Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “Advanced Energy Systems”

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.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 271 records · Page 15
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2023

Advancing Federal Infrastructure Through Innovation: Selecting Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Wisely

The Biden Administration's issuance of Executive Orders directly addressing and accelerating Federal fleet electrification places an onus on both fleet and facility managers. This panel will help fleet and facility personnel understand how to select EVSE infrastructure in terms of implementation, energy management, and costs of procurement, installation/deployment, and electricity. The panel will cover technology aspects to include managed EVSE, bi-directional charging, implications on local electrical systems and storage needs in certain cases to buffer power demand. Discussion will include various considerations relevant to ensuring adequate EVSE, balancing infrastructure needs, and upgrades with fleet needs. The panelists will discuss how to provide sufficient infrastructure support, including which stakeholders to involve, procurement impediments, easement locations, and requirements that arise during the design and implementation process.

ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS,ENERGY PLANNING, POLIC↗
DOE OSTI2022

ESIF 2021

This annual report highlights research done at the Energy Systems Integration Facility (ESIF) in Fiscal Year 2021.

Advanced Research on Integrated Energy Systems↗
DOE OSTI2021

Examination of the Extreme Cold Weather Event Affecting the Power System in Texas - February 2021 [Slides]

This presentation examines the extreme cold weather event that affected the power system in Texas in February 2021. The Texas load-shedding events were caused by a combination of record-high demand and cold weather issues that reduced the output from all types of generation. While some wind turbines were shutting down due to cold temperatures and icing and a lack of cold-weather packages, hourly wind output was accurately predicted. Extreme weather events historically drive grid reliability. Additional examination of more extreme events is needed to understand their impacts on the power system. As a national lab, NREL has the capabilities and facilities to help the industry address these types of challenges. NREL also has significant simulation and analysis capabilities (such as NAERM) that can help understand the impacts of extreme events. NREL also developed the Advanced Research on Integrated Energy Systems (ARIES) Research Platform, which enables evaluation of technologies that smooth grid operations during events like this.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Sonic Wafering of III-V substrates for High Efficiency Cells: A path to <$0.50/W

This project developed and demonstrated Sonic Lift-off, a novel technology that enables the reuse of expensive semiconductor substrates used to manufacture high-efficiency solar cells. By using sound waves to precisely separate thin layers of material, the process significantly reduces manufacturing costs while maintaining the performance of advanced III–V solar cells. These solar cells are among the most efficient in the world and are used in space, aerospace, and emerging terrestrial applications. The results of this work show that substrate reuse can be achieved without degrading device performance, offering a pathway to more affordable, high-performance solar technologies. This advancement supports U.S. clean energy goals by enabling broader deployment of renewable energy systems and strengthening domestic manufacturing capabilities in advanced photovoltaics.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Game Theoretic Orchestration for Cooperation among Power Distribution System Applications

The evolving transformation with the proliferation of distributed energy resources and advanced metering, necessitates advanced distribution systems to integrate and orchestrate a large number of grid-edge devices while also serving multiple system-level objectives such as resilience, decarbonization, equity and other system mandates. The parallel deployment and control of resources towards achieving diverse objectives may lead to conflicts between applications that want to control overlapping sets of device setpoints, potentially leading to oscillatory behavior and suboptimal performance. This work aims at leveraging game theoretic framework to drive cooperative behavior among competitive applications. The work proposes a weighted-consensus based game design to facilitate conflict resolution through consensus-building iterations for modular platform. Simulation-based evaluation on a sample test system demonstrates the performance the proposed deconfliction strategy in resolving operational conflicts and achieving close-to-optimal trade off among the applications. Results also compare the proposed strategy with a distribution optimization approach and illustrate it effectiveness in diverse apps regardless of their design while also incentivizing apps with flexible design.

