Revolving Program Related Investments Energy Savings Fund
A review of approaches to increase program related investments to support the financing of solar projects serving low-income communities
14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
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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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Establishment of an Intertribal Technical Energy Providers Network (Final Technical Report)
The Midwest Tribal Energy Resources Association (MTERA) embarked on a 5-year (extended to 7-year) initiative aimed at advancing Tribal energy resilience and sustainability through intertribal collaboration. By bringing together Tribes in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan (EPA Region 5 Tribes), the project's scope encompassed organizational growth, governance and management formalization and enhancement, and the planning and deployment of energy-related services to Member Tribes. MTERA strategically pursued four key objectives to fulfill its mission: 1. Clearinghouse Development: Creation of a centralized hub offering valuable information, education, and outreach for Tribal communities and their neighbors. 2. Policy Liaison: Serving as a vital link between federal and state agencies to contribute to the formulation of inclusive energy policies that ensure both Tribal and regional energy success. 3. Energy Planning and Research: Providing essential support for energy planning, researching financing opportunities, and exploring effective procurement strategies. 4. Training Support: Facilitating training and apprenticeship initiatives to empower the Tribal workforce and enhance community capabilities.
29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
Carbon storage cost modeling for the offshore Gulf of Mexico
Groundbreaking for geologic carbon storage (GCS) projects in the offshore Gulf of Mexico is imminent, and there is great interest in utilizing this region for GCS projects. Offshore saline reservoirs provide a significant and accessible resource for GCS. However, conducting GCS in the offshore environment will pose distinct challenges pertaining to site selection, operations, infrastructure use, and monitoring compared to operating onshore that ultimately affect technoeconomic assessment of offshore GCS projects. Carbon storage and transport costs are critical to project developers looking to deploy carbon storage in the offshore environment. We present CO2_S_COM_Offshore, a model developed by the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) as a screening-level offshore saline GCS cost modeling tool. Based on NETL’s widely used CO2_S_COM cost model for onshore saline CS, CO2_S_COM_Offshore enables technoeconomic analysis of GCS in offshore areas. This model comprehensively incorporates multiple facets of offshore GCS projects, from regional evaluation and site selection to permitting, transport, operations, monitoring, site closure, and decommissioning. In general, the model can explore the cost implications for potential offshore GCS project(s) by enabling the user to change several project operational and financial attribute configurations. Key inputs include offshore storage formation options, CO2 injection rate and duration, infrastructure types, monitoring intensity, project financing, and post-injection site care duration. Supporting cost algorithms within CO2_S_COM_Offshore were compiled utilizing S&P Global’ s QUE$TORTM cost estimation software alongside a variety of open-source scientific literature. In addition to reviewing key model components, we discuss several sensitivity analyses, input variabilities, and results on analysis of break-even CO2 price required by a project based on different regulation/policy and operational scenarios for the offshore Gulf of Mexico. These results indicate the value of modeling offshore GCS specifically, and the potential of offshore GCS within a decarbonization value chain. Presented at the 41st USAEE/IAEE North American Conference, 3-6 November 2024, Baton Rouge, LA, United States.
Mark-Moser, Mackenzie K.↗
Case Studies in Leveraging Performance Contracts for Resilience Projects
The resilience of federal facilities has become increasingly important among lawmakers, agency leadership, and the American public as high impact natural hazards occur more frequently over time. Resilience is broadly defined as the ability of a federal facility to withstand, respond to, and recover rapidly from disruptions to maintain critical functions. The Department of Energy (DOE) Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) was codified to facilitate the strengthening of federal energy and water efficiency and resilience. Performance contracting is one of the mechanisms through which federal agencies can finance projects at their facilities, but resilience improvement measures do not always result in utility cost savings, which are the primary driver behind performance contracts. This report provides example cases where performance contracts, specifically energy savings performance contracts (ESPC) or utility energy service contracts (UESCs), were used to implement a resilience measure at a federal facility.
