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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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At least 433 records · Page 24
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2021

Solar-to-Grid Public Data File for Utility-scale (UPV) and Distributed Photovoltaics (DPV) Generation, Capacity Credit, and Value for 2012-2020

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) estimates hourly project-level generation data for utility-scale solar projects and hourly county-level generation data for residential and non-residential distributed photovoltaic (PV) systems in the seven organized wholesale markets and 10 additional Balancing Areas. To encourage its broader use, Berkeley Lab has made this data file public here at OEDI, covering the years 2012-2020. The public project-level dataset is updated annually with data from the previous calendar year. For more information about the research project, including a technical report, briefing material, visualizations, and additional data, please visit the project homepage linked in this submission.

annual solar value↗
DOE OSTI2023

Utility-Scale Solar, 2023 Edition: Analysis of Empirical Plant-level Data from U.S. Ground-mounted PV, PV+battery, and CSP Plants (exceeding 5 MWAC)

Berkeley Labs "Utility-Scale Solar", 2023 Edition presents analysis of empirical plant-level data from the U.S. fleet of ground-mounted photovoltaic (PV), PV+battery, and concentrating solar-thermal power (CSP) plants with capacities exceeding 5 MWAC. While focused on key developments in 2022, this report explores trends in deployment, technology, capital and operating costs, capacity factors, the levelized cost of solar energy (LCOE), power purchase agreement (PPA) prices, wholesale market value, and interconnection queue data.

analysis↗
DOE OSTI2022

Utility-Scale Solar, 2022 Edition: Analysis of Empirical Plant-level Data from U.S. Ground-mounted PV, PV+battery, and CSP Plants (exceeding 5 MWAC)

Berkeley Labs "Utility-Scale Solar", 2022 Edition presents analysis of empirical plant-level data from the U.S. fleet of ground-mounted photovoltaic (PV), PV+battery, and concentrating solar-thermal power (CSP) plants with capacities exceeding 5 MWAC. While focused on key developments in 2021, this report explores trends in deployment, technology, capital and operating costs, capacity factors, the levelized cost of solar energy (LCOE), power purchase agreement (PPA) prices, wholesale market value, and interconnection queue data.

2022↗
DOE OSTI2022

Adapting Technology Learning Curves for Prospective Techno-Economic and Life Cycle Assessments of Emerging Carbon Capture and Utilization Pathways

Comparisons of emerging carbon capture and utilization (CCU) technologies with equivalent incumbent technologies are necessary to support technology developers and to help policy-makers design appropriate long-term incentives to mitigate climate change through the deployment of CCU. In particular, early-stage CCU technologies must prove their economic viability and environmental reduction potential compared to already-deployed technologies. These comparisons can be misleading, as emerging technologies typically experience a drastic increase in performance and decrease in cost and greenhouse gas emissions as they develop from research to mass-market deployment due to various forms of learning. These changes complicate the interpretation of early techno-economic assessments (TEAs) and life cycle assessments (LCAs) of emerging CCU technologies. The effects of learning over time or cumulative production themselves can be quantitatively described using technology learning curves (TLCs). While learning curve approaches have been developed for various technologies, a harmonized methodology for using TLCs in TEA and LCA for CCU in particular is required. To address this, we describe a methodology that incorporates TLCs into TEA and LCA to forecast the environmental and economic performance of emerging CCU technologies. This methodology is based on both an evaluation of the state of the art of learning curve assessment and a literature review of TLC approaches developed in various manufacturing and energy generation sectors. Additionally, we demonstrate how to implement this methodology using a case study on a CO 2 mineralization pathway. Finally, commentary is provided on how researchers, technology developers, and LCA and TEA practitioners can advance the use of TLCs to allow for consistent, high-resolution modeling of technological learning for CCU going forward and enable holistic assessments and fairer comparisons with other climate technologies.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Life-Cycle and Techno-Economic Assessment of Early-Stage Carbon Capture and Utilization Technologies—A Discussion of Current Challenges and Best Practices

The mitigation of climate change requires research, development, and deployment of new technologies that are not only economically viable but also environmentally benign. Systematic and continuous technology assessment from early technology maturity onwards allows assessment practitioners to identify economic and environmental characteristics. With this information, decision-makers can focus time and resources on the most promising technologies. A broad toolset for technology assessment exists—stretching from the well-established life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology to more loosely defined techno-economic analysis (TEA) methods and the increasingly popular principles of technology maturity assessment such as the concept of technology readiness levels (TRL). However, current technology assessment practice faces various challenges at early stages, resulting in a potential mismatch of study results and stakeholders' needs and an escalation of assessment effort. In this practice review, we outline current challenges in the interplay of LCA, TEA, and TRL and present best practices for assessing early-stage climate change mitigation technologies in the field of carbon capture and utilization (CCU). The findings help practitioners systematically identify the TRL of a technology and adapt technology assessment methodologies accordingly. We highlight the methodological challenges for practitioners when adapting the goal and scope, identifying benchmark technologies, creating a comprehensive inventory, comparing early stage to commercial stage, ensuring clarity of recommendations for decision-making under high uncertainty, and streamlining conventional LCA and TEA assessment approaches and provide actionable recommendations. Overall, this work contributes to identifying promising technologies faster and more systematically, accelerating the development of new technologies for climate change mitigation and beyond.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2020

