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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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The Neutron Pulse Simulator is described along with its importance in development and testing of software without actually using nuclear sources. The application and interface are shown.
The goals of this teaching workshop are for the learners to leave with a broad view of University curriculum, successes and limitations, and the state of industry; an awareness of grand challenges in software engineering; and an awareness of current approaches to address those challenges.
We evaluate climate model simulations of geopotential height at the largest space-time scales, considering the first Fourier components (in longitude) of long-term climatological means. Quasi-stationary planetary scale waves emerge from this analysis. Variations of these waves are important components of climate change, for example associated with regional drought. Systematic examination of their long-term climatology provides context for understanding their evolution in time. We compare four reanalysis datasets with “historical runs” from the latest version of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP) and find general agreement, but we also identify model errors outside the range of both observational uncertainty and the uncertainty implied by interannual variability. Errors in wave phase have possible implications for climate model projections of regional climate and of shifting weather patterns. One model in the set we examine, originally created nearly 20 years before the others, exhibits noticeably greater errors.
Abstract not provided.
Presentation for National Laboratory Information Technology 2019 Conference. Various DOE and NNSA labs and sites will be in attendance.
Across the electric power industry, a diverse stakeholder community applies a variety of methodologies to assess the value of courses of actions, ranging from investments in generation, transmission or distribution assets; to compensation mechanisms for distributed technologies; to a multitude of other policies related to projects in the electricity sector. The resulting value assessments often vary widely for the same or similar types of projects. As an example, two studies addressing the value of rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) installations came to significantly different conclusions; the studies chose different valuation metrics and analysis methods. This example is not unusual: often valuation studies are not comparable or repeatable because of differences in assumptions with respect to economic and engineering inputs; time, geographic, and power system scales; the closed-source inner workings of modeling tools and analysis methodologies employed for the valuation; stakeholder-specific choices of the key metrics or grid attributes that are the focus of the valuation; and/or choices of which grid investment, design or operation alternatives to compare. Investment decisions and policy options are reviewed and interpreted by multiple stakeholders, who have different motivations, interests, and obligations.
Advances in technologies to provide electric power (e.g., renewable energy and battery storage), measurements and monitoring (e.g., synchrophasors, smart meters), communication (e.g., cellular service, Internet utilities), computing (powerful distributed microprocessors), and innovations in grid topologies and configurations (e.g., microgrids) have markedly changed the options available to provide electricity to end-users. The value propositions for electrical service have similarly become much more complex and diverse. The values of a grid design option can no longer be expressed by just using historical costemissions-reliability metrics. Nor can major decisions be made through closed analysis without consideration of the different stakeholders affected by a decision. This valuation framework provides a structure for valuation that is deliberate, inclusive, and transparent, documenting the intermediate and final results to ensure clarity, accountability and repeatability.
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As part of CEF Round 1 funding, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) was engaged by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the Washington Department of Commerce to work with Puget Sound Energy (PSE), Avista, and Snohomish Public Utility District (SnoPUD) in evaluating the economic and technical performance of each of their battery energy storage systems (BESSs). This report presents the final results of the economic assessment.
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The immense growth in weather and river sensor data availability along with increases in computational power and algorithmic sophistication have enabled the widespread application of physical, machine learning, and artificial intelligence algorithms to river forecasting. The forecasts produced by widely varying model approaches are inherently limited in different ways, such as by the number and quality of training observations, producing biased predictions that achieve optimal skill only over specific ranges of weather and river conditions. Thus, despite the growing availability and new sources of forecasts, hydropower owners cannot fully leverage the information because they lack an effective mechanism to determine the “best” forecast for given conditions or objectives. Tools are needed to consolidate forecast information, demonstrate skill, and extract optimal forecast guidance from the range of possibilities. Such tools will increase uptake and beneficial use of the growing wealth of forecast information, and lead to improved operating decisions, optimal power generation, and enhanced system value. This research proposes to improve the value of forecasts by developing a broadly accessible verification framework and applying machine learning techniques to identify the ‘best’ forecast from an ensemble of sources given the current weather, river, and operating conditions.
The GMLC Metric Team: 1) Identified important, but often overlooked, affordability metrics that measure the impacts of electricity costs on residential customers (customer cost burden, affordability gap, and affordability headcount gap); 2) Created a public-facing website for the residential sector that compiles publicly available data and displays affordability metrics at both the state and county level; and 3) demonstrated the use of the metrics and website for three remote village utilities in Alaska and a major electricity utility in California, Southern California Edison (SCE).
In addition to fixing the color-coding legend, the new figures plot Fourier phase in a more easily recognizable format: polar coordinates rather than Cartesian coordinates. The same phase data is displayed—indicating the position of the first ridge to the east of the prime meridian—but the new plots avoid unphysical jumps, e.g. from +180° to -180° as longitude increases across the International Dateline. A slight disadvantage of the new format is that each hemisphere requires a separate plot. The wavenumber-1 Northern Hemisphere phase plots give, in effect, a view from above the North Pole, with Eurasia at the top and North America at the bottom. Wavenumber-1 Southern Hemisphere plots give an analogous view from the South Pole. Plots for higher wavenumbers, however, wrap around at fractions of 360° (180°, 120°, ...) and cannot be interpreted as a geographical view.
The foundation of the United States Department of Energy (DOE) Transmission Reliability research program was established 20 years ago by a series of commissioned white papers. Those white papers described the dramatic institutional and regulatory changes that the U.S. electricity transmission grid was undergoing at the time and articulated the technical challenges that these changes created. The challenges outlined in the white papers were the basis for the initial research goals of the DOE Transmission Reliability program. To a large extent, the reliability research needs outlined in the original white papers have now been met. As a result, now is an appropriate time to step back and review the technical challenges that the industry currently faces and to use those challenges as the basis for identifying the next set of targets for DOE’s transmission-related research and development (R&D) programs.
Implementing data-driven techniques to manage infrastructure and capabilities at Y-12
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory initiated a Prize with support from Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), and sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy Water Power Technologies Office (DOE WPTO) to encourage ideas to reduce the time to commissioning for PSH projects. As a result, nine finalists have been chosen to develop their concepts in advance of the FAST Prize Pitch Contest to be held on October 7, 2019. The National Labs will provide technical and business advisement to the noted FAST Prize finalists in preparation for this Pitch Contest.
Abstract not provided.