NREL Fights Corrosion to Cut Costs in CSP Plants
NREL investigates how best to protect tanks and pipelines used for thermal energy storage and heat transfer fluids.
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Results for “NREL”
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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NREL's OpenStudio Helps Design More Efficient Buildings (Fact Sheet)
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has created the OpenStudio software platform that makes it easier for architects and engineers to evaluate building energy efficiency measures throughout the design process. OpenStudio makes energy modeling more accessible and affordable, helping professionals to design structures with lower utility bills and less carbon emissions, resulting in a healthier environment. OpenStudio includes a user-friendly application suite that makes the U.S. Department of Energy's EnergyPlus and Radiance simulation engines easier to use for whole building energy and daylighting performance analysis. OpenStudio is freely available and runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux operating systems.
32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
Energy Performance Testing of Asetek's RackCDU System at NREL's High Performance Computing Data Center
In this study, we report on the first tests of Asetek's RackCDU direct-to-chip liquid cooling system for servers at NREL's ESIF data center. The system was simple to install on the existing servers and integrated directly into the data center's existing hydronics system. The focus of this study was to explore the total cooling energy savings and potential for waste-heat recovery of this warm-water liquid cooling system. RackCDU captured up to 64% of server heat into the liquid stream at an outlet temperature of 89 degrees F, and 48% at outlet temperatures approaching 100 degrees F. This system was designed to capture heat from the CPUs only, indicating a potential for increased heat capture if memory cooling was included. Reduced temperatures inside the servers caused all fans to reduce power to the lowest possible BIOS setting, indicating further energy savings potential if additional fan control is included. Preliminary studies manually reducing fan speed (and even removing fans) validated this potential savings but could not be optimized for these working servers. The Asetek direct-to-chip liquid cooling system has been in operation with users for 16 months with no necessary maintenance and no leaks.
97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
Cooperative Research between NREL and Solar Junction Corp: Cooperative Research and Development Final Report, CRADA Number CRD-08-306
NREL and Solar Junction Corp. will perform cooperative research on materials and devices that are alternatives to standard approaches with the goal of improving solar cell efficiency while lowering cost. The general purpose of this work is to model the performance of a multi-junction concentrator cell of Solar Junction, Inc. design under normal concentrator operating conditions.
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NREL and Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) Support of Ocean Renewable Power Company's TidGen™ Power System Technology Readiness Advancement Initiative Project
This document summarizes the tasks identified for National Laboratory technical support of Ocean Renewable Power Corporation (ORPC) DOE grant awarded under the FY10 Industry Solicitation DE-FOA-0000293: Technology Readiness Advancement Initiative. The system ORPC will deploy in Cobscook Bay, ME is known as the TidGen™ Power System. The Turbine Generator Unit (TGU) each have a rated capacity of 150 to 175 kW, and they are mounted on bottom support frames and connected to an onshore substation using an underwater power and control cable. This system is designed for tidal energy applications in water depths from 60 to 150 feet. In funding provided separately by DOE, National Laboratory partners NREL and SNL will provide in-kind resources and technical expertise to help ensure that industry projects meet DOE WWPP (Wind and Water Power Program) objectives by reducing risk to these high value projects.
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AIST-NREL Concentrator Photovoltaic (CPV) Demonstration. Cooperative Research and Development Final Report, CRADA Number CRD-10-402
The purpose of the project is to demonstrate and quantitatively compare performance of CPV systems installed in Japan and in the United States. The deployment conditions (e.g. spectrum and temperature) are site dependent and the optimal design of the system may vary with location. The CPV systems will use multi-junction concentrator cells for the conversion of sunlight into electricity. The optimal design of the cell may depend on the location at which a CPV system is installed. Thus, the systems in Japan and in the U.S. will all use a combination of concentrator cells obtained from three different vendors. This CRADA pertains only to the equipment that will be installed in the U.S. This effort is a collaborative project between AIST and NREL.
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NREL - FY09 Lab Call: Supporting Research and Testing for MHK [Slides]
Presentation from the 2011 Water Peer Review in which the principal investigator discusses NREL's MHK portfolio.
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Collaborative Research and Development by EpiSolar and NREL of Processes and Materials for Flexible CdS/CdTe Superstrate Devices: Cooperative Research and Development Final Report, CRADA Number CRD-14-550
The objective of this work is to collaborate with EpiSolar to develop and test processes that are consistent with the goals and milestones of an NREL FPace1 (Foundational Program to Advance Cell Efficiency) project entitled 'High-Temperature, Roll-to-Roll (RTR) CdTe Superstrate Devices Using Flexible Glass.' The primary milestone for this CRADA relates to demonstration of a 15% efficient laboratory device.
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Analysis of a Single Year of Performance Data for Thin Film Modules Deployed at NREL and NISE
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and National Institute of Solar Energy (NISE), located in the United States and India, respectively, have partnered to deploy and monitor modules of three different thin film technologies, to compare the performance and/or degradation between the two sites. This report analyzes a single year of performance data (May 2014 -- May 2015) for the three thin film technologies, exploring the modules' performance under standard test conditions and monthly performance ratios, as well as fill factors varying season, light level, and temperature.
