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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 685 records · Page 38
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1980

Energetics of the magnetosphere

The approximate magnitudes of several power inputs and energies associated with the Earth's magnetosphere will be derived. They include: Solar wind power impinging on the dayside magnetopause approximately 1.4 10 to the 13th power watt; power input to cross tail current approximately 3 10 to the 11th power watt; energy of moderate magnetic storm approximately 2 10 to the 15th power joule; power related to the flow of j approximately 1 to 3 10 to the 11th power watt; average power deposited by the aurora approximately 2 10 to the 10th power watt. Stored magnetic energy: released in a substorm approximately 1.5 10 to the 14th power joule. Compared to the above, the rate at which energy is released locally in magnetospheric regions where magnetic merging occurs is probably small. Merging is essential, however, for the existence of open field lines, which provide the most likely explanation for some major energy inputs listed here. Merging is also required if part of the open flux of the tail lobes is converted into closed flux, as seems to happen during substorms. Again, most of the energy release becomes evident only beyond the merging region, though some particles may gain appreciable energy in that region itself, if the plasma sheet is completely squeezed out and the high latitude lobes interact directly.

Stern, D. P.↗
DOE OSTI2013

WECC Variable Generation Planning Reference Book: Appendices

The document titled “WECC Variable Generation Planning Reference Book”. This book is divided into two volumes; one is the main document (volume 1)and the other is appendices (volume 2). The main document is a collection of the best practices and the information regarding the application and impact of variables generation on power system planning. This volume (appendices) has additional information on the following topics: Probabilistic load flow problems. 2. Additional useful indices. 3. high-impact low-frequency (HILF) events. 4. Examples of wide-area nomograms. 5. Transmission line ratings, types of dynamic rating methods. 6. Relative costs per MW-km of different electric power transmission technologies. 7. Ultra-high voltage (UHV) transmission. 8.High voltage direct current (VSC-HVDC). 9. HVDC. 10. Rewiring of existing transmission lines. 11. High-temperature low sag (HTLS) conductors. 12. The direct method and energy functions for transient stability analysis in power systems. 13.Blackouts caused by voltage instability. 14. Algorithm for parameter continuation predictor-corrector methods. 15. Approximation techniques available for security regions. 16. Impacts of wind power on power system small signals stability. 17. FIDVR. 18. FACTS. 19. European planning standard and practices. 20. International experience in wind and solar energy sources. 21. Western Renewable Energy Zones (WREZ). 22. various energy storage technologies. 23. demand response. 24. BA consolidation and cooperation options. 25. generator power management requirements and 26. European planning guidelines.

Makarov, Yuri V.↗
DOE OSTI2016

2015 Wind Technologies Market Report

This annual report—now in its tenth year—provides a detailed overview of developments and trends in the U.S. wind power market, with a particular focus on 2015.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Droughts in Wind and Solar Power: Assessing Climate Model Simulations for a Net‐Zero Energy Future

Abstract Understanding and predicting “droughts” in wind and solar power availability can help the electric grid operator planning and operation toward deep renewable penetration. We assess climate models' ability to simulate these droughts at different horizontal resolutions, ∼100 and ∼25 km, over Western North America and Texas. We find that these power droughts are associated with the high/low pressure systems. The simulated wind and solar power variabilities and their corresponding droughts during historical periods are more sensitive to the model bias than to the model resolution. Future climate simulations reveal varied future change of these droughts across different regions. Although model resolution does not affect the simulation of historical droughts, it does impact the simulated future changes. This suggests that regional response to future warming can vary considerably in high‐ and low‐resolution models. These insights have important implications for adapting power system planning and operations to the changing climate.

Liu, Xue [Department of Oceanography Texas A&amp,M↗
DOE OSTI2016

On the Path to SunShot - Advancing Concentrating Solar Power Technology, Performance, and Dispatchability

