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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2018

MODAL FREQUENCY TRACKING: Performance Analysis on Noisy Experimental Ground Test Data

Mechanical devices operating in an environment contaminated by noise, uncertainties, and extraneous disturbances lead to low signal-to-noise-ratios creating an extremely challenging signal processing problem—especially for on-line, realtime, in-flight application. In this report, we discuss a model-based approach to incorporate physical device features into a dynamic structure that can be used to perform on-line tracking of modal frequencies. The approach we take, after pre-processing the raw measurement data, is to obtain a representation of the structural device under test that captures its underlying response to a suite of excitations and operating conditions. One approach is to apply modern system identification techniques based on stochastic subspace methods capable of both: (1) identifying the underlying black-box structure enabling the extraction of structural modes that can be used for analysis; and (2) modal tracking under continued vibrational excitation as in a real-time, in-flight like environment. The vibrational signature of the structural device is measured directly using a suite of tri-axial accelerometers characterizing a multiple input/multiple output (MIMO) dynamic system. In this analysis, we have 15 tri-axial accelerometer measurements or 45 total output channels along with a single excitation also measured with a tri-axial accelerometer providing a 3-input system for processing. We initially describe the experiment and then briefly develop the necessary background in stochastic subspace realization, discuss the algorithm and apply it to the isolated structural device, first, characterized by the set of noisy MIMO accelerometer measurements extracting the modal model from the data (subspace identification), extract the unique modal frequencies (modal coordinate transformation), track their evolution (real-time tracker) to evaluate the overall performance of the processor. Next we evaluate processor performance when the structural device is incorporated into a flight vehicle for further performance analysis. We summarize the results and predict performance.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2018

Utility-Scale Solar: Empirical Trends in Project Technology, Cost, Performance, and PPA Pricing in the United States – 2018 Edition

The utility-scale solar sector has led the overall U.S. solar market in terms of installed capacity since 2012. In 2017, the utility-scale sector accounted for nearly 60% of all new solar capacity, and is expected to maintain its market-leading position for at least another six years. Two-thirds of all states, representing all regions of the country, are now home to one or more utility-scale solar projects. This report—the sixth in an ongoing annual series—provides in-depth data-driven analysis of the utility-scale solar project fleet in the United States. Drawing on empirical project-level data from a wide range of sources, this report analyzes technology trends, installed project prices, operating costs, capacity factors, power purchase agreement ("PPA") prices, the levelized cost of solar energy (LCOE), and the market value of solar. Given its current preeminence in the market, utility-scale PV also dominates much of this report, though data from CPV and CSP projects are also presented where appropriate. Highlights from this year's edition include: -Installation and Technology Trends: The use of solar trackers dominated 2017 installations with nearly 80% of all new capacity. In a reflection of the ongoing geographic expansion of the market beyond California and the high-insolation Southwest, the median insolation level at newly built project sites declined again in 2017. While new fixed-tilt projects are now seen predominantly in less-sunny regions, tracking projects are increasingly pushing into these same regions. The median inverter loading ratio grew to 1.32 in 2017, allowing the inverters to operate closer to full capacity for a greater percentage of the day. -Installed Prices: Median installed PV project prices have steadily fallen by two-thirds since the 2007-2009 period, to $2.0/WAC (or $1.6/WDC) for projects completed in 2017. The lowest 20th percentile of projects within our 2017 sample were priced at or below $1.8/WAC, with the lowest-priced projects around $0.9/WAC. Overall price dispersion across the entire sample has decreased steadily every year since 2013; similarly, price variation across regions decreased in 2017. -Operation and Maintenance ("O&M") Costs: PV O&M costs were in the neighborhood of $16/kWAC-year, or $8/MWh, in 2017. These numbers include only those costs incurred to directly operate and maintain the generating plant. -Capacity Factors: The cumulative net AC capacity factors of individual projects vary widely, from 14.3% to 35.2%, with a sample median of 26.3%. This project-level variation is based on a number of factors, including the strength of the solar resource at the project site, whether the array is mounted at a fixed tilt or on a tracking mechanism, the inverter loading ratio, degradation, and curtailment. Changes in at least the first three of these factors drove mean capacity factors higher from 2010-vintage to 2013-vintage projects, where they've remained fairly steady among more-recent project vintages as an ongoing increase in the prevalence of tracking has been offset by a build-out of lower resource sites. -PPA Prices and LCOE: Driven by lower installed project prices and improving capacity factors, levelized PPA prices for utility-scale PV have fallen dramatically over time, by $20-$30/MWh per year on average from 2006 through 2012, with a smaller price decline of ~$10/MWh per year evident from 2013 through 2016. Most recent PPAs in our sample—including many outside of California and the Southwest—are priced at or below $40/MWh levelized (in real 2017 dollars), with a few priced as aggressively as ~$20/MWh. The median LCOE among operational PV projects in our sample has followed PPA prices lower, suggesting a relatively competitive market for PPAs. -Solar's Wholesale Energy Market Value: Falling PPA prices have been offset to some degree by a decline in the wholesale energy market value of solar within higher-penetration markets like California, where solar earned just 79% of the average price across all hours within CAISO's real-time wholesale energy market in 2017 (down from 125% back in 2012). In other markets with less solar penetration, however, solar's hourly generation profile still earns more than the average wholesale price (e.g., 127% in ERCOT, 112% in PJM). -Solar+Storage: Adding battery storage is one way to at least partially restore the value of solar, and three recent PV+storage PPAs in Nevada (each using 4-hour batteries sized at 25% of PV nameplate capacity) suggest that the incremental PPA price adder for storage has fallen to ~$5/MWh, down from ~$15/MWh just a year ago for a similarly configured project. As PV plus battery storage becomes more cost-effective, a number of developers are regularly offering it as a viable upgrade to standalone PV. At the end of 2017, there were at least 188.5 GW of utility-scale solar power capacity within the interconnection queues across the nation. The 2017 growth within these queues is widely distributed across all regions of the country, but is most pronounced in the up-and-coming Midwest region, which accounts for 27% of the 99.2 GW of new queue capacity. The widening geographic distribution is as clear of a sign as any that the utility-scale market is maturing and expanding outside of its traditional high-insolation comfort zones.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2018

