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Robichaud, Robi

Publications and source records attributed to Robichaud, Robi.

9 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2021

Electrical Systems of Pumped Storage Hydropower Plants: Electrical Generation, Machines, Power Electronics, and Power Systems

Adjustable-speed (AS) pumped storage hydropower (PSH) technology has the potential to become a large, consistent contributor to grid stability enabling higher penetrations of wind and solar energy on the future U.S. power system. AS-PSH has high-value characteristics, such as fast response to provide ancillary services to the grid, because it is a power converter interface with the grid (like battery storage), but at the same time it has the energy content large enough to supply both short-term (seconds-to-minutes) and long-term (minutes-to-hours) of energy needs, like more conventional power plants. However, designs must be optimized to lower the capital expenditure (CapEx) and to provide a high-quality grid interface capability (e.g. power quality, ancillary service provider, fault-tolerant or fault ride-through capability), which is a primary factor in the acceptance of AS-PSH into a utility’s generation mix. This CapEx will be greatly affected by the cost savings associated with the civil structure, turbine design, power electronics, control systems, or unique generator designs. A holistic design must be considered to get a full picture of the benefits of the technology proposed. The AS-PSH can be controlled to reduce the impact of transient disturbance on a power system and at the same time can be controlled to minimized subsequent component fatigue and potential oscillation modes within the plant, with the overall impact in reducing the operational expenditures (OpEx).Generating clean power to meet standards such as Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 519 and International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) 1000-3-2 will be a continuing challenge. For many technology developers, however, improved AS-PSH technologies will become a key component of generator-storage systems of the future given the prospects of increased performance and decreasing costs, and the ever-increasing penetration of renewables (e.g wind power and solar power).

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2019

Powering the Blue Economy: Exploring Opportunities for Marine Renewable Energy in Various Maritime

The blue economy is an emerging sector that will require energy to allow many scientific and commercial endeavors to reach their potential. The U.S. Department of Energy’s Water Power Technologies Office seeks to understand marine and coastal opportunities for which marine energy could fulfill those energy needs. This report documents the material gathered during a year-long fact-finding effort engaging users and developers, through literature review, workshops, interviews, and national lab analyses, as well as a Request for Information process. Each market was assessed by a set of common analyses: opportunity summary; application description and power requirements; market description, power options, and geographic relevance; marine energy potential value proposition; and path forward including research and development needs and potential partners. The major finding is that there are more markets with potential than anticipated, both for Power at Sea (including ocean observation and navigation, underwater vehicle charging, marine aquaculture, marine algae, and seawater mining), and Resilient Coastal Communities (including desalination, coastal resiliency and disaster recovery, and community-scale isolated power systems). The enabling attributes of marine energy resources include that they are abundant, geographically diverse, energy dense, predictable, and complementary to other energy sources. This report can help direct analysis and research and development efforts by government, scientists, developers, and other stakeholders to more deeply understand and meet specific technical and economic requirements to power emerging opportunities in the blue economy.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2018

Maritime Renewable Energy Markets: Power from the Sea

Marine renewable energy (MRE) is in the early stages of contributing to the energy portfolios of the US and many other nations around the world. Although many MRE developers are designing devices that will harvest energy to contribute to the electrical grid from waves, tides, and ocean currents, a number of other promising maritime markets could be supplied with MRE power at sea. These maritime markets are often less price sensitive than utility-scale electricity markets and can handle some degree of intermittency. Some of the promising maritime markets that could benefit from co-located power generation include ocean observation nodes, underwater recharge of autonomous vehicles, desalination of seawater for remote coastal areas, offshore aquaculture, shoreline protection and electricity generation, providing electricity and freshwater following coastal emergencies, providing power to islanded and isolated communities, powering and cooling nearshore of underwater data centers, recharging of electric surface vessels, and personal charging of electronics. Pairing of MRE power generation with these and other maritime markets is in the early stages, but the potential for synergy and growth of MRE coupled to these markets is promising.

