Engineering topics

Tegen, Suzanne

Publications and source records attributed to Tegen, Suzanne.

9 records

DOE OSTI2020

Offshore Wind in the US Gulf of Mexico: Regional Economic Modeling and Site-Specific Analyses

The goal of this study is to assess offshore wind energy resources in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) and to quantify its technical and economic potential in order to inform Federal and GOM state strategic energy planning over the next decade. The objectives are to: describe site-specific and regional benefits and challenges of deploying offshore wind in the GOM and discuss the current research to mitigate challenges; review and quantify the wind resource capacity and energy potential in the GOM region for each GOM state including state and federal waters, distance from shore, and water depth; perform geospatial regional economic assessments of levelized cost of energy (LCOE), levelized avoided cost of energy (LACE), and net value (Section 3.4.2); evaluate three representative hypothetical locations for site-specific analysis; perform a high-level assessment of local supporting infrastructure availability, including existing services (e.g., fabrication facilities, vessels, ports) and possible grid connection options; assess the regional economic impacts of a 600 megawatt (MW) offshore wind power plant installed at a representative site in the GOM.

17 WIND ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2020

Survey and Assessment of the Ocean Renewable Energy Resources in the US Gulf of Mexico

This study was conducted by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and funded by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM). It provides a comprehensive feasibility assessment of multiple offshore renewable energy technologies in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) to inform BOEM's strategic plans related to possible Outer Continental Shelf alternative energy leasing activities in the GoM. In coordination with Gulf Coast states, the study includes some information on offshore renewable energy potential in state waters for future energy planning. The goal of the study is to survey potential offshore renewable energy sources in the GoM and quantify their feasibility relating to resource adequacy, technology maturity, and the potential for competitive cost. The study provides a review of available technologies and concepts for generating offshore renewable energy, including a high-level assessment of the current state of each technology and its potential for future advances. It provides a breakdown of resource capacity for each renewable energy technology and a recommendation that offshore wind be pursued for future study as the most promising technology. The renewable technologies that were considered include offshore wind, wave energy, tidal energy, ocean current energy, offshore solar energy, ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC), cold water source cooling, and hydrogen (as a storage medium to utilize existing pipeline infrastructure). The resource capacity for each of these renewable energy sources was quantified for both the gross resource capacity potential (gross resource) and the technical resource capacity potential (technical resource) using the methodology described in an earlier NREL report. Many of these sources are very immature from a commercial perspective, which makes some of the comparisons difficult. In many cases, new methods were developed to estimate nominal power density for each technology type, which were necessary to convert the resource areas into deployable gross and technical resource capacity potentials.

17 WIND ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2019

Economic Impacts from Wind Energy in Colorado Case Study: Rush Creek Wind Farm

This economic impact analysis of the Rush Creek Wind Farm 1) quantitatively modeled the gross economic impacts at the Colorado state-level and four-county region and 2) engaged with community members to draw specific insight on how wind development impacts their local economy. This study also provides useful insights on the economic impacts supported by Colorado's wind energy manufacturing and supply chain. The Rush Creek Wind Farm was Colorado's largest wind energy project in 2018. Jobs, gross domestic product, gross economic output, and earnings were estimated using the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's Jobs and Economic Development Impact (JEDI) model. Researchers also engaged with communities near the Rush Creek Wind Farm to collect empirical economic data as well as first-hand knowledge of community-level impacts during wind farm construction. The case studies and qualitative research in this report provide context for the quantitative JEDI model results, describing the economic impacts to rural communities.

17 WIND ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2019

The Wind Energy Workforce in the United States: Training, Hiring, and Future Needs

Researchers received 247 completed interviews from wind industry employers and 50 completed interviews from representatives from educational institutions with wind energy courses, to better understand the wind industry workforce, hiring needs, and educational pathways . The interviews revealed that 68% of wind industry firms interviewed had difficulty hiring across most occupations. Twenty-five percent of firms searched outside of the United States to find candidates with appropriate skills and experience, which some employers consider lacking, among domestic candidates. At the same time, interview results showed that people who graduate from wind energy educational programs often do not enter the wind industry upon graduation - the majority find employment outside of the wind industry. In addition, some educational and training institutions with wind or renewable energy-specific programs reported difficulty filling courses. This difficulty of employers finding well qualified workers while wind and renewable energy graduates report difficulty finding jobs in the wind industry is the wind energy workforce gap. Narrowing this workforce gap - decreasing hiring difficulty while increasing graduates' ability to find jobs in the wind industry - could reduce recruiting costs, better satisfy employer needs, and grow the domestic wind workforce. Narrowing the gap would simultaneously help educational institutions more efficiently fill classrooms and communicate wind-industry career options to potential students. Twenty-five percent of firms searched outside of the United States to find candidates with appropriate skills and experience, which some employers consider lacking, among domestic candidates. At the same time, interview results showed that people who graduate from wind energy educational programs often do not enter the wind industry upon graduation - the majority find employment outside of the wind industry. In addition, some educational and training institutions with wind or renewable energy-specific programs reported difficulty filling courses. This difficulty of employers finding well qualified workers while wind and renewable energy graduates report difficulty finding jobs in the wind industry is the wind energy workforce gap. Narrowing this workforce gap - decreasing hiring difficulty while increasing graduates' ability to find jobs in the wind industry - could reduce recruiting costs, better satisfy employer needs, and grow the domestic wind workforce. Narrowing the gap would simultaneously help educational institutions more efficiently fill classrooms and communicate wind-industry career options to potential students.

