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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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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2022

Computational Design of Alloys for Energy Technologies

Advanced materials that maintain their mechanical performance under elevated temperatures, corrosive environments, and a range of static and evolving stresses are needed to improve the efficiency and reduce the environmental impact of a wide spectrum of energy technologies. For instance, cost-efficient alloys that can withstand high temperatures (e.g., 700 °C) have a critical role in improving the efficiency and economics of power generation to support decarbonization of the energy sector; such is true of both the nuclear and fossil energy sectors. Considering both the threats of the energy crisis, namely soaring costs of greenhouse gas emission-producing energy and climate change, it is essential to increase the pace of material discovery and enable rapid paths for material qualification to advance clean energy technologies. Conventionally, alloy development has followed a slow Edisonian process that uses repeated cycles of making, characterizing, and modifying to arrive at optimum composition and processing conditions to achieve the desired component performance. This optimization is followed by the necessary stepwise materials qualification. Furthermore, the increasing adoption of sound data management and physics-informed machine learning represents the next step in the acceleration of materials design and development. In the integrated computational materials engineering (ICME) approach, computational modeling and simulation data from different length and time scales can be combined with complex microstructural details from multimodal experimental characterization and selective property testing to close the design loop for rapid alloy development.

Computational Design Of Materials↗
DOE OSTI2024

Impact of carbon dioxide removal technologies on deep decarbonization: EMF37 MARKAL–NETL modeling results

Here this paper examines the MARKAL-NETL modeling results for the Energy Modeling Forum Study on Deep Decarbonization & High Electrification Scenarios for North America (EMF 37) with specific focus on carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technologies and opportunities under different scenarios guidelines, policies, and technological advancements. The results demonstrate that CDR, such as, bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS), direct air capture (DAC) and afforestation are key negative emission technologies in deep decarbonization scenarios in the U.S. are accounted for about 70% of annually avoided carbon dioxide emissions (CO 2 ) by 2050, or more than 2 billion tons of CO 2 (GtCO 2 ). The potential scale of CDR and its impact on the energy system depends on energy supply and demand technologies advancement and their costs, the level of end-use sectors electrification, availability and costs of CDR. Results show that the carbon prices are substantially lower if the advanced technologies available, particularly, in carbon management scenarios.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2022

NNSA Minority Serving Institute Partnership Program (MSIPP)--Indigenous Mutual Partnership to Advanced Cybersecurity Technology (ASPIRE, IMPACT and PAMER); FY22 Q2 Progress Report

The following report summarizes the status update during this quarter for the National Nuclear Security Agency (NNSA) initiated Minority Serving Institution Partnership Plan's (MSIPP) projects titled, Indigenous Mutual Partnership to Advanced Cybersecurity Technology (ASPIRE), Indigenous Mutual Partnership to Advanced Cybersecurity Technology (IMPACT) and Partnership for Advanced Manufacturing Education and Research (PAMER).

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2021

Performance of a Natural Gas Solid Oxide Fuel Cell System With and Without Carbon Capture

The fuel cell program at the United States Department of Energy (DOE) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) is focused on the development of low-cost, highly efficient, and reliable fossil-fuel-based solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) power systems that can generate environmentally-friendly electric power with at least 90 percent carbon capture. NETL’s SOFC technology development roadmap is aligned with near-term market opportunities in the distributed generation sector to validate and advance the technology while paving the way for utility-scale natural gas (NG)- and coal-derived synthesis gas-fueled applications via progressively larger system demonstrations. The present study represents a part of a series of system evaluations being carried out at NETL to aid in prioritizing technological advances along research pathways to the realization of utility-scale SOFC systems, a transformational goal of the fuel cell program. In particular, the system performance of utility-scale NG fuel cell (NGFC) systems with and without carbon dioxide (CO2) capture is presented. The NGFC system analyzed features an external auto-thermal reformer (ATR) feeding the fuel to the SOFC system consisting of planar anode-supported SOFC with separated anode and cathode off-gas streams. In systems with CO2 capture, an air separation unit (ASU) is used to provide the oxygen for the ATR and for the combustion of unutilized fuel in the SOFC anode exhaust along with a CO2 purification unit to provide a nearly pure CO2 stream suitable for transport for usage in enhanced oil recovery operations or for storage in underground saline formations. Remaining thermal energy in the exhaust gases is recovered in a bottoming steam Rankine cycle while supplying any process heat requirements. A reduced order model (ROM) developed at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) is used to predict the SOFC performance. The ROM, while being computationally effective for system studies, provides other detailed information about the state of the stack, such as the internal temperature gradient, generally not available from simple performance models often used to represent the SOFC. Such additional information can be important in system optimization studies to preclude operation under off-design conditions that can adversely impact overall system reliability. The NGFC system performance was analyzed by varying salient system parameters, including the percent of internal (to the SOFC module) NG reformation—ranging from 0 to 100 percent—fuel utilization, and current density. The impact of advances in underlying SOFC technology on electrical performance was also explored.

solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC), natural gas fuel cel↗
DOE OSTI2021

TCR Input to NUREG-1537 Process for Advanced Nuclear Technologies Derived from Additive Manufacturing

There has been a renewed interest by several advanced reactor developers to use NUREG-1537 “Guidelines for Preparing and Reviewing Applications for the Licensing of Non-Power Reactors” as a basis for their safety analysis report content and organization. Recently, SHINE Medical Technologies, LLC (SHINE), which is a non-power, Aqueous Homogenous Reactor design radioisotope production facility, received a construction permit based around their NUREG-1537 safety evaluation report (ADAMS No. ML16229A140). Advanced reactor developers are interested in using NUREG-1537 as a basis for their safety analysis report content and organization because of its successful application towards research reactors, graded approach, and simplicity in structure and requirements. However, NUREG-1537 is still largely geared toward light water reactors (LWRs) and many improvements could be made or supported through guidance documents for advanced reactors. For nuclear power to play a role in the future zero-carbon energy portfolio, a supportive regulatory structure is needed to lower regulatory uncertainty and barriers to deployment. At the time of this report, no such document or pathway exists for advanced nuclear technologies, including those derived from nontraditional technology such as advanced manufacturing technology (AMT) and, specifically, additive manufacturing. This report will explore and provide recommendations as to how advanced nuclear technologies derived from additive manufacturing technologies could employ the use of an ISG, other guidance document, or revisions to NUREG-1537 to lower the regulatory uncertainty and barriers for adoption.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Roadmap to Advance Heliostat Technologies for Concentrating Solar-Thermal Power

Heliostat-based concentrating solar-thermal power (CSP) systems can offer immense potential to provide low-cost, dispatchable renewable thermal and electrical energy to help achieve 100% decarbonized energy infrastructure in the United States. Heliostats are a major capital cost technology and a performance-dominating component of state-of-the-art commercial molten salt towers and Generation 3 CSP systems. In 2021, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) launched the Heliostat Consortium (HelioCon), a five-year initiative to advance heliostat technologies. The HelioCon mission is threefold: (1) establish strategic core testing and modeling capabilities and infrastructure at national labs; (2) support heliostat technology development in relevant industries; and (3) serve as a central repository to integrate industry, academia, and other stakeholders for heliostat technology research, development, validation, and deployment. In this report, HelioCon presents a roadmapping study on advancing heliostat technologies, intended as a central reference for the whole CSP community.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2021

Educating HPC Users in the use of advanced computing technology

We examine a multi-modal approach to educating and training users of an advanced computing technology testbed at the Institute for Advanced Computational Science at Stony Brook University. Ookami provides researchers worldwide with access to 176 Fujitsu A64FX compute nodes, this being the same processor technology powering the Japanese Fugaku supercomputer, the fastest computer in the world since June 2020. However, achieving high-performance on this Arm-based, leadership computing technology requires that users be familiar with details of computer architecture, performance analysis and modeling, and high-performance programming models that are commonly omitted in introductory programming courses. Indeed, regardless of their seniority, many of the testbed users are surprisingly unfamiliar with basic concepts such as vectorization, pipelining, latency/bandwidth, roofline models, computing energy/power, threads, and non-uniform memory access. These same concepts also pervade mainstream x86 technologies, so this is of widespread concern. Due to the national/global nature of our user community that is also very diverse in both discipline and experience, the inability to offer formal classes, and our experience that most people do not tend to read online documentation or training materials in sufficient depth, we have consciously employed multiple approaches that heavily emphasize (online) personal interactions and transfer of skills. Online documentation has been organized around best-practices and FAQs; twice-weekly hackathons and office hours via Zoom enable deep dives by both the team and the user community with multiple broad benefits; a Slack channel provides both real time and archived answers and discussions; and workshops, training and webinars target community needs as they arise. Furthermore, the perspective that these tools are being used in an educational setting rather than just for project communication makes them more effective and contributes to community success.