99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
FECM/NETL CO 2 Saline Storage Cost Model (2024): User’s Manual
The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM), in collaboration with the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), has developed the FECM/NETL CO 2 Saline Storage Cost Model (CO2_S_COM). This Excel-based tool provides a comprehensive framework for estimating the costs and breakeven prices associated with storing carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) in deep saline formations. Designed from the perspective of a CO 2 storage site owner, the CO2_S_COM incorporates four integrated modules—project management, financial analysis, activity cost estimation, and geological evaluation—to deliver fast, robust, and actionable insights for evaluating project finances. This is the user's manual for CO2_S_COM. The model may be accessed at this link: FECM/NETL CO2 Saline Storage Cost Model CO2_S_COM 2024 (v4) - Submissions - EDX
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
CO2 Storage Economic Analysis: CarbonSAFE Use Case
Poster on “CO2 Storage Economic Analysis: CarbonSAFE Use Case” for the CCUS 2025 conference held in Houston, Texas March 3-5, 2025. The cost of designing, permitting, constructing, operating, and closing a CO2 storage project is of vital importance to project developers. The National Energy Technology Laboratory has developed the NRAP/SMART Technoeconomic and Liability Evaluation for Storage (TALES) Model to provide quantitative cost-based insights to support developers planning CO2 injection and storage projects. This study presents a collaborative economic analysis applying TALES with data from the San Juan Basin CarbonSAFE Phase III project led by the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology to estimate potential costs incurred during the implementation of a real-world commercial-scale carbon storage project. Scenario analysis was implemented in which different operational and cost attributes were varied and the associated cost implications observed. Key results data and project cost summary metrics, first-year breakeven price of CO2 ($/tonne) and net present value (NPV), are presented for base and alternative cases. Output provides a unique perspective for project stakeholders towards evaluating the influence of different operational strategies and financing approaches on overall project cost and financial viability.
carbon storage↗
Examination of Factors Affecting the Cost and Performance of a Natural Gas Combined Cycle Equipped with Carbon Dioxide Capture
The purpose of this Technical Note is to report the findings of an examination of the effect of plausible deviations in select study assumptions on the reported cost and performance estimates for a power plant case drawn from NETL’s “Cost and Performance Baseline for Fossil Energy Plants Volume 1: Bituminous Coal and Natural Gas to Electricity” (known as the Fossil Energy Baseline). An F-Class NGCC power plant equipped with state-of-the-art, solvent-based, post-combustion carbon dioxide (CO2) capture (95 percent carbon capture rate)—designated as Case B31B.95—was selected for this work. This sensitivity analysis provides insight into the effects of parameter variations within and across selected categories—ambient conditions, construction cost, natural gas (NG) price, capacity factor, and finance—on the plant performance and capital and operating and maintenance (O&M) costs, and the subsequent impact on common figures of merit.
20 FOSSIL-FUELED POWER PLANTS↗
Scalable Data Center Capacity for DOE's AI Prototype: A Rapidly Available Gigawatt Data Center for DOE
The multilaboratory Gigawatt Data Center working group was commissioned to identify approaches to rapidly establish federal data centers with scalable capacities up to 1,000 MW. These state-of-the-art facilities will serve as hubs for interdisciplinary collaboration, industry partnerships, and transformative applications of artificial intelligence. The proposed strategic shift includes facilitating multilaboratory collaboration, prioritizing operational efficiency, expanding public–private partnerships, optimizing investments, ensuring long-term contractual flexibility, supporting open science and secure data enclaves, and exploiting high-speed national networks. Owing to their extensive experience and best practices, the US Department of Energy national laboratories are uniquely positioned to lead this initiative. We recommend conducting a feasibility analysis to rapidly identify the optimal sites for this initiative, and the effort will likely involve private industry for design, construction, financing, and operational integration. We also propose establishing multiple geographically diverse sites to ensure energy resilience, high operational reliability, and a diverse user base, thereby effectively addressing the nation’s critical needs.
42 ENGINEERING↗
Phase II Cost-Benefit Analysis: Economic Impact Assessment For Indonesia Building Sector Whole-Building Cooling Solutions
The Net Zero World (NZW) Initiative Collaborative Work Program with the Government of Indonesia (GoI) includes technical assistance and investment mobilization facilitation to accelerate deployment of energy efficiency technologies and solutions for the building sector. A February 2023 US–Indonesia Joint Workshop on Decarbonizing the Building Sector yielded a NZW Indonesia Building Decarbonization Working Group (NZW IBDWG) with four sub working groups (SWGs): SWG-A National Center, SWG-B Capacity Building, SWG-C Investment and Financing, and SWG-D Pilot Projects.
32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
Inclusive Shared Solar Initiative (ISSI) (Final Technical Report)
Between 2020 and 2024, the Inclusive Shared Solar Initiative (ISSI) served as a forum for three states to navigate the design and development of LMI-accessible community solar projects. A collaboration between the National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO) and National Energy Assistance Directors Association (NEADA), ISSI provided financial and technical assistance to teams of State Energy Offices and State LIHEAP Agencies in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia. The key goals guiding ISSI were to develop four new community solar frameworks in three new states and create greater momentum among state governments, community solar developers, and the finance community in scaling and investing in community solar projects that are affordable and accessible to LIHEAP households. Ultimately, in addition to developing and launching four new shared solar projects serving LMI subscribers, the ISSI state partners pioneered community solar policy and program design strategies that increased protections for low-income consumers, reduced barriers to enrollment and project development, and fostered inter-program coordination.
