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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 73 records · Page 4

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DOE OSTI2013

Sustaining the National Geothermal Data System: Considerations for a System Wide Approach and Node Maintenance, Geothermal Resources Council 37th Annual Meeting, Las Vegas, Nevada, September 29-October 2, 2013

Since the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act the U.S. Department of Energy’s Geothermal Technologies Office has funded $33.7 million for multiple data digitization and aggregation projects focused on making vast amounts of geothermal relevant data available to industry for advancing geothermal exploration. These projects are collectively part of the National Geothermal Data System (NGDS), a distributed, networked system for maintaining, sharing, and accessing data in an effort to lower the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE). Determining “who owns” and “who maintains” the NGDS and its data nodes (repositories in the distributed system) is yet to be determined. However, the invest- ment in building and populating the NGDS has been substantial, both in terms of dollars and time; it is critical that this investment be protected by ensuring sustainability of the data, the software and systems, and the accessibility of the data. Only then, will the benefits be fully realized. To keep this operational system sustainable will require four core elements: continued serving of data and applications; maintenance of system operations; a governance structure; and an effective business model. Each of these presents a number of challenges. Data being added to the NGDS are not strictly geothermal but data considered relevant to geothermal exploration and develop- ment, including vast amounts of oil and gas and groundwater wells, among other data. These are relevant to a broader base of users. By diversifying the client base to other users and other fields, the cost of maintaining core infrastructure can be spread across an array of stakeholders and clients. It is presumed that NGDS will continue to provide free and open access to its data resources. The next-phase NGDS operation should be structured to eventually pursue revenue streams to help off-set sustainability expenses as necessary and appropriate, potentially including income from: grants and contracts (agencies, foundations, pri- vate sector), membership, fees for services (consulting, training, customization, ‘app’ development), repository services (data, services, apps, models, documents, multimedia), advertisements, fees for premier services or applications, subscriptions to value added services, licenses, contributions and donations, endow- ments, and sponsorships.

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2014

Grids, virtualization, and clouds at Fermilab

Fermilab supports a scientific program that includes experiments and scientists located across the globe. To better serve this community, in 2004, the (then) Computing Division undertook the strategy of placing all of the High Throughput Computing (HTC) resources in a Campus Grid known as FermiGrid, supported by common shared services. In 2007, the FermiGrid Services group deployed a service infrastructure that utilized Xen virtualization, LVS network routing and MySQL circular replication to deliver highly available services that offered significant performance, reliability and serviceability improvements. This deployment was further enhanced through the deployment of a distributed redundant network core architecture and the physical distribution of the systems that host the virtual machines across multiple buildings on the Fermilab Campus. In 2010, building on the experience pioneered by FermiGrid in delivering production services in a virtual infrastructure, the Computing Sector commissioned the FermiCloud, General Physics Computing Facility and Virtual Services projects to serve as platforms for support of scientific computing (FermiCloud 6 GPCF) and core computing (Virtual Services). Lastly, this work will present the evolution of the Fermilab Campus Grid, Virtualization and Cloud Computing infrastructure together with plans for the future.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

DOE OSTI2016

Mapping the Energy-Water Nexus around the Pacific Rim

The energy-water nexus has been mapped for almost 12,000 watersheds distributed across the 21-economies comprising the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. Water consumption for energy production was estimated for 9 different sectors including thermoelectric and hydroelectric power; energy extraction including coal, oil, natural gas, uranium and unconventional oil/gas; and, energy processing including oil and biofuels. Conversely, the energy consumed providing water services was mapped for three sectors, drinking water, waste water and seawater desalination. These measures of resource use were put in context by drawing comparison with published measures of water risk. The objective of the mapping was to quantify the energy-water nexus and its variability at the subnational level, pinpoint potential vulnerabilities, and identify opportunities for international collaboration.