Energy storage will help enable CSP compete by adding flexibility value to a high-variable-generation (solar plus wind) power system (see Mehos et al. 2016). Compared with PV, CSP systems are more complex to develop, design, construct, and operate, and they require a much larger minimum effective scale—typically at least 50 MW, compared with PV systems that can be as small as a few kilowatts. In recent years, PV’s greater modularity and lower LCOE have made it more attractive to many solar project developers, and some large projects that were originally planned for CSP have switched to PV. However, the ability of CSP to use thermal energy storage—and thus provide continuous power for long periods when the sun is not shining—could give CSP a vital role in evolving electricity systems. Because CSP with storage can store energy when net demand is low and release that energy when demand is high, it increases the electricity system’s ability to balance supply and demand over multiple time scales. Such flexibility becomes increasingly important as more variable-generation renewable energy is added to the system. For example, one analysis suggests that, under a 40% renewable portfolio standard in California, CSP with storage could provide more than twice as much value to the electricity system as variable-generation PV. For this reason, enhanced thermal energy storage is a critical component of the SunShot Initiative’s 2020 CSP technology-improvement roadmap.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
NASA NTRS1975

Plans and status of the NASA-Lewis Research Center wind energy project

This report describes that portion of the national five-year wind energy program that is being managed by the NASA-Lewis Research Center for the ERDA. The Lewis Research Center's Wind Power Office, its organization and plans and status are briefly described. The three major elements of the wind energy project at Lewis are the experimental 100 kW wind-turbine generator; the first generation industry-built and user-operated wind turbine generators; and the supporting research and technology tasks which are each briefly described.

Thomas, R.↗
DOE OSTI2019

A Prognostics and Health Management Framework for Wind

Operation and maintenance costs are a major driver for levelized cost of energy of wind power plants and can be reduced through optimized operation and maintenance practices accomplishable by various prognostics and health management (PHM) technologies. In recent years, the wind industry has become more open to adopting PHM solutions, especially those focusing on diagnostics. However, prognostics activities are, in general, still at the research and development stage. On the other hand, the industry has a request to estimate a component's remaining useful life (RUL) when it has faulted, and this is a key output of prognostics. Systematically presenting PHM technologies to the wind industry by highlighting the RUL prediction need potentially helps speed up its acceptance and provides more benefits from PHM to the industry. In this paper, we introduce a PHM for wind framework. It highlights specifics unique to wind turbines and features integration of data and physics domain information and models. The output of the framework focuses on RUL prediction. To demonstrate its application, a data domain method for wind turbine gearbox fault diagnostics is presented. It uses supervisory control and data acquisition system time series data, normalizes gearbox temperature measurements with reference to environmental temperature and turbine power, and leverages big data analytics and machine-learning techniques to make the model scalable and the diagnostics process automatic. Another physics-domain modeling method for RUL prediction of wind turbine gearbox high-speed-stage bearings failed by axial cracks is also discussed. Bearing axial cracking has been shown to be the prevalent wind turbine gearbox failure mode experienced in the field and is different from rolling contact fatigue, which is targeted during the bearing design stage. The method uses probability of failure as a component reliability assessment and RUL prediction metric, which can be expanded to other drivetrain components or failure modes. The presented PHM for wind framework is generic and applicable to both land-based and offshore wind turbines.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Stratified wind from a super-Eddington X-ray binary is slower than expected

Accretion disks in strong gravity ubiquitously produce winds, seen as blueshifted absorption lines in the X-ray band of both stellar mass X-ray binaries (black holes and neutron stars) and supermassive black holes. Some of the most powerful winds (termed Eddington winds) are expected to arise from systems in which radiation pressure is sufficient to unbind material from the inner disk (L ≳ L Edd ). These winds should be extremely fast and carry a large amount of kinetic power, which, when associated with supermassive black holes, would make them a prime contender for the feedback mechanism linking the growth of those black holes with their host galaxies. Here we show the XRISM Resolve spectrum of the galactic neutron star X-ray binary, GX 13+1, which reveals one of the densest winds ever seen in absorption lines. This Compton-thick wind significantly attenuates the flux, making it appear faint, although it is intrinsically more luminous than usual (L ≳ L Edd ). However, the wind is extremely slow, more consistent with the predictions of thermal-radiative winds launched by X-ray irradiation of the outer disk than with the expected Eddington wind driven by radiation pressure from the inner disk. This puts new constraints on the origin of winds from bright accretion flows in binaries, but also highlights the very different origin required for the ultrafast (v ~ 0.3c) winds seen in recent Resolve observations of a supermassive black hole at a similarly high Eddington ratio.