14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
The National Solar Radiation Database Final Report: Fiscal Years 2022-2024
The National Solar Radiation Database (NSRDB) is the leading public source of high-resolution solar resource data in the United States, with more than 400,000 users annually. This database represents the state of the art in the satellite-based estimation of solar resource information and uses a unique physics-based modeling approach that enables improvements in accuracy with the deployment of the next-generation geostationary satellites. Making the highest-quality, state-of-the-art, regularly updated datasets available on a timely basis for users reduces costs of solar deployment by providing accurate information for siting studies and system output prediction and thereby reduces project financing costs and risks.
14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE Zero Energy Ready Manufactured Housing: Subject Matter Expert Technical Assistance Summary
Manufactured homes offer American consumers an affordable option for decent single-family detached housing. For working-class American families in many U.S. markets, manufactured homes are the first step toward home ownership. They now make up 10% of all new homes constructed in the United States, with higher percentages in the south and in rural communities. To help encourage the production of homes that are more durable, healthy, efficient, and disaster resistant, the U.S. Department of Energy is bringing its building science research to the manufactured housing industry through DOE’s Zero Energy Ready Manufactured Home (ZER-MH) program, which provides technical assistance and voluntary guidelines to manufactured home builders. Homes built to these guidelines are better able to handle power outages and less likely to experience moisture issues, offering a better product option for American families. This higher quality is evidenced by energy modeling which shows homes manufactured to these voluntary guidelines will typically use half the energy of manufactured homes built to the current minimum requirements of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)’s Manufactured Housing and Construction Safety Standard (MHCSS). These homes can also reduce critical energy demand during the busiest hours of the day, typically late afternoon and early evening in the summer when air conditioning demand is highest and mornings in the winter when furnaces and heaters are heating up. Reducing electricity demand during these peak periods when electricity rates are at their highest reduces costs for American families while freeing up capacity on overburdened energy distribution networks. Builders participating in the DOE ZER-MH program are eligible for a tax incentive via the 45L tax credit, which helps to offset the costs of ZER-MH upgrades, enabling builders to offer these certified homes at no additional cost. Together these factors enable manufactured homes to offer home buyers a housing option that is both affordable to finance and affordable to operate, with lower monthly mortgage payments and lower monthly energy bills.
32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
Nine Canyon Long-Duration Energy Storage: A Feasibility Study
The Nine Canyon Long Duration Energy Storage (LDES) Feasibility Study explores the technical and economic viability of deploying advanced energy storage technologies at Energy Northwest's (EN) Nine Canyon (9C) Wind Project site in Benton County, Washington. Supported by the Washington State Department of Commerce and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Electricity under its LDES Voucher Program, the study represents a collaborative effort between EN, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), and ARES North America. At the core of this effort is the development of a generalized techno-economic modeling framework and evaluation tool designed to assess the value proposition of LDES projects across a variety of contexts. The modeling tool is technology-agnostic and accommodates user-defined parameters such as rated power, energy duration, round-trip efficiency, capital and operational costs, and dispatch constraints. It also integrates economic inputs, including market prices, energy revenue structures, and financing parameters to evaluate performance through key metrics. The tool provides utilities with a transparent, adaptable platform to support decision-making, investment prioritization, and portfolio planning for various storage technologies. To guide scenario design and interpretation, the study first surveyed the LDES technology landscape, including lithium-ion batteries, flow batteries, non-hydro gravity storage, and thermo-mechanical systems, comparing cost trajectories, technical performance, safety and hazards, materials sourcing and recyclability, and spatial/siting considerations. This literature-grounded review highlights technology trade-offs and reinforces the need to align technology choice with site characteristics, use cases, and project objectives. A companion chapter examines ownership structures (EN ownership, third-party ownership, shared models) and offtake options (energy marketing, capacity/energy PPAs, time-of-use PPAs, block-delivery PPAs, and tolling), where PPAs (power purchase agreements) represent contractual arrangements for buying and selling electricity. The chapter also highlights implications for risk allocation, capital access, operational control, and revenue certainty. The study also evaluates supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) and transmission interconnection pathways, options include upgrading the existing SCADA or deploying a dedicated LDES controller, with attention to protection schemes, data telemetry, cybersecurity, and regulatory coordination with BPA. In addition, an ARES-specific geotechnical and hydrology assessment presented in the appendix screens multiple corridors for slope stability, bearing capacity, cut-and-fill magnitude, and stormwater behavior.