Environmental and Economic Assessments and Uncertainties of Multiple Lignocellulosic Biomass Utilization for Bioenergy Products: Case Studies

Life-cycle assessment (LCA) and techno-economic analysis (TEA) were applied to assess the economic feasibility and environmental benefits of utilizing multiple biomass feedstocks for bioenergy products under three different technological pathways with consideration of uncertainties. Three cases were studied for the production of pellets, biomass-based electricity, and pyrolysis bio-oil. A Monte Carlo simulation was used to examine the uncertainties of fossil energy consumption, bioenergy conversion efficiency, stochastic production rate, etc. The cradle-to-gate LCA results showed that pellet production had the lowest greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, water and fossil fuels consumption (8.29 kg CO2 eq (equivalent), 0.46 kg, and 105.42 MJ, respectively). The conversion process presented a greater environmental impact for all three bioenergy products. When producing 46,929 Mg of pellets, 223,380 MWh of electricity, and 78,000 barrels of pyrolysis oil, the net present values (NPV) indicated that only pellet and electricity production were profitable with NPVs of $1.20 million for pellets, and $5.59 million for biopower. Uncertainty analysis indicated that pellet production showed the highest uncertainty in GHG emission, and bio-oil production had the least uncertainty in GHG emission but had risks producing greater-than-normal amounts of GHG. Biopower production had the highest probability to be a profitable investment with 85.23%.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Circular Perspective for Utilization of Industrial Wastewaters via Phytoremediation

Wastewater generated in municipal rendering facilities requires multi-step treatment, but it may also serve as a source of nutrients and water and thus may be valorized before or instead of the necessary wastewater treatment operations. In this work, wastewaters from a composting plant were utilized to support the growth of Miscanthus x giganteus, known as both a remediation plant and an energy biomass source. A pot experiment was established to compare the effects of different wastewater doses (0, 50, 100, and 200 mL per pot per week) on the miscanthus biomass yield, phytoextraction of heavy metals, biomass heat of combustion, and plant condition. The increase in the wastewater dose resulted in increases in both biomass yield (from about 44 to 139%) and biomass heat of combustion (from 7 to 17%) when compared to the control sample, with no adverse effects on plant physiological parameters. The highest concentrations of metals were found in miscanthus grown with the highest dose of wastewaters. It was found that higher wastewater dose correlates to both higher phytoextraction and phytorecovery of metals from plant substrate and wastewaters. The highest metal uptake was identified for Fe (431 mg·pot −1 ), followed by Al, Zn, Mn, Cu, Ni, Cr. The lowest metal uptake was noted for Pb, Co and Cd (0.88, 0.11, and 0.95 mg·pot −1 , respectively). The results indicate that miscanthus can be recommended for industrial wastewater treatment. In addition, due to high absorption efficiency of the substrate components, miscanthus can be used as a remediation tool, e.g., for the ecological stabilization of remediation of metal-polluted soils, especially in municipal facilities like rendering plants. This presents a circular perspective for the valorization of post-fermentation wastewaters with subsequent growth of energy crops, with other potential benefits for the environment, such as soil treatment, absorption of CO 2 , and air purification.

Miscanthus x giganteus↗
DOE OSTI2026

Engaging with Utilities and Key Stakeholders [Slides]

The Energy to Communities (E2C) peer-learning cohort program provides technical assistance to groups of 15 community entities around a common energy topic over the course of 6 months. Every month, participants join a virtual meeting where they hear from experts and exchange strategies and best practices with their peers. This cohort, "Successful Energy Project Implementation" will explore common challenges in implementing energy projects and learn strategies to turn project plans into reality. Each participant will focus on a local energy project or priority as a cornerstone for their learning throughout the series. This presentation overviews the interconnection process for distributed energy resources and how to engage well with utilities. The workshop will be held on March 25, 2026.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2026

Utilities' Role in Major Grid Disruptions [Slides]

The Energy to Communities (E2C) peer-learning cohort program provides technical assistance to groups of 15 community entities around a common energy topic over the course of 6 months. Every month, participants join a virtual meeting where they hear from experts and exchange strategies and best practices with their peers. This cohort, "Planning for Major Energy Disruptions in the Southeast" focuses on strategies for entities in the Southeast to quickly recover from impacts to energy infrastructure caused by extreme events, such as severe weather and natural disasters. This presentation focuses on the role of utilities in preparing for and responding to major energy disruptions. The workshop is on April 23, 2026.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2021

Why Plan for Utility-Scale Solar?