Audard, Marc [Univ. of Geneva, Versoix (Switzerlan↗
DOE OSTI2019

Machine learning applied to wind turbine blades impact detection

The significant development of wind power generation worldwide brings, together with environmental benefits, wildlife concerns, especially for volant species vulnerability to interactions with wind energy facilities. For surveying such events, an automatic system for continuous monitoring of blade collisions is critical. An onboard multi-senor system capable of providing real-time collision detection using integrated vibration sensors is developed and successfully tested. However, to detect low signal-to-noise ratio impact can be challenging; hence, an advanced impact detection method has been developed and presented in this article. A robust automated detection algorithm based on support vector machine is proposed. After a preliminary signal pre-processing, geometric features specifically selected for their sensitivity to impact signals are extracted from raw vibration signal and energy distribution graph. The predictive model is formulated by training conventional support vector machine using extracted features for impact identification. Finally, the performance of the predictive model is evaluated by accuracy, precision, and recall. Results indicate a linear regression relationship between signal-to-noise ratio and model overall performance. Here, the proposed method is much reliable on higher signal-to-noise ratio (SNR≥6), but it shows to be ineffective at lower signal-to-noise ratio (SNR<2).

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2013

Impacts of Variability and Uncertainty in Solar Photovoltaic Generation at Multiple Timescales

The characteristics of variability and uncertainty of PV solar power have been studied extensively. These characteristics can create challenges for system operators who must ensure a balance between generation and demand while obeying power system constraints at the lowest possible cost. A number of studies have looked at the impact of wind power plants, and some recent studies have also included solar PV. The simulations that are used in these studies, however, are typically fixed to one time resolution. This makes it difficult to analyze the variability across several timescales. In this study, we use a simulation tool that has the ability to evaluate both the economic and reliability impacts of PV variability and uncertainty at multiple timescales. This information should help system operators better prepare for increases of PV on their systems and develop improved mitigation strategies to better integrate PV with enhanced reliability. Another goal of this study is to understand how different mitigation strategies and methods can improve the integration of solar power more reliably and efficiently.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Value of Nuclear Energy to the Reliability of the North American Power System: Results for Western and Eastern Interconnections

This report documents the fulfillment of a milestone for the United States (U.S.) Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy Light Water Reactor Sustainability Program: completing a baseline study of regional impact of nuclear power plants and hydrogen production in maintaining grid services and power quality. Models have been comprehensively demonstrated for the Western Interconnection, or Western Electric Coordinating Council area, and in the Eastern Interconnection for scenarios representative of past extreme events (e.g., drought and heat waves). Understanding the impact on the reliability of the bulk electric system of any reduction in generation capacity from nuclear power, for any reason, is the motivation of this work. Factors that might lead to the premature or unplanned closure of nuclear plants, extended outages, or repurposing of nuclear power include: • Aging infrastructure: Many nuclear power plants in the U.S. are nearing the end of their designed operating lives. Upgrading aging infrastructure can be expensive, and some utilities may choose to retire plants rather than invest in costly upgrades. • Low wholesale electricity prices: The deregulation of the electricity market in many states has led to increased competition and driven down wholesale electricity prices, causing nuclear power operators to seek other revenue sources for their heat and power such as clean hydrogen production. • Renewables growth: The rapid growth of renewable energy sources like solar and wind power is posing a challenge to traditional generation sources like nuclear. While many see renewables as a key part of the clean energy transition, their intermittent nature requires additional grid solutions for reliable power supply. • The potential for regulatory decisions to be in conflict: In its 2021 rulemaking, EPA rule (86 FR 880), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) set a compliance date for the ban on processing and distribution in commerce of Decabromodiphenyl Ether (DecaBDE). Since DecaBDE is in many components, particularly wiring, of nuclear power plants which are deemed safety-related or important to safety, three plants would not have been able to restart after their 2023 spring outages, and numerous others would have faced issues in the near future. Fortunately, in this case, the EPA provided relief to the nuclear energy industry. The report provides a summary of the significant role nuclear energy plays in the United States’ power generation mix, supplying around 20% of the nation’s electricity generation, spread across 28 U.S. states. Nuclear power is reliable, mostly unaffected by weather and seasonal changes, and provides a consistent source of baseload power. In terms of capacity, nuclear power plants account for as much as 26% of balancing area power generation capacity. Nuclear power also provides a substantial contribution (e.g., 10% of the inertia in the Eastern Interconnection) of the synchronous spinning mass/inertia that buffers the rate at which frequency changes when a load and generation imbalance occurs (e.g., a large plant trips or a load is suddenly shed due to a transmission outage). This contribution is critical for maintaining grid stability during sudden changes in load or generation.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2013