Marine renewable energy↗
DOE OSTI2016

Emerging Wind Energy Opportunities in the Federal Sector

Robi Robichaud made this presentation as part of an Energy Technology session at the Energy Exchange event, which is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy. The presentation discusses a wind energy industry update, technology trends, financing options at federal facilities, and creative approaches for developing wind projects at federal facilities.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2013

Wind Resource Assessment Report: Mille Lacs Indian Reservation, Minnesota

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) launched the RE-Powering America's Land initiative to encourage development of renewable energy on potentially contaminated land and mine sites. EPA collaborated with the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the Mille Lacs Band of Chippewa Indians to evaluate the wind resource and examine the feasibility of a wind project at a contaminated site located on the Mille Lacs Indian Reservation in Minnesota. The wind monitoring effort involved the installation of a 60-m met tower and the collection of 18 months of wind data at multiple heights above the ground. This report focuses on the wind resource assessment, the estimated energy production of wind turbines, and an assessment of the economic feasibility of a potential wind project sited this site.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2012

Fort Carson Wind Resource Assessment

The U.S. Army has long been interested in reducing its dependence on fossil fuels for energy, increasing its energy security, and reducing its energy intensity. Increasing the use of renewable energy at Army bases serves all of these goals. As part of these efforts, the Army has been collaborating with the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to evaluate renewable energy options at Fort Carson, Colorado. This report focuses on the wind resource assessment, the estimated energy production of wind turbines, and economic potential of a wind turbine project on a ridge in the southeastern portion of the Fort Carson Army base. Wind data was collected from a 50-meter (m) meteorological (met) tower on a small ridge in the southeastern part of the Fort Carson base. A mini sonic detection and ranging (miniSODAR) unit was also deployed at this site to measure wind speeds at elevations 30 to 140 m (98 to 459 ft) above the ground. The data collected provided an effective dataset for comparative analysis of wind speed, turbulence intensity, and energy production of several wind turbines suitable for the wind conditions at the site.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2012

Naval Station Newport Wind Resource Assessment

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) launched the RE-Powering America's Land initiative to encourage development of renewable energy (RE) on potentially contaminated land and mine sites. EPA is collaborating with the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to evaluate RE options at Naval Station (NAVSTA) Newport in Newport, Rhode Island where multiple contaminated areas pose a threat to human health and the environment. Designated a superfund site on the National Priorities List in 1989, the base is committed to working toward reducing the its dependency on fossil fuels, decreasing its carbon footprint, and implementing RE projects where feasible. The Naval Facilities Engineering Service Center (NFESC) partnered with NREL in February 2009 to investigate the potential for wind energy generation at a number of Naval and Marine bases on the East Coast. NAVSTA Newport was one of several bases chosen for a detailed, site-specific wind resource investigation. NAVSTA Newport, in conjunction with NREL and NFESC, has been actively engaged in assessing the wind resource through several ongoing efforts. This report focuses on the wind resource assessment, the estimated energy production of wind turbines, and a survey of potential wind turbine options based upon the site-specific wind resource.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2012

Renewable Energy Optimization Report for Naval Station Newport

In 2008, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) launched the RE-Powering America's Land initiative to encourage the development of renewable energy (RE) on potentially contaminated land and mine sites. As part of this effort, EPA is collaborating with the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to evaluate RE options at Naval Station (NAVSTA)Newport in Newport, Rhode Island. NREL's Renewable Energy Optimization (REO) tool was utilized to identify RE technologies that present the best opportunity for life-cycle cost-effective implementation while also serving to reduce energy-related carbon dioxide emissions and increase the percentage of RE used at NAVSTA Newport. The technologies included in REO are daylighting, wind, solarventilation preheating (SVP), solar water heating, photovoltaics (PV), solar thermal (heating and electric), and biomass (gasification and cogeneration). The optimal mix of RE technologies depends on several factors including RE resources; technology cost and performance; state, utility, and federal incentives; and economic parameters (discount and inflation rates). Each of these factors wasconsidered in this analysis. Technologies not included in REO that were investigated separately per NAVSTA Newport request include biofuels from algae, tidal power, and ground source heat pumps (GSHP).

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