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2024

Use Case-Informed Framework for Utility Cloud Migration

This white paper presents a comprehensive methodology for assessing utilities’ cloud postures and frameworks. It aims to produce a roadmap and strategy for a cloud-enabled grid future, providing guidance for integrators, asset owners, and operators. Instead of offering a yes or no answer for cloud implementation, this framework offers strategic guidance on responsibly preparing for and deploying cloud solutions. This paper delves into cloud-service models pertinent to the electric sector, dissecting the shared responsibility model and elucidating what on-premise infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), and software as a service (SaaS) entail. A pivotal consideration within the context of the shared responsibility model is the allocation of responsibility for foundational security aspects—a decision that will be informed by a comprehensive risk assessment. The ensuing discussion will present a checklist of certifications necessary for a secure cloud transition, equipping utilities with the knowledge to navigate this digital transformation with confidence and with a strategic roadmap. Furthermore, the paper outlines gaps in understanding the U.S. government’s role in shaping technology development and responsible use. Its purpose is to aid decision-making by offering support for risk-informed solutions that benefit those managing assets and operating in the cloud environment. The primary objective is to enhance the resilience and future readiness of a decarbonized electric grid, with cloud solutions as one viable option. The paper synthesizes information on current and future grid architectures and applications, considering both conservative and progressive energy transitions, along with scalable and distributed computing considerations.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

DOE OSTI2022

SIW21-95: Hybridizing Synchronous Condensers with Grid-Forming Battery Energy Storage Systems

One of the main challenges associated with deployment of high shares of inverter-based resources (IBRs) in power grid is not only reduced system inertia but also degrading system strength that may cause severe stability impacts. A minimum level of system strength is needed for the power system to remain stable under normal conditions and to return to a steady state condition following a system disturbance. Significant system strength reduction is expected in almost all planned areas for solar and wind generation deployment. Synchronous condensers (SC) have been considered as one main technology to address the system strength issues for the areas with high levels of IBRs. SCs can help improving reliability and resiliency of power system but they do not provide the full range of services needed by power systems for reliable and economic integration of high shares of inverter-coupled variable generation such as PV generation. Services related to active power controls cannot be provided by SCs due to lack of prime mover. Even for provision of reactive power SCs have certain constraints based on their thermal and stability limits. NREL has been conducting research on a hybridized concept that combines SCs with grid forming (GFM) battery energy storage systems (BESS). This super flexible AC transmission system (SuperFACTS) that combines these two technologies in a single plant under the same controller offers a unique scalable set of services to the power system at all levels (transmission, sub-transmission, distribution, islands and isolated microgrids). Depending on use cases, SuperFACTS can be controlled to provide fully dispatchable and flexible operation using energy storage component, provide a full range of existing and future ancillary and reliability services to the grid (similar or better than conventional sources), maintain adequate levels of grid strength and inertia, and provide fault current for proper operation of protection systems. Therefore, this economic and easy to commercialize solution has potential for significant impacts on certain segments of global energy sector. All types of gird services (market based, reliability and resiliency) can be provided by SuperFACTS plants. GFM BESS can act as a self-black start source for each SuperFACTS module, which in turn can act a black start resource for co-located PV and wind power plants, segments of transmission and distribution networks, for conventional power plants, etc. The issue of in-rush currents during black start is addressed by overcurrent capability of SCs. In this paper we describe the results of modeling for SuperFACTS concept.

grid forming↗

DOE OSTI2020

Building Demand Flexibility: Grid Service Value of Future Market Entrants

The building sector is an important source of demand-side flexibility that is crucial for renewable energy integration in the future power systems. The grid service value of building flexibility, especially that which provides load shifting, has not been analyzed for the United States. We use a technology-agnostic approach based on detailed grid expansion and production cost modeling results to evaluate the capacity, energy, and ancillary service values of a marginal kilowatt-hour (kWh) of daily, shiftable building flexibility as a presumed market entrant in the 2030 U.S. power systems. We find the monthly mean of building flexibility has a range of 0-38 cents/kWh-day, depending on the original usage hour, month, region, building flexibility parameters, and grid scenario. The daily value consists of the highest-value hour each day across all the scenarios has a range of 0-620 cents/kWh-day. The results are provided in an open database for users to obtain the values of specific technologies based on what services can be provided, when, and in what quantities.