Summary of Conclusions and Recommendations Drawn from the DeepCWind Scaled Floating Offshore Wind System Test Campaign: Preprint

The DeepCwind consortium is a group of universities, national labs, and companies funded under a research initiative by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to support the research and development of floating offshore wind power. The two main objectives of the project are to better understand the complex dynamic behavior of floating offshore wind systems and to create experimental data for use in validating the tools used in modeling these systems. In support of these objectives, the DeepCwind consortium conducted a model test campaign in 2011 of three generic floating wind systems, a tension-leg platform (TLP), a spar-buoy (spar), and a semisubmersible (semi). Each of the three platforms was designed to support a 1/50th-scale model of a 5 MW wind turbine and was tested under a variety of wind/wave conditions. The focus of this paper is to summarize the work done by consortium members in analyzing the data obtained from the test campaign and its use for validating the offshore wind modeling tool, FAST.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Linking large-scale weather patterns to observed and modeled turbine hub-height winds offshore of the US West Coast

The US West Coast holds great potential for wind power generation, although its potential varies due to the complex coastal climate. Characterizing and modeling turbine hub-height winds under different weather conditions are vital for wind resource assessment and management. This study uses a two-stage machine learning algorithm to identify five large-scale meteorological patterns (LSMPs): post-trough, post-ridge, pre-ridge, pre-trough, and California high. The LSMPs are linked to offshore wind patterns, specifically at lidar buoy locations within lease areas for future wind farm development off Humboldt and Morro Bay. While each LSMP is associated with characteristic large-scale atmospheric conditions and corresponding differences in wind direction, diurnal variation, and jet features at the two lidar sites, substantial variability in wind speeds can still occur within each LSMP. Wind speeds at Humboldt increase during the post-trough, pre-ridge, and California-high LSMPs and decrease during the remaining LSMPs. Morro Bay has smaller responses in mean speeds, showing increased wind speed during the post-trough and California-high LSMPs. Besides the LSMPs, local factors, including the land–sea thermal contrast and topography, also modify mean winds and diurnal variation. The High-Resolution Rapid Refresh model analysis does a good job of capturing the mean and variation at Humboldt but produces large biases at Morro Bay, particularly during the pre-ridge and California-high LSMPs. The findings are anticipated to guide the selection of cases for studying the influence of specific large-scale and local factors on California offshore winds and to contribute to refining numerical weather prediction models, thereby enhancing the efficiency and reliability of offshore wind energy production.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2017

Performance Prediction and Validation: Data, Frameworks, and Considerations

Improving the predictability and reliability of wind power generation and operations will reduce costs and potentially establish a framework to attract new capital into the distributed wind sector, a key cost reduction requirement highlighted in results from the distributed wind future market assessment conducted with dWind. Quantifying and refining the accuracy of project performance estimates will also directly address several of the key challenges identified by industry stakeholders in 2015 as part of the distributed wind resource assessment workshop and be cross-cutting for several other facets of the distributed wind portfolio. This presentation covers the efforts undertaken in 2016 to address these topics.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2017

Wind Generation Participation in Power System Frequency Response: Preprint

The electrical frequency of an interconnected power system must be maintained close its nominal level at all times. Excessive under- and overfrequency excursions can lead to load shedding, instability, machine damage, and even blackouts. There is a rising concern in the electric power industry in recent years about the declining amount of inertia and primary frequency response (PFR) in many interconnections. This decline may continue due to increasing penetrations of inverter-coupled generation and the planned retirements of conventional thermal plants. Inverter-coupled variable wind generation is capable of contributing to PFR and inertia with a response that is different from that of conventional generation. It is not yet entirely understood how such a response will affect the system at different wind power penetration levels. The modeling work presented in this paper evaluates the impact of wind generation's provision of these active power control strategies on a large, synchronous interconnection. All simulations were conducted on the U.S. Western Interconnection with different levels of instantaneous wind power penetrations (up to 80%). The ability of wind power plants to provide PFR - and a combination of synthetic inertial response and PFR - significantly improved the frequency response performance of the system.

17 WIND ENERGY↗