NSLS-II Booster Survey and Alignment Systems

This section outlines the survey and alignment requirements and the technology and tools for achieving the NSLS-II equipment positioning goals. The required alignment tolerances are defined primarily by the physics requirements of the accelerator. The tight tolerances dictated by the physics requirements are an order of magnitude tighter than the tolerances of second generation light sources (NSLS) and on level with those at third generation light sources (Soleil, Diamond). These extraordinary position requirements necessitate a concerted R&D engineering effort to identify and develop the survey methodology needed to meet these requirements. As of this date, the methodology is still evolving to balance cost and time constraints while still maintaining the integrity of the survey and alignment systems. State-of-the art equipment including Laser Trackers and Laser Arms have been purchased and used extensively in the pursuit of meeting the NSLS-II survey tolerances. No new technology will need to be developed to meet the alignment requirements but new techniques will be pursued and developed. Survey and alignment provides the foundation for positioning the beam-guiding magnet structures in all 6 degrees of freedom within the required tolerances. Although the tools and instrumentation available for this task have changed over the years and faster and more accurate measurements are possible, only limited control of the environmental conditions is possible. This ultimately sets an upper limit for the achievable measurement and subsequent control network accuracy. At the same time, the control of environmental variables (temperature, humidity) will be fully taken advantage of during the building of NSLS-II , opening up the possibility of ever-increasing accuracy unheard of only five years ago.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2018

FY18 J23X PSDT Final Report: Shock Initiation of PBX 9502 Lot HOL88H891-008

This report details a series of plate impact experiments on the insensitive explosive PBX 9502 (95% TATB, 5% Kel-F 800) with lot number HOL88H891-008. This is a ’virgin’ lot (no recycled material used), for which many detonation performance measurements are available; the addition of these 1-D shock initiation experiments will aid model calibration efforts for this material. Samples were machined from isostatically-pressed billets with anominal density of 1.89 g/cc. The evolution of the shock to a detonation was characterized by 9 embedded magnetic particle velocity gauges, and 116 embedded magnetic time of arrival gauges (AKA shock trackers). Pho-ton Doppler velocimetry (PDV) with a LiF window was used at the back surface of the samples to capture the wave profile exiting the sample. Six experiments were performed, covering a pressure range of 10.8–18.6 GPa and run distances to detonation of 2.7–12.2+ mm. The shock initiation of this lot is found to be consistent with Pop plots reported for other lots of PBX 9502. All data have been uploaded to the LANL Small Scale Database for use by the research community.