30 DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION↗

DOE OSTI2021

Resilience-Motivated Distribution System Restoration Considering Electricity-Water-Gas Interdependency

A major outage in the electricity distribution system may affect the operation of water and natural gas supply systems, leading to an interruption of multiple services to critical customers. Therefore, enhancing resilience of critical infrastructures requires joint efforts of multiple sectors. In this paper, a distribution system service restoration method considering the electricity-water-gas interdependency is proposed. The objective is maximizing the supply of electricity, water, and gas to critical customers after an extreme event. The operational constraints of electricity, water, and natural gas networks are considered. Additionally, the characteristics of electricity-driven coupling components, including water pumps and gas compressors, are also modeled. Relaxation techniques are applied to non convex constraints posed by physical laws of those networks. Consequently, the restoration problem is formulated as a mixed-integer second-order cone program, which can readily be solved by the off-the-shelf solvers. The proposed method is validated by numerical simulations on an electricity-water-gas integrated system, developed based on benchmark models of the subsystems. The results indicate that considering the interdependency refines the allocation of limited generation resources and demonstrate the exactness of the proposed convex relaxation

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

NASA NTRS1984

Evaluating NASA Technology Programs in Terms of Private Sector Impacts

NASA is currently developing spacecraft technology for application to NASA scientific missions, military missions and commercial missions which are part of or form the basis of private sector business ventures. The justification of R&D programs that lead to spacecraft technology improvements encompasses the establishment of the benefits in terms of improved scientific knowledge that may result from new and/or improved NASA science missions, improved cost effectiveness of NASA and DOD missions and new or improved services that may be offered by the private sector (for example communications satellite services). It is with the latter of these areas that attention will be focused upon. In particular, it is of interest to establish the economic value of spacecraft technology improvements to private sector communications satellite business ventures. It is proposed to assess the value of spacecraft technology improvements in terms of the changes in cash flow and present value of cash flows, that may result from the use of new and/or improved spacecraft technology for specific types of private sector communications satellite missions (for example domestic point-to-point communication or direct broadcasting). To accomplish this it is necessary to place the new and/or improved technology within typical business scenarios and estimate the impacts of technical performance upon business and financial performance.

Greenberg, J. S.↗

NASA NTRS1975

Aeronautics and space report of the president, 1974 activities

The U.S. Government activities for 1974 in aeronautics and space are presented. Significant contributions toward the fulfillment of the nation's goals in space and aeronautics are covered, including application of space systems and technology to beneficial uses on earth, exploration of space and increase of scientific knowledge, development of improved space systems and technology, international cooperation, and advancement of civil and military aeronautics. Also in 1974, space activities in the private sector expanded to provide additional services to the public. The accomplishments are summarized.

Source record↗

NASA NTRS1982

Potential benefits from a successful solar thermal program

Solar energy systems were investigated which complement nuclear and coal technologies as a means of reducing the U.S. dependence on imported petroleum. Solar Thermal Energy Systems (STES) represents an important category of solar energy technologies. STES can be utilized in a broad range of applications servicing a variety of economic sectors, and they can be deployed in both near-term and long-term markets. The net present value of the energy cost savings attributable to electric utility and IPH applications of STES were estimated for a variety of future energy cost scenarios and levels of R&D success. This analysis indicated that the expected net benefits of developing an STES option are significantly greater than the expected costs of completing the required R&D. In addition, transportable fuels and chemical feedstocks represent a substantial future potential market for STES. Due to the basic nature of this R&D activity, however, it is currently impossible to estimate the value of STES in these markets. Despite this fact, private investment in STES R&D is not anticipated due to the high level of uncertainty characterizing the expected payoffs.