17 WIND ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2017

Wind Energy Workforce: Who Are We Today and Where Do We Need to Go Tomorrow?

Suzanne Tegen's presentation at the 2017 WINDPOWER Conference & Exhibition provided a description of the wind energy workforce by industry and occupation, a discussion of the level of difficulty in finding qualified applicants (from an industry survey), and an overview of the level of education preferred by people hiring for the industry. The presentation also covers available training programs and ways that the Energy Department and its National Renewable Energy Laboratory are working to bridge the gap in the industry and facilitate more motivated, well-educated wind industry workers.

17 WIND ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2017

Quantifying and Understanding Effects from Wildlife, Radar, and Public Engagement on Future Wind Deployment

This presentation provides an overview of findings from a report published in 2016 by researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, An Initial Evaluation of Siting Considerations on Current and Future Wind Deployment. The presentation covers the background for research, the Energy Department's Wind Vision, research methods, siting considerations, the wind project deployment process, and costs associated with siting considerations.

17 WIND ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2017

A Successful Small Wind Future: There Is Great Potential

Suzanne Tegen made this presentation at the 2017 Small Wind Conference in Bloomington, Minnesota. It provides an overview of DOE-sponsored small wind products, testing, and support; an example of a Regional Resource Center defending distributed wind; the recently published Distributed Wind Taxonomy; the dWind model and recent results; and other recent DOE and NREL publications related to small and distributed wind.

17 WIND ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2017

2016 State of Wind Development in the United States by Region

Significant expansion of wind energy development will be required to achieve the scenarios outlined in the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE)'s Wind Vision: 20% wind energy by 2030 and 35% wind energy by 2050. Wind energy currently provides nearly 5% of the nation's electricity but has the potential to provide much more. The wind industry and the DOE's Wind Energy Technologies Office are addressing technical wind energy challenges, such as reducing turbine costs and increasing energy production and reliability. The Office recognizes that public acceptance of wind energy can be challenging, depending on the proximity of proposed wind farms to local populations. Informed decision makers and communities equipped with unbiased information about the benefits and impacts of wind energy development are better prepared to navigate the sometimes contentious development process. In 2014, DOE established six Regional Resource Centers (RRCs) across the United States to communicate unbiased, credible information about wind energy to stakeholders through regional networks. The RRCs provide ready access to this information to familiarize the public with wind energy; raise awareness about potential benefits and issues; and disseminate data on siting considerations such as turbine sound and wildlife habitat protection. This document summarizes the status and drivers for U.S. wind energy development during 2016. RRC leaders provided a report of wind energy development in their regions, which was combined with findings from National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) researchers to provide an account of the state of the regions, as well as updates on developments in individual states. NREL researchers and state partners added updates for all states that are not directly supported by an RRC. Accounts for each region include updates on renewable portfolio standards, the Clean Power Plan, workforce development, manufacturing and economic development, and individual state updates for installed wind capacity, ongoing policy developments, planned projects and their status, transmission progress reports, etc. This report also highlights the efforts of the RRCs to engage stakeholders in their individual regions.

17 WIND ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2017

Workforce Development for Hydropower

To assist the hydropower industry in better understanding potential future workforce, education and training needs and to help the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) assess where to target future possible support efforts, the DOE selected Navigant Consulting, Inc. (Navigant) and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) for a project with the following objectives1: Estimate the size of the current hydropower workforce in the United States, Catalog skills, training, and educational needs of the hydropower workforce and how those are met, Project the potential size of the hydropower workforce under different growth scenarios and where skillset gaps exist relative to today’s workforce, and Determine if additional training programs are needed to meet anticipated hydropower workforce needs in 2020 and 2030, and develop recommendations to fill the gaps. This paper outlines the project’s approach, analysis, findings, and recommendations.

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