45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEF↗
DOE OSTI2018

FY18 J23X PDZG Final Report: Double Shock Initiation of PBX 9502 Lot HOL88H891-008

Heterogeneous high explosives subjected to sub-critical shock waves are known to exhibit desensitization to later shock inputs. While it is believed that this phenomenon is due to the removal of hot spot forming features in the explosive by the initial sub-critical shock, the effect of the time delay between the shocks is poorly understood. This report details a series of double shock plate impact experiments that vary the time between similar shocks to explore the time dependance of this shock desensitization process. These experiments were performed on the insensitive explosive PBX 9502 (95% TATB, 5% Kel-F 800) with lot number HOL88H891-008. The evolution of the shocks to a detonation was characterized by 9 embedded magnetic particle velocity gauges, and 116 embedded magnetic time of arrival gauges (AKA shock trackers). Photon Doppler velocimetry (PDV) with a LiF window was used at the back surface of the samples to capture the wave profile exiting the sample. Three double shock experiments were performed, with first and second shock pressures of 8.3 GPa and 16.5 GPa, respectively. An analogous single shock experiment at 16.3 GPa was also performed. The double shock experiments exhibited small levels of reaction during the initial shock,and shock desensitization to the second shock. Run distances after shock coalescence were shorter than those expected for a single shock, indicating the shock to detonation transition (SDT) process was slightly further along due to partial reaction in the first shock wave. These data will be used to calibrate model behavior under multiple-shock conditions. Additional double shock data will be collected to further explore this area in FY2019. All data have been uploaded to the LANL Small Scale Database for use by the research community.

45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEF↗
DOE OSTI2018

A Measurement of $\nu_e$ Appearance and $\nu_\mu$ Disappearance Neutrino Oscillations with the NOvA Experiment

NOvA is a two-detector, neutrino oscillation experiment on an 810 km baseline in the NuMI beam at Fermilab. NuMI is an off-axis, narrow-band beam centered near 1.8 GeV and is configurable to send a high-purity $\nu_\mu$ or $\bar{\nu}_\mu$ neutrino flux which passes through the NOvA far detector, sensitive to $\nu_\mu$ and $\bar{\nu}_\mu$ disappearance and $\nu_e$ and $\bar{\nu}_e$ appearance. The NOvA near and far detectors are functionally identical, liquid scintillator trackers. They are finely segmented relative to the radiation length in the detectors allowing for the detailed reconstruction of electromagnetic shower necessary to identify $\nu_e$ CC events. Through a joint analysis of the appearance and disappearance oscillation channels using neutrino and anti-neutrino data, NOvA constrains the allowed parameter space in $\delta_{CP}$, the neutrino mass hierarchy, $\sin^2\theta_{23}$, and $\Delta m^2_{32}$. We observe 58 and 18 appearance candidates on an expected backgr ound of 15.06 and 5.32 events in neutrino and anti-neutrino mode, respectively. This observation gives a $1.77\sigma$ preference for the normal mass hierarchy and $1.7\sigma$ preference for $\theta_{23} > \pi/4$. NOvA will maintain its position as a long-baseline oscillation experiment with leading sensitivity for several more years in which time analysis will further disambiguate the fundamental neutrino parameters that determine oscillation behavior.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2018

Report for 2.2.1 Task 2: Provide execution support for the human factors studies conducted for the LWRS Control Room Modernization project for PVNGS

INL contracted IFE to develop custom software functionality to support INL’s use of eye movement tracking in simulator studies. This includes the support of remote eye trackers, the support of dynamic Areas of Interest based on simulator events, and a general-purpose communication protocol between a simulator and the eye tracking software. The report summarises the task deliverables, which include a requirements identification workshop at INL, a software package, and instructional videos.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
DOE OSTI2018

Elementary Particle Physics

The UT Dallas High Energy Physics group collaborates on the ATLAS experiment which observes the world’s high energy proton-proton collisions. The UTD group utilized ATLAS 8 TeV Run 1 data to search for evidence of a “dark photon”, a gauge boson outside the “Standard Model of Particle Physics” that theorist hypothesize could mediate a force felt only by the dark matter particles that dominate out universe. The observable signature is a pair of prompt lepton jets. The results of this search were published in 2013. More recently, we have improved the sensitivity of the analysis using machine learning techniques, and we are extending the search to higher and lower mass dark photons using the ATLAS 13 TeV data set. Detection of a new fifth force would represent an important advance beyond the 4 known forces that influence baryonic matter. The LHC Long Shutdown 1 from 2013-2014 was a period of intense work on refurbishment and upgrades for the ATLAS Pixel community and the UTD group. The service quarter panels of the original Pixel detector were replaced, and the Insertable B Layer (IBL) detector was integrated. During IBL integration, UTD participated on the Stave Task Force that solved corrosion problems with IBL wire bonds. We developed a relative humidity sensor that was used during integration and transport to the beamline when detector was unpowered. The sensors were repurposed to monitor relative humidity inside the ID endplates until the built-in sensors were recommissioned. The UTD group worked on the connection of the Pixel and IBL at Point 1 and we were in charge of electric service testing. The IBL wire bond corrosion was the instigation for developing a new conformal coating method using an atomizing spray and Cellpack polyurethane. It is being considered for use in the ITk tracker upgrade. We have demonstrated its tolerance both of a 9 MGy ionizing dose and thermal expansion. Two UTD students are completing authorship qualification projects. One is helping understand variations in impact parameter resolution across different running periods. The second is developing a data-driven method to monitor the fraction of fake tracks in dense jets.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2015