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NREL and SDG&E Collaboration to Support SDG&E Grid and Storage Efforts: Cooperative Research and Development Final Report, CRADA Number CRD-14-562
This project will enable effective utilization of high penetration of photovoltaics (PV) in islanded microgrids, increasing overall system efficiency, decreased fuel costs and resiliency of the overall system to help meet the SunShot goals of enhancing system integration methods to increase penetration of PV. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) will collaborate with San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) to provide research and testing support to address their needs in energy storage sizing and placement, Integrated Test Facility (ITF) development, Real Time Digital Simulator (RTDS) Modeling and simulation support at ITF, Visualization and Virtual connection to Energy Systems Integration Facility (ESIF), and microgrid simulation and testing areas. Specifically in this project a real microgrid scenario with high penetration of PV (existing in SDG&E territory) is tested in the ESIF laboratory. Multiple control cases for firming PV using storage in a microgrid scenario will be investigated and tested in the laboratory setup.
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Grid Integration Science, NREL Power Systems Engineering Center
This report highlights journal articles published in 2016 by researchers in the Power Systems Engineering Center. NREL's Power Systems Engineering Center published 47 journal and magazine articles in the past year, highlighting recent research in grid modernization.
2016 Power Systems Engineering Center↗
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) Topic 2 Final Report: End-to-End Communication and Control System to Support Clean Energy Technologies
This document is the final report of a two-year development, test, and demonstration project, 'Cohesive Application of Standards- Based Connected Devices to Enable Clean Energy Technologies.' The project was part of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's (NREL's) Integrated Network Testbed for Energy Grid Research and Technology (INTEGRATE) initiative hosted at Energy Systems Integration Facility (ESIF). This project demonstrated techniques to control distribution grid events using the coordination of traditional distribution grid devices and high-penetration renewable resources and demand response. Using standard communication protocols and semantic standards, the project examined the use cases of high/low distribution voltage, requests for volt-ampere-reactive (VAR) power support, and transactive energy strategies using Volttron. Open source software, written by EPRI to control distributed energy resources (DER) and demand response (DR), was used by an advanced distribution management system (ADMS) to abstract the resources reporting to a collection of capabilities rather than needing to know specific resource types. This architecture allows for scaling both horizontally and vertically. Several new technologies were developed and tested. Messages from the ADMS based on the common information model (CIM) were developed to control the DER and DR management systems. The OpenADR standard was used to help manage grid events by turning loads off and on. Volttron technology was used to simulate a homeowner choosing the price at which to enter the demand response market. Finally, the ADMS used newly developed algorithms to coordinate these resources with a capacitor bank and voltage regulator to respond to grid events.
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NREL Energy Performance Testing of Asetek's RackCDU System on a Single Rack of Twin Blade Servers: Cooperative Research and Development Final Report, CRADA Number CRD-13-518
The project will entail Asetek retrofitting 1 - 2 compute racks of servers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to test and validate RackCDU's cooling performance and long-term reliability. The project will also entail measuring and reporting energy savings under a real workload by comparing total power input to the system vs. total heat removed by liquid and air. Direct measurements will be made to compare and contrast energy consumption and performance both before and after RackCDU installation. The scope of this project is strictly demonstration and feedback on the system. No development work will be performed under this CRADA.
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NREL Comparison Between Absolute Cavity Pyrgeometers and Pyrgeometers Traceable to World Infrared Standard Group and the InfraRed Integrating Sphere
The comparison of the Absolute Cavity Pyrgeometers (ACPs) Comparison with a PIR Pyrgeometer Traceable to the World Infrared Standard Group (WISG) and a Kipp & Zonen (KZ) pyrgeometer traceable to the InfraRed Integrating Sphere Radiometer (IRIS) was held during the NREL Pyrheliometer Comparison (NPC-2018) from September 24 to October 5, 2018. Data from all instruments was collected during night time clear sky conditions only. The irradiance measured by the ACPs and the PIR pyrgeometer traceable to the WISG were collected every 10 seconds during the ACPs self-calibration and every 30 seconds during the measurement runs. The measurement runs were for two hours while the calibration runs were for 6 minutes. The irradiance measured by the Kipp & Zonen pyrgeometer was collected every 30 seconds. During the comparison the average (av) irradiance difference measured by three ACPs varied from 0.2 W/m 2 to -0.5 W/m 2 , with a standard deviation (sd) from 0.5 W/m 2 to 0.8 W/m 2 . The average irradiance difference measured by the three ACPs minus the irradiance measured by the PIR is 4.3 W/m 2 and sd 4.2 W/m 2 , and that of measured irradiance by the KZ is 2.3 W/m 2 and sd 3.5 W/m 2 .