The Solar@Scale project is a DOE Solar Energy Technologies Office-funded collaboration between the American Planning Association and International City/County Management Association (ICMA) to provide best practices and guidance for local communities in planning for large-scale PV development. As a member of the Solar@Scale advisory committee, I have been asked to present on trends and land use projections for large-scale solar to demonstrate why local governments will likely see growing demand for solar energy development. These slides represent an introduction to projections from NREL's Standard Scenarios, Cambium, LBNL's Utility-Scale Solar report, and other data sources on the level of solar energy development that can be expected across the country.

48 EE - Weatherization and Intergovernmental Progr↗
DOE OSTI2021

Working With Your Utility Series: Interconnection Basics

This training provided information on interconnection basics for federal agencies developing distributed energy projects. Considerations covered included: Understanding interconnection processes and timelines, interconnection siting considerations, technology-specific interconnection issues, and interconnect agreements. This webinar is the first in a multi-part series on working with electric utilities to develop distributed energy projects on federal sites.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2023

2.3.4.100 - Lignin Utilization

Lignin depolymerization to aromatic monomers is a primary route for myriad lignin valorization strategies. To date, there are many strategies able to cleave aryl-ether linkages in lignin, but the lignin polymer, in both its native and processed forms, contains a substantial fraction of refractory carbon-carbon linkages between aromatic units, which typically limits aromatic monomer yields to -30-40 wt% or lower, depending on the feedstock. To that end, the Lignin Utilization (LigU) project addresses the critical challenge of lignin depolymerization catalysis with emphasis on C-C bond cleavage. Being able to achieve cost-effective C-C bond catalysis in lignin depolymerization would enable a substantial increase in accessible aromatic monomer yields from lignin. Among the catalysis strategies that have been investigated in the LigU project, we have made substantial progress in the use of autoxidation catalysis, inspired by the industrial conversion of p-xylene to terephthalic acid, for C-C bond cleavage in lignin. Using multiple substrates, we have demonstrated that autoxidation catalysis can produce mixtures of bio-available aromatic monomers for conversion to exemplary bioproducts, such as cis,cis-muconic acid, in collaboration with the Biological Lignin Valorization project. Prior to FY23, the LigU project also included lignin analytical chemistry method development, lignin analytics for BETO-funded projects, and model compound syntheses, which will also be presented.

BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2026

State-Tribal Collaboration: Utility Programs

This is one of 6 fact sheets for the State/Tribal Collaboration project for Office of Policy. This fact sheets discusses low-income utility programs that can benefit Tribes.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2024

High-Entropy Metal-Organic Frameworks (HEMOFs): A New Frontier in Materials Design for CO 2 Utilization

High-entropy materials (HEMs) emerged as promising candidates for a diverse array of chemical transformations, including CO 2 utilization. However, traditional HEMs catalysts are nonporous, limiting their activity to surface sites. Designing HEMs with intrinsic porosity can open the door toward enhanced reactivity while maintaining the many benefits of high configurational entropy. Here, in this study, a synergistic experimental, analytical, and theoretical approach to design the first high-entropy metal-organic frameworks (HEMOFs) derived from polynuclear metal clusters is implemented, a novel class of porous HEMs that is highly active for CO 2 fixation under mild conditions and short reaction times, outperforming existing heterogeneous catalysts. HEMOFs with up to 15 distinct metals are synthesized (the highest number of metals ever incorporated into a single MOF) and, for the first time, homogenous metal mixing within individual clusters is directly observed via high-resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy. Importantly, density functional theory studies provide unprecedented insight into the electronic structures of HEMOFs, demonstrating that the density of states in heterometallic clusters is highly sensitive to metal composition. This work dramatically advances HEMOF materials design, paving the way for further exploration of HEMs and offers new avenues for the development of multifunctional materials with tailored properties for a wide range of applications.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Phase‐Change‐Memory Process at the Limit: A Proposal for Utilizing Monolayer Sb 2 Te 3

Abstract One central task of developing nonvolatile phase change memory (PCM) is to improve its scalability for high‐density data integration. In this work, by first‐principles molecular dynamics, to date the thinnest PCM material possible (0.8 nm), namely, a monolayer Sb 2 Te 3 , is proposed. Importantly, its SET (crystallization) process is a fast one‐step transition from amorphous to hexagonal phase without the usual intermediate cubic phase. An increased spatial localization of electrons due to geometrical confinement is found to be beneficial for keeping the data nonvolatile in the amorphous phase at the 2D limit. The substrate and superstrate can be utilized to control the phase change behavior: e.g., with passivated SiO 2 (001) surfaces or hexagonal Boron Nitride, the monolayer Sb 2 Te 3 can reach SET recrystallization in 0.54 ns or even as fast as 0.12 ns, but with unpassivated SiO 2 (001), this would not be possible. Besides, working with small volume PCM materials is also a natural way to lower power consumption. Therefore, the proposed PCM working process at the 2D limit will be an important potential strategy of scaling the current PCM materials for ultrahigh‐density data storage.

2D limit↗