: TEAgents - simulate market participants and transactive systems for market clearing. Some of this functionality was extracted from GridLAB-D and implemented in Python for customization by PNNL and others; Growth Model - a means for simulating system changes over a multiyear period, including both normal load growth and specific investment decisions. Customizable in Python code; and Evaluation Script - a means of evaluating different transactive systems through customizable post-processing in Python code. TESP provides a method for other researchers and vendors to design transactive systems, and test them in a virtual environment. It allows customization of the key components by modifying Python code.

Source record↗
DOE OSTI2024

A Transactive Approach for Service Restoration Utilizing Customer Load Flexibility and Grid-Edge Resources: Preprint

This paper develops a transactive energy system model to restore electricity to customers in an isolated distribution system after an outage. The model engages a variety of customer types -- prosumers, flexible loads, critical/noncritical customers, and distributed generators -- as active participants in the restoration process. Unlike many existing transactive approaches, the proposed model is developed for service restoration and accounts for various customer types and their \textit{autonomy} and \textit{privacy} through an iterative approach to determine the optimal market price, while maintaining system-level power flow and voltage constraints. The advantages of the proposed approach are numerically validated on a modified IEEE 123-bus test system.

distributed energy resources↗
DOE OSTI2026

Data-Driven Modeling of High-Resolution Residential Load Profiles Using Low-Resolution Smart Meter Measurements

Accurate and high-resolution residential load profiles are essential for power system modeling, demand response planning, and effective grid operation. As the energy sector moves towards a more actively managed distribution system, the ability to understand residential energy consumption at a minute-by-minute scale becomes increasingly critical. High-resolution load profiles provide key insights into demand patterns and user behavior, enabling grid operators to design more effective energy solutions; however, residential load measurements in the field are typically recorded at low resolutions, such as 15-60 minutes, which makes it hard to study the characteristics of different residential customers. This paper addresses these challenges by introducing a data-driven approach to generate realistic, high-resolution residential load profiles based on lowre-solution measurements and weather information. The proposed method retains the key features of the actual residential load measurements while offering appliance-level energy consumption details for each residential building. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed load profile generator, proving its capability to support utilities in optimizing residential energy management and ensuring a more reliable and resilient grid.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2024

Bridging molecular-scale interfacial science with continuum-scale models

Solid–water interfaces are crucial for clean water, conventional and renewable energy, and effective nuclear waste management. However, reflecting the complexity of reactive interfaces in continuum-scale models is a challenge, leading to oversimplified representations that often fail to predict real-world behavior. This is because these models use fixed parameters derived by averaging across a wide physicochemical range observed at the molecular scale. Recent studies have revealed the stochastic nature of molecular-level surface sites that define a variety of reaction mechanisms, rates, and products even across a single surface. To bridge the molecular knowledge and predictive continuum-scale models, we propose to represent surface properties with probability distributions rather than with discrete constant values derived by averaging across a heterogeneous surface. This conceptual shift in continuum-scale modeling requires exponentially rising computational power. By incorporating our molecular-scale understanding of solid–water interfaces into continuum-scale models we can pave the way for next generation critical technologies and novel environmental solutions.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2024

Microgrid design and multi-year dispatch optimization under climate-informed load and renewable resource uncertainty

Microgrids are an increasingly popular solution to provide energy resilience in response to increasing grid dependency and the growing impacts of climate change on grid operations. However, existing microgrid models do not currently consider the uncertain and long-term impacts of climate change when determining a set of design and operational decisions to minimize long-term costs or meet a resilience threshold. In this paper, we develop a novel scenario generation method that accounts for the uncertain effects of (i) climate change on variable renewable energy availability, (ii) extreme heat events on site load, and (iii) population and electrification trends on load growth. Additionally, we develop a two-stage stochastic programming extension of an existing microgrid design and dispatch optimization model to obtain uncertainty-informed and climate-resilient energy system decisions that minimizes long-term costs. Use of sample average approximation to validate our two case studies illustrates that the proposed methodology produces high-quality solutions that add resilience to systems with existing backup generation while reducing expected long-term costs.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2018

How low can you go? The importance of quantifying minimum generation levels for renewable integration

One of the significant limitations of solar and wind deployment is declining value caused by the limited correlation of renewable energy supply and electricity demand as well as limited flexibility of the power system. Limited flexibility can result from thermal and hydro plants that cannot turn off or reduce output due to technical or economic limits. These limits include the operating range of conventional thermal power plants, the need for process heat from combined heat and power plants, and restrictions on hydro unit operation. To appropriately analyze regional and national energy policies related to renewable deployment, these limits must be accurately captured in grid planning models. In this work, we summarize data sources and methods for U.S. power plants that can be used to capture minimum generation levels in grid planning tools, such as production cost models. We also provide case studies for two locations in the U.S. (California and Texas) that demonstrate the sensitivity of variable generation (VG) curtailment to grid flexibility assumptions which shows the importance of analyzing (and documenting) minimum generation levels in studies of increased VG penetration.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2020

Quantifying Dynamic On-State Resistance of GaN HEMTs for Power Converter Design via a Survey of Low and High Voltage Devices