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NREL Comparison of Absolute Cavity Pyrgeometers and Pyrgeometers Traceable to the World Infrared Standard Group and the Infrared Integrating Sphere: September 23-October 4, 2019
The comparison of the absolute cavity pyrgeometers (ACPs) with a precision infrared radiometer (PIR) pyrgeometer traceable to the World Infrared Standard Group (WISG) and a Kipp & Zonen (KZ) pyrgeometer traceable to WISG and the InfraRed Integrating Sphere Radiometer (IRIS) was held during the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) Pyrheliometer Comparison (NPC-2019) from September 23 to October 4, 2019. Data from all instruments was collected during nighttime clear sky conditions only. The irradiance measured by the ACPs, PIR, and CG4 pyrgeometers collected 30 seconds during the measurement runs. The measurement runs lasted for two hours, while the calibration runs lasted for 6 minutes. During the comparison, the average (av) irradiance difference measured by three ACPs varied from 0.2 W/m 2 to 0.8 W/m 2 , with a standard deviation (sd) from 0.4 W/m 2 to 0.8 W/m 2 . The average irradiance difference measured by the three ACPs minus the irradiance measured by the PIR was 7.1 W/m 2 and sd 1.0 W/m 2 , and the average irradiance difference measured by the KZ traceable to WISG was 8.1 W/m2 and sd 0.9 W/m 2 , and average irradiance difference measured by the KZ traceable to IRIS was 4.0 W/m2 and sd 0.9 W/m 2 .
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NREL’s Cyber-Energy Emulation Platform for Research and System Visualization
This paper presents NREL’s Cyber Energy Emulation (CEE) Platform. This is a novel emulation platform for achieving real-time visualization of large-scale environments involving cyber-physical devices. It allows for the environment to include real, physical hardware, along with emulated devices communicating with each other as part of the same system. The CEE Platform is also capable of streaming, collecting, storing, transporting, and visualizing all data within the emulated environment. By providing this capability, it enables high-fidelity visual analysis of events to be performed in real time as well as the use of historical data for forensic analysis. This paper presents the design of the CEE Platform as well as several potential use cases and applications. It also aims to highlight why this type of visualization tool has potential for research and education about cyber-physical systems.
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Conceptual Basis and Techno-Economic Modeling for Integrated Algal Biorefinery Conversion of Microalgae to Fuels and Products (2019 NREL TEA Update: Highlighting Paths to Future Cost Goals via a New Pathway for Combined Algal Processing)
The report documents the conceptual basis for a new potential Combined Algal Processing design strategy which may allow more flexibility in accommodating different algal biomass feedstock compositions, by enabling upgrading of both protein and carbohydrates in a single step, without a strict requirement for either component to be in soluble or monomeric form, while maintaining effective wet lipid extraction techniques to enable high lipid recoveries. In light of previously-established constraints around algal biomass costs (which are significantly higher than lignocellulosic terrestrial biomass), the present CAP processing strategy reflects an integrated biorefinery concept producing both fuels and value-added chemical coproducts as a means to improve profitability and generate coproduct revenues to help drive down the minimum fuel selling price (MFSP) towards economically viable levels. Namely, this report highlights an integrated CAP biorefinery process and associated technical targets that would be required to achieve U.S. Department of Energy target MFSP goals of $2.5/gallon gasoline equivalent by 2030. This is accomplished by a process involving low-cost seasonal storage of algal biomass during high-growth seasons, rapid flash hydrolysis pretreatment of the biomass, solvent extraction of pretreated biomass, cleanup and fractionation of lipids into triglyceride and free fatty acid fractions, and a series of thermochemical conversion steps to upgrade carbohydrates and protein to hydrocarbon fuels. These steps include mild oxidative treatment (MOT), a process originally investigated at NREL for upgrading lignin, followed by catalytic ketonization and hydrotreating of MOT products to fuels. Isolated triglycerides are sent to a coproduct train, with the base case focused on upgrading to polyurethane foams as a high-value, high-market-volume coproduct.
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NREL's HydroGEN Photoreactor Platform Design and Characterization
This technical report details the design, fabrication, and construction of a flow-through photoreactor developed at The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The photoreactor is designed to facilitate indoor or outdoor testing on photoelectrochemical or integrated solar water splitting devices. The photoreactor design described here is based on a previous demonstration. The photoreactor version described herein contains several advanced design features that include: 1) Chassis-chuck two-part design, 2) Separable counter electrode compartments (here, the counter electrodes are anodes), 3) Reduced electrode separation to reduce electrolyte resistance, 4) Improved flow pattern for bubble removal, 5) Mounting for spectroradiometer receptor, 6) Fresnel lens and collimating tube attachments. The photoreactor presented here was designed primarily to accommodate photocathode materials in an illuminated compartment and a dark anode as the oxygen evolution catalyst. The build materials were thus chosen to for acid electrolyte compatibility. Other embodiments could accommodate a photoanode with dark hydrogen evolution catalyst and other build materials for alkaline compatibility.
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