25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
Copula based Damage Detection for Structural Health Monitoring
This project utilizes copulas for damage detection in a Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) application. A copula-based system was chosen for the benefit of multivariate joint distribution with a goal to detect damage based on how the system as a whole reacts rather than one or two sensors by themselves. Copulas are commonly used in the field of finance for risk modeling based on two or more random inputs. A few applications in the field of SHM and Non-Destructive Evaluation (NDE) have been researched mostly on risk or reliability of the structure. The goal of this project is to determine if a copula-based approach can be used for damage detection. An unsupervised learning method was desired to reduce the dimensionality, minimal training, and be a faster evaluation method than other unsupervised methods. If a copula method can be used to detect damage what additional information on the damage can be interpreted. The remainder of this report will go over the background needed, SHM methodology, SHM applications, conclusions, and future developments.
47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
Southeast Regional CO 2 Utilization and Storage Acceleration Partnership (SECARB-USA): Needs Assessment Framework
The goal of this task is to develop an assessment to identify data needed to advance geologic storage projects, with a focus on the SECARB region. The GCCC team considers the needs of CO 2 source, storage, and utilization operators and stakeholders, finance and insurance institutions, state and local government relators and agencies, property owners, local stakeholders at prospective storage complexes, and environmental non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Many of these needs are spelled out in the requirements of the Class VI permit. However, at the initial stages of project development, the workflow will not start with permit writing. A number of other factors must be evaluated prior to this major investment. The team’s goal in this report is to inventory the range of typical needs of for a wide variety of projects. For subsequent tasks, the team will consider how these needs vary among projects and through the stages of investment, so that project developers can plan the early stages of capitalization.
42 ENGINEERING↗
Quantum Computing Market Report
The quantum computing market is entering a rapid growth phase. Growth was originally driven by private investment interest in high value applications such as drug discovery, materials science, and finance. Currently the main market drivers include technical advances, continued private investment, and rising public funding. The quantum computing market is poised for explosive growth — with its market size estimated at $1.42 billion USD in 2024, and an expected compound annual growth rate of 20.5% from 2025 to 2030 [4]. Superconducting qubits are the largest qubit type by revenue. However, alternative approaches such as trapped ion, neutral atom, spin based, and photonic qubits are also attracting investment.
97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
An Intermediate-Scale Version of the Volturnus + Floating Offshore Wind Turbine Platform Concept in a Real Ocean Environment with an Operating Turbine off the Coast of Maine (Final Scientific/Technical Report)
This project was undertaken to advance the technical readiness and commercial viability of a next-generation, industrialized concrete floating foundation for offshore wind turbines called VolturnUS +. The design objective is to deliver a platform that is lower cost, faster to manufacture, simpler to deploy, and optimized for domestic supply chains and local workforce participation. To enable project financing and commercial adoption, an at-sea demonstration under representative operating conditions was required and therefore this project aimed to deploy a ¼-scale VolturnUS+ prototype offshore the Coast of Maine.
17 WIND ENERGY↗
Southeast Regional CO 2 Utilization and Storage Acceleration Partnership (SECARB-USA): Needs Assessment Framework for Storage Complexes Contributed to EDX (Work Product 2.1.c)
On September 30, 2021, a Needs Assessment Framework for Storage Complexes was completed for the SECARB-USA region by the Southern States Energy Board (SSEB) and The University of Texas at Austin Bureau of Economic Geology (UT-BEG). The Needs Assessment Framework for Storage Complexes documented a region-wide assessment to identify data needed to advance storage projects at sites of relevance to industrial, academic, and government stakeholders. The region-wide assessment addresses the needs of CO2 source, storage, and utilization stakeholders, finance and insurance institutions, state and local government agencies, local stakeholders at prospective storage complexes, environmental non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and others as identified by the Partners. This assessment was tested against various potential storage sites and modified to include site-specific issues, such as surface or pore space rights. The framework was provided to stakeholders for review and then used in other tasks, such as the ML initiative (Subtask 3.4) and storage complex readiness evaluation (Subtask 4.2). In accordance with the SOPO, this assessment satisfied completion of Work Product 2.1.b. The OSTI ID is 3015803, and the DOI link is https://doi.org/10.2172/3015803. On February 28, 2022, SSEB uploaded Work Product 2.1.b to NETL’s Energy Data eXchange (EDX). As such, Work Product 2.1.c is completed as documented below.
42 ENGINEERING↗