Advanced distribution operations, cooperation, app↗
DOE OSTI2025

Field Insights: Strengthening Digital Assurance Through On-Site Network Monitoring

The accelerating deployment of digital energy infrastructure, ranging from inverter-based resources (IBRs), battery energy storage systems (BESS), to advanced grid control platforms, has brought unprecedented visibility, flexibility, and efficiency to the electric grid. However, this digital transformation also introduces new cybersecurity challenges, particularly in the form of supply chain risks and operational blind spots at the grid edge. Over the past year, the Department of Energy’s Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER), through its Rapid Risk Assessment initiative, along with the Grid Deployment Office (GDO), through its Technical Assistance for Digital Assurance (TADA) initiative, have supported a series of on-site network engagements led by Idaho National Laboratory (INL). These engagements, conducted in partnership with asset owners across the country, have focused on identifying real-world vulnerabilities and misconfigurations in operational environments, many of which are not detectable through remote assessments or traditional compliance audits. The goal of this report is to distill key findings and lessons learned during network hunt engagements from INL’s fiscal year (FY) 2024 - 2025. It is intended to help asset owners—regardless of their participation in the program—better understand the evolving threat landscape and adopt practical measures to secure their digital energy infrastructure.

24 - POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2022

Electrification Futures Study: Impact of Electric Vehicles on Bulk Power Systems

This presentation builds on work presented at IEW2019 on "Transportation Scenarios of Electric Technology Adoption and Power Consumption" by providing insights on the impact of demand-side electrification, and electric vehicles in particular, on electricity supply and bulk power systems. This talk summarizes some results from the multi-year and multi-stakeholder Electrification Futures Study (EFS) series of reports. In particular, this work leverages integrated demand and supply modelling of future energy systems to provide insights on system design and operations focusing on demand flexibility and integration of variable renewables.

ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS,ENERGY PLANNING, POLIC↗
DOE OSTI2025

Development of Ionic Based Fluid to Improve Fluid Hydraulics in Enhanced Geothermal Systems

This research advances the field of geothermal energy by developing and evaluating novel fluid systems designed explicitly for high-temperature subsurface environments to enhance fracture flow distribution. The project integrates chemical synthesis, environmental assessment, rheological testing, microfluidic analysis, and reservoir-scale laboratory testing and analysis to identify optimal ionic and nonionic fluids for Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS).

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

New Industry Partnerships: Solar Energy Technologies Office Support for Early Projects in the Energy Systems Integration Facility: An Agreement Closeout Summary Report

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO)-funded New Industry Partnerships (NIPs) agreement established multiple new cooperative research projects with industry partners. Each project demonstrated the use of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's Energy Systems Integration Facility (ESIF) as a national asset for research and development, testing, and validation of new technologies to support high penetrations of solar energy on the electric grid. The agreement was launched in 2013 and represented the SETO portion of the DOE EERE-wide Integrated Network Testbed for Energy Grid Research and Technology Experimentation (INTEGRATE) program. The focus of INTEGRATE was on multi-energy system testing and on testing the interactions of energy systems with information technology, communications, and telecommunications (ICT) systems. The NIPs agreement was a bit different from traditional research projects because it was specifically structured to enable partnerships for ESIF testing and as such required at least a 1:1 funds-in cost share from industry partners. In the end, the project engaged six different industry partnerships and resulted in testing a large number of innovative technologies. These included tiny inverters; power-to-gas technologies; and advanced simulation, analysis, and power-hardware-in-the-loop testing techniques. The agreement also provided significant impact for both research and industrial communities. This summary report provides a brief, high-level overview of these projects and their highlights along with lists of citations and other impacts. Readers are referred to the corresponding project reports for more in-depth information.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2023

Envisioning Tomorrow's Sustainable Mobility Systems

In the race to achieve efficient, accessible, affordable, and decarbonized transportation, which mobility solutions and strategies will get us to the finish line? Thought leaders from government, industry, and academia convened in mid-2023 at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to propose answers to this question. They worked to determine the research, development, and deployment challenges and opportunities that should be prioritized to create tomorrow's sustainable mobility systems. This fact sheet outlines cross-cutting themes and key findings from the workshop.

ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS,ENERGY PLANNING, POLIC↗
DOE OSTI2021

Interfaces in all solid state Li-metal batteries: A review on instabilities, stabilization strategies, and scalability

With technological advancements in electrochemical energy storage systems increasing at a spectacular rate, batteries equipped with a lithium anode hold the key towards unlocking high energy densities. While lithium-ion batteries with layered anodes (e.g. graphite) and liquid organic electrolytes have been ubiquitous in portable electronics, electric vehicles, and grid applications, all solid-state batteries that use the combination of a lithium anode and a solid-state electrolyte (SSE) will further advance the present technology. The underlying challenge that limits the successful development of all solid-state batteries (ASSBs) is dictated largely by the highly reactive interfaces at the anode/SSE and the cathode/SSE interface. In this comprehensive review, we present an overview of the following: (i) characterization of the electrode/SSE interface via multimodal characterization, which include X-ray-, electron-, neutron-, optical-, and computation-based methods: (ii) parasitic reactions that occur from chemical, mechanical or electrochemical instabilities and interfacial engineering strategies for improving the stability of these interfaces classified by the class of inorganic SSEs (sulfide-, NASICON-, and garnet-type SSEs); (iii) laboratory-to-industry scale processing perspectives of SSEs; (iv) scalability and manufacturing aspects of current interfacial strategies; and (v) the prospects of all ASSBs within the context of extreme fast charging capability. Here, this review seeks to highlight key efforts in the field of ASSBs, by focusing particularly on stabilizing the electrode/SSE interfaces, which will help to bridge fundamental studies to technological relevance.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2023

Experimental investigation of advanced turbine control strategies and load-mitigation measures with a model-scale floating offshore wind turbine system

To advance the control co-design of offshore wind energy systems, the authors perform basin-scale experiments with a fully instrumented and actuated floating offshore wind turbine model. The model consists of a 1:70 scale performance-matched model of the International Energy Agency Wind Technology Collaboration Programme 15-MW reference turbine atop the VolturnUS-S semisubmersible platform. The Reference OpenSource Controller provides real-time blade pitch and generator torque control. Here we aim to develop an open data set for the validation of numerical models in predicting the influence of turbine control and load-mitigation measures. For this purpose, we measure the effects of advanced turbine control features, including peak shaving and floating feedback as well as hull-based control using tuned mass dampers on the system. Overall, the results demonstrate measurable and consistent influences from the control and load-mitigation measures, thus confirming the usefulness as a validation data set. Peak shaving attenuates the response to wind turbulence at near-rated wind speed. Floating feedback reduces the load and platform pitch motion associated with the negative damping induced by blade pitch control. The tuned mass dampers also attenuate the system response near the targeted frequencies under suitable conditions. We also identify detrimental side effects of each load-mitigation measure.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Department of Energy/IDEA: More best-practices research

This article continues the overview of the U.S. Department of Energy and IDEA collaboration by highlighting additional case studies that demonstrate innovative engineering approaches in district energy systems. It focuses on how campuses are improving efficiency, integrating advanced technologies, and reducing energy use and emissions through data-driven strategies. The University of Cincinnati is featured for its highly efficient chilled water system, using advanced algorithms and upgraded “smart chillers” to optimize performance, reduce energy consumption, and lower costs. Wake Forest University emphasizes a data-informed modernization process, using system optimization and targeted building improvements to significantly boost efficiency and reduce overall energy use. Arizona Western College showcases creative solutions to extreme cooling demands, including system redesign, smart controls, and thermal storage to improve reliability and cut peak energy costs. Overall, the article demonstrates that combining innovative engineering, real-time data analysis, and system optimization can significantly enhance performance, reduce emissions, and deliver cost savings in district energy systems.

96 KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND PRESERVATION↗
DOE OSTI2026

Demonstrating the data center as a flexible grid asset using a C-HIL setup

Increasing data center demand is outpacing grid infrastructure development. Artificial intelligence workloads and hyperscale cloud growth are creating unprecedented demand for power, while traditional grid expansion faces multiyear development timelines. Verrus is developing an innovative datacenter solution for this challenge, data centers that act as active grid-supportive assets rather than passive loads. Our approach integrates a novel grid-aware power flow management system with battery energy storage systems(BESS) into a microgrid-controlled, medium-voltage power distribution architecture that delivers critical capabilities, such as: * Fast response to grid disturbances such over/ under voltage or over/ under frequency * Demand flexibility that can service requests from the utility within 10 s * Uninterrupted transition to islanded operation during grid outages * Continuous uptime assurance for compute loads while maintaining all customer service level agreements. Through Verrus' strategic partnership with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), these capabilities were validated using NREL's Advanced Research on Integrated Energy Systems (ARIES) virtual emulation environment to model a 70-MW grid-interactive data center. This paper outlines the design, methodology, and results of this emulated deployment, demonstrating that data centers can provide both critical load resilience and ancillary grid support without compromising uptime requirements. Specifically, we present a digital real time simulation of a 70 MW data center integrated with a physical microgrid controller, and demonstrate the data center response in the event of a grid voltage and frequency event, utility demand response request and utility outage.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2026