Large Scale Tracking Algorithms

Low signal-to-noise data processing algorithms for improved detection, tracking, discrimination and situational threat assessment are a key research challenge. As sensor technologies progress, the number of pixels will increase significantly. This will result in increased resolution, which could improve object discrimination, but unfortunately, will also result in a significant increase in the number of potential targets to track. Many tracking techniques, like multi-hypothesis trackers, suffer from a combinatorial explosion as the number of potential targets increase. As the resolution increases, the phenomenology applied towards detection algorithms also changes. For low resolution sensors, "blob" tracking is the norm. For higher resolution data, additional information may be employed in the detection and classification steps. The most challenging scenarios are those where the targets cannot be fully resolved, yet must be tracked and distinguished for neighboring closely spaced objects. Tracking vehicles in an urban environment is an example of such a challenging scenario. This report evaluates several potential tracking algorithms for large-scale tracking in an urban environment.

45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEF↗
DOE OSTI2018

A Novel Non-Parametric Density Estimation Approach to Measuring Muon Ionization Cooling and Reverse Emittance Exchange in the MICE Experiment

The Muon Ionization Cooling Experiment (MICE) located at Rutherford Ap- pleton Laboratory in the U.K. has demonstrated muon ionization beam cooling for the rst time. A beam of muons in MICE is produced from high-energy proton beam collision with a xed target, generating pions which in turn decay into muons. Pion-decay muons, thus, are tertiary particles and, as a result, occupy a large vol- ume in position{momentum phase space. To t the muon beam into smaller and more cost-eective accelerating devices, muon beam phase{space volume needs to be reduced (beam cooling). Ionization beam cooling, which before MICE has never been demonstrated experimentally for muons, is the only technique fast enough to be used for muons within their short lifetime. Ionization cooling occurs when muons traverse an absorbing material and lose momentum through ionization energy loss. The cooling eect in MICE is measured using two scintillating-ber tracking detec- tors. These trackers, one upstream and one downstream of the absorber, reconstruct and measure the position and momentum coordinates of each muon. Given the pre- cision MICE needed to demonstrate beam cooling, it is necessary to develop analysis tools that can account for any eects that may lead to inaccurate measurement of cooling, such as non{linear eects in beam optics. Non{parametric density estima- tion techniques, such as kernel density estimation (KDE), provide a basis for creating analysis tools that are robust against these eects, directly calculating the muon beam phase-space density and volume for demonstrating beam cooling. This thesis focuses on the application of KDE to the measurement of beam cooling in MICE. The KDE technique is validated using known distributions and is applied to sim- ulated and experimental MICE data corresponding to the various magnet, optics, and absorber congurations. Using the KDE technique, muon beam cooling in the four{dimensional transverse phase space, as well as reverse emittance exchange using MICE data have been demonstrated.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2019

R&D in Interconnect Technologies and Radiation Damage Studies

The R&D carried out under this proposal will help with the development and construction of radiation-hard tracking detectors aimed at the high-luminosity phase of the LHC (HL-LHC, 2025-35, 3000 fb -1 /experiment). Interconnect issues are an integral part of new assemblies being developed for these next generation trackers because they require conduits for data-flow between different intelligent modules. We also evaluated various thin films and studied their mechanical and thermal properties.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2018

The Mu2e Experiment [PowerPoint]

The presentation includes: Motivation and Theory; Experiment Overview; Experiment Design (Proton Beam, Solenoids, Production and Stopping Targets, Tracker, Calorimeter, CRV, DAQ/Trigger); Mu2e Shcedule; Mu2e II; and, Summary.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2018

The Mu2e Experiment [PowerPoint - Jun 2018]

A summary of the Mu2e project to date is provided. The four 'big deals' that make the project special are discussed: Pulsed Beam; B-field Gradient and S-Bend Solenoid; a Holey Tracker; and, Cosmic Ray Veto.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2019