A64FX↗
DOE OSTI2021

Digital Platform Informed Certification of Components Derived from Advanced Manufacturing Technologies

The Transformational Challenge Reactor is being designed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory to demonstrate the feasibility of constructing a reactor core using advanced manufacturing technology. This technology includes additive manufacturing combined with machine learning, materials science, and data science technologies in an effort to facilitate the expansion of additive manufacturing into advanced nuclear energy systems and other applications requiring a high level of quality assurance. The Transformational Challenge Reactor is employing additive manufacturing and artificial intelligence to deliver a new approach. Beginning in FY21, the focus of the program has shifted away from demonstrating a reactor, and instead, towards delivering on four key thrust areas: (1) artificial intelligence-informed design, (2) advanced materials, (3) integrated sensing and control, and (4) the digital platform. Of these four thrust areas, the most pertinent to this report is the digital platform. The digital platform has the potential to be a key enabler for a paradigm shift in how components, those derived from advanced manufacturing technologies, are certified for use in nuclear applications. This is achieved primarily using machine learning to discover correlations from the abundance of data produced through additive manufacturing and those physical properties critical to the performance of the component.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2021

TCR Data Management Plan

The Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) Transformation Challenge Reactor (TCR) program is developing additive manufacturing and artificial intelligence (AI) to deliver enabling technologies for advanced reactors. Through the application of these advanced technologies, the program targets delivering solutions to the high costs and lengthy deployment timelines that threaten the future of nuclear energy—the country’s largest source of carbon-free energy. This document describes the plan for integrating and managing TCR data from multiple sources throughout ORNL and external sources, including novel data sources associated with advanced manufacturing, characterization systems, and the TCR Digital Platform that incorporates various levels of AI and data analytics.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Normal Tissue Injury Induced by Photon and Proton Therapies: Gaps and Opportunities

Despite technological advances in radiation therapy (RT) and cancer treatment, patients still experience adverse effects. Proton therapy (PT) has emerged as a valuable RT modality that can improve treatment outcomes. Normal tissue injury is an important determinant of the outcome; therefore, for this review, we analyzed 2 databases: (1) clinical trials registered with ClinicalTrials.gov and (2) the literature on PT in PubMed, which shows a steady increase in the number of publications. Most studies in PT registered with ClinicalTrials.gov with results available are nonrandomized early phase studies with a relatively small number of patients enrolled. From the larger database of nonrandomized trials, we listed adverse events in specific organs/sites among patients with cancer who are treated with photons and protons to identify critical issues. The present data demonstrate dosimetric advantages of PT with favorable toxicity profiles and form the basis for comparative randomized prospective trials. A comparative analysis of 3 recently completed randomized trials for normal tissue toxicities suggests that for early stage non-small cell lung cancer, no meaningful comparison could be made between stereotactic body RT and stereotactic body PT due to low accrual (NCT01511081). In addition, for locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer, a comparison of intensity modulated RT with passive scattering PT (now largely replaced by spot-scanned intensity modulated PT), PT did not provide any benefit in normal tissue toxicity or locoregional failure over photon therapy. Finally, for locally advanced esophageal cancer, proton beam therapy provided a lower total toxicity burden but did not improve progression-free survival and quality of life (NCT01512589). The purpose of this review is to inform the limitations of current trials looking at protons and photons, considering that advances in technology, physics, and biology are a continuum, and to advocate for future trials geared toward accurate precision RT that need to be viewed as an iterative process in a defined path toward delivering optimal radiation treatment. A foundational understanding of the radiobiologic differences between protons and photons in tumor and normal tissue responses is fundamental to, and necessary for, determining the suitability of a given type of biologically optimized RT to a patient or cohort.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗
DOE OSTI2023

