Engineering topics

Weimar, Mark R.

Publications and source records attributed to Weimar, Mark R..

5 records

DOE OSTI2024

EverGREEN 2045: An Energy mix to Decarbonize Washington State

The Clean Energy Transformation Act transitions Washington State to 100% clean energy by 2045. As the future resource mix will likely include intermittent renewables, hydropower, and new, carbon-free, flexible technologies including advanced nuclear reactors and enhanced geothermal systems, we assess the cost and feasibility of the future resource mix with proprietary cost data from our industry partners for new technologies. For plausible future resource mix scenarios, we find that revenues are sufficient to cover variable operations and maintenance costs for most technologies, but capacity payments or power purchase agreements will be necessary for new, flexible resources to participate in the future resource mix.

clean energy, energy policy, energy transition, re↗

DOE OSTI2024

National Transmission Planning Study - Chapter 5: Stress Analysis for 2035 Scenarios

The National Transmission Planning Study (NTP Study) is presented as a collection of six chapters, each of which is listed next. The NTP Study was led by the U.S. Department of Energy's Grid Deployment Office, in partnership with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Chapter 5: Stress Analysis for 2035 Scenarios (this chapter) outlines how the future transmission expansions perform under stress tests.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

DOE OSTI2024

Framework for Quantitative Evaluation of Resilience Solutions: An Approach to Determine the Value of Resilience for a Particular Site

This paper describes an approach to obtaining a dollar value for the improvement in the resilience of projects for a particular site. The paper provides an approach to valuing resilience to provide justification for hardening cyber facilities that can be used by expert users/economists in undertaking investment-grade valuations to validate the appropriateness of funding for resilience mitigation projects.

resilience, valuation, cyber security↗

DOE OSTI2024

EverGREEN 2045: An Energy Mix to Decarbonize Washington State

Washington State’s future resource mix is likely to be comprised of intermittent renewables and carbon-free generation including hydropower by 2045. Generation will likely be comprised of wind, solar photovoltaic (PV), batteries, pumped storage hydropower (PSH), existing nuclear power plants, and potentially enhanced geothermal systems and advanced nuclear reactor technologies. To assess the cost and stability of the future resource mix, we partner with X-energy (advanced reactor design) and AltaRock Energy (enhanced geothermal system) for proprietary cost data. After estimating the costs of these two new technologies, we design plausible future resource mix scenarios to meet Washington State’s Clean Energy Transformation Act which transitions the state to carbon-free generation by 2045. We assess the cost and stability of the future resource mix with power system analysis tools, finding revenues are sufficient to cover variable operating and maintenance costs for most technologies providing power in 2030 and 2045, but capacity payments or power purchase agreements will likely be necessary for flexible resources, including enhanced geothermal systems and advanced nuclear reactors, to participate in the future resource mix.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

DOE OSTI2023

Cataloging and Quantifying Value Streams from Non-Powered Dam Conversion

Hydropower is a key resource in the United States’ renewable energy transition; however, only 3% of existing dams in the United States currently generate electricity. While many non-powered dams (NPDs) have the potential for energy generation, hydropower addition to these dams has been slow. This is likely due, in part, to perceptions that hydropower development has prohibitively long payback periods, especially in comparison to other renewable energy resources that have shorter development processes. On the other hand, powering some NPDs may unlock new value streams in addition to the value obtained from selling generated energy. There is a need to understand and quantify a wider range of additional value streams to help increase the feasibility of such hydropower projects. In this work, we catalog indirect value streams and difficult-to-quantify direct value streams from NPD retrofitting, specifying which stakeholders are affected, and what kind of impacts (positive or negative) might occur. We identify appropriate quantification methodologies for these indirect value streams and describe the best practices around their implementation for NPD site-level analysis. We also demonstrate the quantification of a few indirect value streams for a selected NPD site, allowing for easier integration of these value streams into future studies by providing basis and background for quantifying these elements.

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