Terasawa, K. L.↗

NASA NTRS1983

Solar thermal technologies - Potential benefits to U.S. utilities and industry

Terasawa, K. L.↗

NASA NTRS1983

The law applicable to the use of space for commercial activities

The general principles of space law that have an impact on commercial space activities are discussed. The Outer Space Treaty guaranteed the right of private enterprise in space, with jurisdiction over the participating parties residing in the country of origin. The liability for damages caused to a third party is also assigned to the country of origin. Government consent is necessary in the U.S. before a private firm is permitted to launch an object into space, with the relevant statute sections being part of the Arms Export Control Act; launches are legally treated as exports. FAA regulations define the safe area and flight conditions that must be satisfied for a private launch, although NASA, in the 1958 act which formed the agency, potentialy has the power to regulate space launch activities. The DoD must be notified of any launches in order to notify the U.S.S.R., filings must be made with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, and fees must be paid to the IRS. It is presently U.S. government policy to encourage and facilitate private sector development of commercial launch services.

Hosenball, S. N.↗

NASA NTRS1988

Development of a commercial expendable launch vehicle industry

The privatization and commercialization of the expendable launch vehicle (ELV) industry is examined. The government policy to terminate ELV service with the development of the Shuttle is discussed. NASA support to commercial ELVs and privatization and commercialization ELV agreements executed by NASA are considered. The services offered by several companies producing and operating ELVs, and plans for NASA to procure launch services competitively from the private sector are presented.

Stone, Barbara A.↗

NASA NTRS2018

Cost of Quality for Government

The American society for Quality (ASQ) has recently published ASQ TR2:2018: Cost of Quality: Guidelines for Development, Implementation and Monitoring to Improve Quality and Performance.1 Efforts were made during the Technical Report drafting process to ensure that examples were provided which could apply to government services, rather than just private sector production. The concept of "Cost of Quality" was first described by Joseph Juran in 1951 and Armand Feigenbaum expanded on the topic in 1956.2 Since that time, systems have been developed by the private sector to monitor and measure these costs. The concept is often described as "cost of poor quality". ASQ sets forth guidance for development of a Cost of Quality Program in TR2:2018.

Shepherd, Christena C.↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Laser Beam Welding for in-Space Joining Demonstrated Under Vacuum on the Ground and By Parabolic Flight Experiments

High energy density electron beam welding enabled the first and, to date, only American weld performed in space during the M551 experiment on Skylab in 1973. Though welding is critical to 90% of durable goods manufacturing in America, there is not yet regular and reliable application of welding processes to the In-space Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing (ISAM) sector. Fundamental studies are needed to develop basic capabilities and to enhance fundamental process knowledge, which will support follow-on efforts to mature in-space welding for use in commercial, defense, and other aerospace applications. The current work seeks to build on past flights and improve understanding and quantification of materials joining in space conditions using laser beam welding (LBW). LBW offers several advantages over the electron beam welding of Skylab, amongst others: reduced electromagnetic interference, less exposure of operators to ionizing radiation, and flexible delivery through optical fibers supporting unique workpieces and joints. Since there is no orbital laboratory to mature laser beam welding for space, the current effort addresses maturation of laser beam welding through parabolic flights augmented with data collection to enable numerical modeling efforts that capture the physical effects of the space environment. This team has retrofitted an LBW experimental apparatus that can simulate the vacuum and, during a parabolic flight, the reduced gravity & microgravity conditions of in-space welding. A team of Capstone students modified the setup, originally developed by NASA Langley Research Center for electron beam free-form fabrication, to replace its electron gun with a 1 kW, 1070 nm Yb fiber laser. The apparatus was further instrumented with temperature sensing and high-speed welding cameras to monitor and record changes in the thermal state of the workpiece, the melt pool, the laser penetration level, and the development and orientation of spatter & plumes. The system will operate autonomously, demonstrating its utility to uncrewed missions. During upcoming parabolic flight campaigns expected summer 2024, this LBW equipment will weld common aerospace alloys of aluminum, stainless steel, and titanium under conditions representative of the space environment. This data will guide future computational modeling efforts of laser welding in space and help to qualify in-space welding as a viable ISAM technique.