Designing and optimizing high switching frequency, ultra-efficient converters requires detailed knowledge of the behavior and parasitic parameters for both active and passive components. Recently, wide bandgap transistors have enabled simultaneous increases in both switching frequency and efficiency due to higher maximum operating junction temperature limits, lower dc on-state resistances, and reduced parasitic inductances and capacitances. Yet, the early acceptance of gallium-nitride (GaN) switches was plagued by detrimental dynamic on-state resistance effects. This complex phenomenon for GaN devices is characterized by deviations in on-state resistance from dc operating characteristics based on design choices such as the magnitude and duration of both voltage and current stress, switching mode, and junction temperature. While device manufacturers have made improvements compared to early generation devices, experimental evidence from a survey of commercial GaN transistors highlight measurable change in on-state resistance still exists due to variations in voltage stress during hard-switching operation. After sharing insights for obtaining low noise measurements, an analysis method along with two metrics are proposed to characterize dynamic on-state resistance measurements for power electronics designers. Furthermore, quantifying the performance of GaN devices with standardized metrics facilitates a fair comparison between different GaN device technologies during converter development, enables manufacturing qualification for GaN switches, and provides a benchmark to catalyze improvement for the next generation of GaN device development.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2016

Power & Water Facility and Infrastructure Planning: CRADA Final Report

Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) has developed software and expertise for planning power grids and for examining the human resource issues for a nuclear power program. These programs, and other LANL software innovations, can offer an efficient manner in which to assist the power and water generation industries in both developed and undeveloped countries.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2025

Electric Grid Security (EGS) FY24 Annual Report

Sandia’s Electric Grid Security program advances a national vision of a secure, resilient, and affordable electric system for all users. Our achievements reflect a strategic approach combining technology development; modeling, simulation, and data analytics; and partnered demonstrations and outreach to further the adoption of advanced grid and storage technologies. Our FY24 efforts leverage the strengths of our partnerships—spanning Sandia’s core science and technology competencies as well as external technology leaders—to develop the solutions today which enable the grid of tomorrow. Key accomplishments in this report that support our strategy span our technical program areas and include: • The advancement of energy storage technologies, including creation of a national Long Duration Energy Storage Consortium; • Applications of artificial intelligence and machine learning to enhanced grid operations and planning; • Development of solid-state power conversion technologies and a new medium-voltage research lab; • New technologies to assess wildfire vulnerabilities and mitigate potential impacts; • Advanced applications of new cybersecurity technologies with industry partners; • Contributions to understanding the impacts of electromagnetic pulses and geomagnetic disturbances on grid components; and • Digital twin development for hybrid microgrids with multiple generators, storage, and loads.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2017

Coordinated Control of Wind Turbine and Energy Storage System for Reducing Wind Power Fluctuation

This paper proposes a coordinated control of wind turbine and energy storage system (ESS). Because wind power (WP) is highly dependent on variable wind speed and could induce a severe stability problem to power system especially when the WP has high penetration level. To solve this problem, many power generation corporations or grid operators recently use the ESS. It has very quick response and good performance for reducing the impact of WP fluctuation but has high cost for its installation. Therefore, it is very important to design the control algorithm considering both ESS capacity and grid reliability. Thus, we propose the control algorithm to mitigate the WP fluctuation by using the coordinated control between wind turbine and ESS considering ESS state of charge (SoC) and the WP fluctuation. From deloaded control according to WP fluctuation and ESS SoC management, we can expect the ESS lifespan expansion and improved grid reliability. The effectiveness of the proposed method is validated in MATLAB/Simulink considering power system including both wind turbine generator and conventional generators which react to system frequency deviation.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2015

Scaling Up Renewable Energy Generation: Aligning Targets and Incentives with Grid Integration Considerations, Greening The Grid

Greening the Grid provides technical assistance to energy system planners, regulators, and grid operators to overcome challenges associated with integrating variable renewable energy into the grid. This document, part of a Greening the Grid toolkit, provides power system planners with tips to help secure and sustain investment in new renewable energy generation by aligning renewable energy policy targets and incentives with grid integration considerations.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2017

Concentrated solar power generation using solar receivers

Inventive concentrated solar power systems using solar receivers, and related devices and methods, are generally described. Low pressure solar receivers are provided that function to convert solar radiation energy to thermal energy of a working fluid, e.g., a working fluid of a power generation or thermal storage system. In some embodiments, low pressure solar receivers are provided herein that are useful in conjunction with gas turbine based power generation systems.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2020

Instantaneous ultra-wideband sensing using frequency-domain channelization

A radar system wherein a radar return is channelized by frequency into a plurality of channels, and each of the channels is sampled by a respective analog-to-digital converter that has a sampling rate less than the Nyquist rate of the radar return. The digitally sampled channel signals are Fourier transformed into the frequency domain, where each of the frequency-domain channel signals is matched-filtered according to a respective partial matched filter. The channel signals are then transformed back to the time domain, whereupon they are added together to generate the impulse response of the radar system responsive to the radar return.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