2023 Critical Materials Strategy

The global effort to curb carbon emissions is accelerating demand for clean energy technologies and the materials they rely on. Demand for these materials will only continue to grow, especially as some nations aim to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. While some major materials like steel, copper, and aluminum are already powering the fossil fuel economy, others are more minor materials with potential supply risks. These risks could jeopardize the ability to reduce greenhouse gas emissions within the desirable timeframe to avoid significant climate change. In some cases, it may be necessary to take action to improve the resilience of material supply chains and mitigate supply risks. Understanding the importance of individual materials to clean energy and the supply risks associated with them is necessary to identify which materials may serve as potential roadblocks to a clean energy future. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) issued a series of 13 supply chain deep dive assessment reports on various energy technologies in 2022 in response to President Biden’s Executive Order on America’s Supply Chains (E.O. 14017). These reports emphasized that supply chain bottlenecks can occur at any stage of the value chain from mining and refining to component and even sub-system manufacturing. The bottlenecks are a combination of factors such as material availability, equipment availability, work force availability and quality, logistics, regulatory framework, and market conditions. These bottlenecks were worsened during the global Covid-19 pandemic. Its lingering impacts have hindered capacity expansion for material supply chains and prevented product lead-time recovery. One approach to reduce supply chain risks for the United States is to have a strong domestic manufacturing sector with a diverse set of producers. Boosting responsible domestic production would require leveraging the latest science not only in material extraction but also in developing substitutes, recycling, reuse, and remanufacturing. This report is an updated analysis of previous Critical Materials Strategy (CMS) reports published by the DOE in 2010, 2011, and 2019 based on national and global priorities, technology advancement, and technology adoption trends. Like the CMS reports, this analysis presents the results of a formal material criticality assessment to identify which materials are critical to the continued deployment of clean energy technologies globally. The analysis in this report leveraged the DOE supply chain deep dive assessments to develop the initial list of materials to evaluate. This DOE Critical Materials Assessment (CMA) is conducted independently of criticality assessments performed by other U.S. government agencies, such as that conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). This analysis complements the USGS critical minerals determination in three aspects. First, the DOE assessment is performed from a global perspective, while the USGS analysis focusses on the importance of minerals to the U.S. economy. Second, this report focuses on the importance of materials to clean energy technologies, rather than to the economy in general. Lastly, this study is forward looking to 2035 based on clean energy deployment scenarios, whereas the USGS assessment is retrospective. Materials evaluated in this report that do not appear in the USGS Critical Minerals List include copper, uranium, electrical steel, and SiC. A draft version of this report received ~80 public comments related to supporting data and methodological improvement. Those comments have been incorporated as much as possible where appropriate. Highlights of findings from this 2023 CMA include: Rare earth materials (neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium, and terbium) used in magnets in electric vehicle (EV) motors and wind turbine generators continue to be critical. While dysprosium (Dy) and terbium (Tb) are both heavy rare earth elements that serve the same function in magnets, the criticality of Tb is slightly lower than that for Dy in the short term due to the widespread use of Dy in high-grade magnets and Tb’s present role as a substitute. Similarly, praseodymium (Pr) is critical in the medium term but only near critical in the short term because it is more substitutable in magnets than neodymium (Nd); Materials used in batteries for EVs and stationary storage are now considered to be critical. While cobalt (Co) was found to be critical in this and previous reports, lithium (Li) becomes critical in the medium term due to its broader use in various battery chemistries and the rampant growth of the EV industry. Natural graphite is a new addition in this assessment and is also found to be critical; Platinum group metals used in hydrogen electrolyzers, such as platinum (Pr) and iridium (Ir), are critical due to an increased focus on hydrogen technologies to achieve net zero carbon emissions, while those used in catalytic converters, such as rhodium (Rh) and palladium (Pd), were screened out due to the decreased importance of catalytic converters in the medium term; Gallium (Ga) continues to be critical due to its use in light-emitting diodes (LEDs). In addition, the use of Ga has increased in magnet manufacturing and in semiconductor in forms such as gallium arsenide (GaAs) or gallium nitride (GaN); Major materials like Aluminum (Al), copper (Cu), nickel (Ni), and silicon (Si) move from noncritical in the short term to near critical in the medium term due to their importance in electrification; Electrical steel is near critical due to its use in transformers for the grid and electric motors in EVs.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2020