Innovations in underground hydrogen storage with multiphysics simulations, optimization, and monitoring: A review

Underground Hydrogen Storage (UHS) is a promising solution for large-scale energy storage and a critical component in advancing low-carbon energy system. Ensuring the safety and efficiency of UHS necessitates a comprehensive understanding of multiphysical interactions driven by cyclic pore fluid pressure fluctuations and coupled physicochemical processes. Here, this review examines the key geomechanical responses in UHS, including rock property variations under cyclic loading, fracture evolution and propagation, reservoir stress sensitivity, and fault stability. It also explores the impact of geochemical and microbial reactions on geomechanical characteristics. We provide an in-depth analysis of Thermal-Hydraulic-Mechanical-Chemical (THMC) coupled numerical simulations, highlighting their potential for future multi-scale modeling. Limitations of current machine learning (ML) approaches in addressing UHS challenges are highlighted, emphasizing the need for innovative ML-based methodologies. Operational strategies for hydrogen injection and production are reviewed, focusing on safety, efficiency, and economic viability. The necessity for multi-objective optimization (MOO) to balance storage efficiency, risk mitigation, and cost-effectiveness is also discussed. Current monitoring technologies are evaluated to ensure safe and efficient UHS operations. Finally, this review identifies critical knowledge gaps and underscores the importance of advancing geomechanical understanding under multiphysics-coupling. We highlight the need for ML-driven multiphysics theories, enhanced modeling techniques, and robust optimization strategies to improve UHS performance. This study serves as a comprehensive reference for future research and the large-scale implementation of UHS systems.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2020

An Optimization-Based Planning Tool for On-Demand Mobility Service Operations

Regions worldwide are adopting and exploring low-speed automated electric shuttle (AES) service as an on-demand shared mobility service in dense geofenced urban areas. Building on this concept, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) recently developed the Automated Mobility District (AMD) toolkit. The AMD toolkit—comprising of a travel micro-simulation model and an energy estimation model—estimates the mobility and energy impacts of a given shuttle configuration within an AMD. Early-stage AMD deployments need to find optimal operational configurations that include: (a) passenger capacity of an AES, (b) time-dependent routes, and (c) fleet size (AES units) to satisfy the demand for the region. This research extends the AMD toolkit functionality by developing an optimization-based planning module that will assist in the operations of AES units. We developed a constrained mixed-integer program accounting for passenger waiting time, battery range, and passenger capacity of AES units. For scalability, we demonstrated the Tabu search-based solution technique for a real-world network—a proposed AMD deployment in Greenville, South Carolina, USA. Compared to rule-based operations, our developed solution yields higher travel time and energy savings for the network at different demand levels. The sensitivity analyses for waiting time thresholds indicate nonlinearity in the system performance, underscoring the need to meet shared-use mobility user-level expectations. The developed optimization framework can be adapted and extended to accommodate different categories of shared-use on-demand mobility services.

ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS,ENERGY PLANNING, POLIC↗
DOE OSTI2022

Resilience for Advanced Distributed Wind Systems: Identifying the resilience benefits of advanced controls and hybrid systems for distributed wind

Under the Department of Energy (DOE) Wind Energy Technologies Office (WETO), Idaho National Laboratory (INL) has been tasked with defining the resilience benefits of distributed wind systems for the Microgrids, Infrastructure Resilience, and Advanced Controls Launchpad (MIRACL) project. This project is a collaboration between the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). In the final year of this project, INL is collaborating with the other labs to bring together key results from our previous work on resilience, cybersecurity and risk, distributed wind hybrid systems, and valuation of distributed wind.

17 WIND ENERGY↗