laser beam welding↗

DOE OSTI2024

Enhancing Cloud Cybersecurity: Prescriptive Controls for Operational Technology

This whitepaper provides strategic insights and recommendations into security cloud-based solutions for electric utilities, encompassing operational technology (OT), virtual power plants (VPP), distributed energy resources (DERs), applications, networks, and data storage as they transition to and leverage cloud infrastructure through managed service providers (MSPs) and cloud service providers (CSPs). Principles derived from established frameworks serve as a foundation for best practices across cybersecurity projects and remove the constraints of settling on a single framework. For organizations that prefer not to integrate a specific framework altogether, elements of the proposed approach could be adopted or tailored to best fit defined requirements and expected functionalities. The Cirrus assessment, a utility cloud feasibility tool, and the roadmap it provides serve as a precursor to this paper, which seeks to be a valuable resource for defining next steps following cloud technology integration feasibility appraisal. With its comprehensive approach to adoption, the Cirrus framework offers strategic guidance on responsibly preparing for or deploying a utility cloud solution. The previously published whitepaper, “Use Case-Informed Framework for Utility Cloud Migration,” details the guiding strategy, research, and deployment of cloud solutions within electric and interconnected grid systems. Before implementing the controls suggested in this document, it is recommended that stakeholders complete Cirrus's cloud integration assessment and pair the results with their unique cybersecurity controls to form a comprehensive cloud-based utility cybersecurity plan. The Cirrus outcome will consider a series of future architectures for the grid before and after the energy transition and evaluate the arguments for and against cloud applications for each electric and interconnected grid layer. This document is a companion to the original whitepaper, "Use Case-Informed Framework for Utility Cloud Migration" to further identify and recommend security controls based on Cirrus’s cloud integration assessment output. The following whitepaper outlines the cybersecurity controls that secure cloud-service models pertinent to the electric sector using the predefined categories identify, protect, detect, and respond and recover. The objective is to outline prescriptive security controls based on the type of architecture and data stored in the cloud. The focus includes dissecting the shared responsibility model and elucidating what on-premises Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS) entail. A pivotal consideration in this context is allocating responsibility for foundational cybersecurity aspects—having used Cirrus for the cloud integration assessment. The ensuing controls detailed herein also represent a checklist of controls necessary for a secure cloud transition, equipping utilities with the knowledge to navigate this digital transformation with confidence and strategic foresight in a safe and responsible manner.

42 ENGINEERING↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

NASA Space Communications and Navigation Approach to Cloud Capability Implementation

The integration of cloud services and capabilities across government and commercial sectors has continued to increase over the last several years. Cloud architectures provide on-demand process, storage, and transfer of data as a service without the need to purchase expensive hardware, infrastructure, and their associated maintenance costs. Most cloud environments charge the user for only the resources they use, making cloud implementations highly scalable and easily adjustable to the user’s changing demands.

cloud computing↗

DOE OSTI2016

Estimation of economic impacts of cellulosic biofuel production: a comparative analysis of three biofuel pathways: Economic impacts of biofuel production

The development of a cellulosic biofuel industry utilizing domestic biomass resources is expected to create opportunities for economic growth resulting from the construction and operation of new biorefineries. We applied an economic input-output model to estimate potential economic impacts, particularly gross job growth, resulting from the construction and operation of biorefineries using three different technology pathways: 1) cellulosic ethanol via biochemical conversion in Iowa, 2) renewable diesel blendstock via biological conversion in Georgia, and 3) renewable diesel and gasoline blendstock via fast pyrolysis in Mississippi. Combining direct, indirect, and induced effects, capital investment associated with the construction of a biorefinery processing 2,000 dry metric tons of biomass per day (DMT/day) could yield between 5,960 and 8,470 full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs during the construction period. Fast pyrolysis biorefineries produce the most jobs on a project level thanks to the highest capital requirement among the three pathways. Normalized for one million dollars of capital investment, the fast pyrolysis biorefineries are estimated to yield slighter more jobs (12.1 jobs) than the renewable diesel (11.8 jobs) and the cellulosic ethanol (11.6 jobs) biorefineries. While operating biorefineries is not labor-intensive, the annual operation of a 2,000 DMT/day biorefinery could support between 720 and 970 jobs when the direct, indirect, and induced effects are considered. The major factor, which results in the variations among the three pathways, is the type of biomass feedstock used for biofuels. The agriculture/forest, services, and trade industries are the primary sectors that will benefit from the ongoing operation of biorefineries.

Biofuels↗