Measuring Mobility Potential: A Novel Metric to Quantify Mobility Energy Productivity (MEP) of Transportation Systems

For nearly a century, the automobile has been the primary mode of personal transportation in American life. This remains true today as millions of people rely heavily on cars to connect suburbs with cities or to travel long distances - often out of routine or convenience. However, advances in technology are fueling an era of transportation transformation, with the potential to transform a system that has remained virtually unchanged for decades. The challenges of interconnecting our cities and creating a cross-continental transportation system for military purposes spawned the interstate highway system, generating the age of the automobile. In this century, congestion and mobility challenges of rising urban populations are spawning ever-evolving mobility and communications technologies to connect people to goods, services, and employment within a metropolitan and national context - all of which define a high quality of life. Aspiring smart cities are wrestling with questions such as: How does mobility impact a person's quality of life? Would people make different travel choices if they were presented with better information about their mobility options? Would businesses make different location decisions if they could assess the quality of mobility in that area? The ability to quantify the quality of mobility at a given location is the first step toward answering these questions. In response, an interdisciplinary team at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has developed the Mobility-Energy Productivity (MEP) metric. The MEP metric provides an avenue to not only measure the quality of mobility at a specific location in its current configuration, but also to test how various technological advances (e.g., connected and automated vehicles, plug-in electric vehicles, shared mobility) and infrastructure investments (e.g., building an additional highway lane, constructing a new shopping mall, implementing a transit-oriented development) impact the mobility of that location over time.

30 DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION↗
DOE OSTI2020

Urban Traveler - Changes and Impacts: Mobility Energy Productivity (MEP) Metric

For nearly a century, the automobile has been the primary mode of personal transportation in American life. This remains true today as millions of people rely heavily on cars to connect suburbs with cities or to travel long distances—often out of routine or convenience. However, advances in technology are fueling an era of transportation transformation, with the potential to transform a system that has remained virtually unchanged for decades. Aspiring smart cities are wrestling with questions such as: How does mobility impact a person’s quality of life? Would people make different travel choices if they were presented with better information about their mobility options? The ability to quantify the mobility potential of a given location is the first step toward answering these questions. In response, an interdisciplinary team at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has developed the Mobility-Energy Productivity (MEP) metric. The MEP metric provides an avenue to not only measure the mobility potential at a specific location in its current configuration, but also to test how various technological advances (e.g., connected and automated vehicles, plug-in electric vehicles, shared mobility) and infrastructure investments (e.g., building an additional highway lane, constructing a new shopping mall, implementing a transit-oriented development) impact the mobility of that location over time. This presentation details the FY19 progress on the MEP metric project funded through DOE VTO's SMART Mobility Consortium.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2024

Development of New Reactor Core Configuration for Power Uprate - Fuel Reload & Heat Processing Analyses, Core Design, System Safety Assessments, and Fuel Performance Analyses

With the passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act in 2021 and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in 2022, the United States stands at a critical juncture for the future of nuclear power. These landmark policies provide significant support for clean energy initiatives, positioning nuclear power as a key component of the nation’s strategy to reduce carbon emissions and achieve energy security. This growing emphasis on nuclear energy is driven by the need for reliable, low-carbon power sources as the country transitions away from fossil fuels. Federal policy, along with increasing state-level support, is encouraging investment in nuclear technology advancements to meet these demands. Building new nuclear power plants (NPPs), however, presents significant challenges due to high costs and long construction timelines. As a result, increasing the power output of existing NPPs through power uprates has emerged as a more feasible and cost-effective strategy. One key area of advancement is the development of accident-tolerant fuel (ATF), such as chromium-coated zirconium alloy cladding, which offers enhanced material performance, enabling power uprates in light water reactors (LWRs). Given the growing demand for nuclear energy fueled by federal policies and state initiatives, it is essential to evaluate the feasibility and benefits of significant power uprates in existing pressurized water reactors (PWRs) using advanced fuel technologies. The introduction of ATF concepts opens new opportunities for safely and economically achieving these power increases. Assessing whether these innovations can support substantial power uprates while maintaining operational safety is crucial to maximizing the potential of the nation’s existing nuclear infrastructure. This project aims to explore how power uprates can be achieved by boosting reactor thermal power output and optimizing reactor core design, while ensuring the safety and economic viability of NPPs. Specifically, it will focus on demonstrating the technical and economic feasibility of power uprates in a PWR using low 5-10% enrichment uranium (LEU+) high burnup (HBU) fuel combined with ATF concepts. In fiscal year 2024 (FY24), the research and development focus on building foundational models and conducting multi-physics performance and safety analyses to support the power uprate. The findings of the study would be shared through LWRS Seasonal Meetings, conferences and workshops with utility companies and researchers. These also serve as a basis for further study of fuel reloading optimization with ATF claddings.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Risk-Informed Analysis for Enhanced Resilient Nuclear Power Plant with Initiatives including ATF, FLEX, and Advanced Battery Technology

This report documents the activities performed by the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) during fiscal year (FY) 2021 for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Light Water Reactor Sustainability (LWRS) Program, Risk-Informed Systems Analysis (RISA) Pathway, Enhanced Resilient Plant (ERP) Systems research. The purpose of the RISA Pathway research and development is to support plant owner-operator decisions with the aim to improve the economics, reliability, and maintain the high levels of safety of current nuclear power plants over periods of extended plant operations. The concept of ERP refers to the combinations of accident-tolerant fuel (ATF), optimal use of diverse and flexible coping strategy (FLEX), enhancements to plant components and systems, the incorporation of augmented or new passive cooling systems, the advanced battery technology with extended capacity, as well as improved fuel cycle efficiency. The objective of the ERP research effort is to use the RISA methods and toolkit in industry applications, including methods development and early demonstration of technologies, in order to enhance existing reactors? safety features and to substantially reduce operating costs through risk-informed approaches to plant design modifications to the plant and their characterization. The ERP R&D efforts in FY 2021 are focused on three industry initiatives, including accident-tolerant fuel (ATF), optimal use of diverse and flexible coping strategy (FLEX), and advanced battery technology with extended capacity.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Advanced Construction Technology Initiative Program: ACTI Phase 1 ACTI Phase 2

Demonstrate technologies to significantly reduce the cost and schedule for construction of advanced reactors. Demonstrate the technology by 2026/2027 to improve the economics of deploying advanced reactors. Selected technologies will not require major R&D efforts. With prototyping and testing, the technologies will be ready for deployment at scale.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Analysis of Gaps in Techno-Economic Analysis to Advance Heliostat Technologies for Concentrating Solar-Thermal Power

The Heliostat Consortium (HelioCon) was launched in 2021 to advance heliostat technology. One of its first efforts was to do a detailed analysis of gaps in technology and capabilities in the heliostat industry and complete a roadmap study describing high-priority gaps. HelioCon gathered gaps through a series of outreach activities with representatives and experts from industries and research institutes. Here, this paper discusses the gap analysis for the techno-economic analysis (TEA) topic. One of the main objectives of the TEA topic is to relate the cost and performance of heliostats and heliostat components to the overall system performance. In this study, we limit the scope of this topic to the heliostat field, tower, and receiver and do not consider downstream applications or uses of thermal energy. We conducted a thorough review of existing models and compiled a list of the state of the art in open-source tools currently available to researchers. We collected an initial list of gaps for the TEA of heliostats from industry developers and experts. Each gap is briefly described, and the heliostat development cycle stages that the gap impacts are indicated. We ranked the initial list of TEA gaps into tiers depending on their potential impact. For TEA, most of the gaps identified are related to developing models or data. Strictly speaking, none of these gaps are essential for heliostat development, but all would aid in the heliostat development process.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