Collider Physics Instrumentation

We are developing new technologies for particle tracking. These include 3D silicon sensors and devices for calibration and dosimetry in the HL-LHC fluence regime. We collaborate in the development of a new model for radiation damage in silicon - this is immediately relevant to extrapolations about the future of LHC tracker hardware. We lead radiation damage campaigns on behalf of many collaborating LHC institutes as well as ourselves, and we apply the results of these to development of new techniques for particle beam monitoring and operation of silicon detectors in variable environmental conditions.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Study of the Mu2e sensitivity to the $\mu^-\rightarrow e^+$ conversion process

The Mu2e experiment at Fermilab (Batavia, IL) will search for the coherent neutrinoless conversion of a muon into an electron in the electric field of an aluminum atom. The conversion process results in a monochromatic electron with energy slightly below the muon rest mass ($E_e= 104.97$ MeV). The experiment goal is to improve the previous measurement by four orders of magnitude and reach a single event sensitivity of $3 \times 10^{-17} $ on the conversion rate with respect to the muon capture rate. \\ The experiment will deliver a very intense pulsed negative muon beam to an aluminum target to achieve a total number of $10^{18}$ stopped muons in three years of running. Production and transport of the muons are accomplished with a sophisticated magnetic system comprised of a Production, a Transport and a Detector solenoid, with the last one hosting a Straw-tube Tracker and a Crystal Calorimeter. The entire detector region is surrounded by a Cosmic Ray Veto system. Mu2e is und er construction at the Muon Campus of Fermilab. \\ The INFN italian group is responsible for the design and construction of the crystal calorimeter, which plays a crucial role in the Mu2e measurement, providing particle identification capabilities fundamental for the rejection of the different background sources that can mimic a conversion electron. The calorimeter information allows also to improve the tracking performances it provides a fast standalone trigger for the experiment.\\ After a long R\&D phase, the final drawings see a calorimeter comprised of 1348 pure CsI crystals arranged in two annular disks. Each crystal is readout by two custom UV-extended Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPMs). Performances of the selected components were verified with an electron beam test, carried out in 2017 at the Beam Test Facility (BTF) at the National Laboratories of Frascati, on a large size prototype of 51 crystals and 102 SiPMs, confirming excellent energy ($\sigma_{E}/E = \mathcal{O }(10\%)$) and timing ($\sigma_{T} <500$ ps) resolutions in a! greement with the Mu2e specifications.\\ In the first chapters of this thesis, I describe my involvement in the calorimeter activities, with particular emphasis on the data analysis of the prototype energy response and resolution, that I was personally leading. Moreover, a description of the tuning of the simulation and the careful data-MC comparison is also reported.\\ An auxiliary measurement that can be performed with Mu2e is the search for a Lepton Number Violation (LNV) process where the negatively charged muon converts, without neutrinos, into a positron, $\mu ^{-} +N(A,Z) \rightarrow $ e$^+ +N(A,Z-2)$. At the moment of writing, Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay (0$\nu \beta \beta$) has set the most stringent limit on the LNV processes (T$^{0\nu \beta \beta}_{1/2} > 1.1 \times 10^{26} $ yr at 90$\%$ CL) with the GERDA experiment. In 0$\nu \beta \beta$ a pair of free electrons is created in the transformation from a nucleus $(A, Z)$ into its daughter $(A, Z + 2)$, namely: $(A,Z)\rightarrow (A, Z+2) =2 e^-$. Similar transitions could proceed through the emission of a pair of positrons, double electron capture (EC), or EC and single emission of a positron, with the nucleus changing from $(A, Z)$ to $(A, Z - 2)$. All these variations are equally interesting when discussing of new Physics, since they all manifest a non-conservation of the number of leptons.\\ Moreover, recent studies show that, because of flavor effect, off-diagonal processes, such as the $\mu^- -e^+$ conversion, can have their rate enhanced with respect to processes occurring in the $e-e$ sector.\\ Mu2e will search for $\mu^- + Al(27,13) \rightarrow e^+ +Na(27,11)$, only considering ground state transition, producing a conversion positron with energy $E_{e^+}= 92.32 $ MeV.\\ This thesis is focused on this search. In particular, I developed an algorithm to account for the radiative corrections to be applied to the conversion positrons that resulted in a few percent reduction in s ignal acceptance.\\ One of the most prominent background to ! this sear! ch is the Radiative Muon Capture (RMC) $ \mu+ N(Z,A)\rightarrow \gamma + \nu_{\mu} + N(Z-1,A)$. The produced photon can convert, virtually or in the detector materials (in the following referred as internal or external conversion respectively) in an electron-positron pair, producing positrons with energies approaching the expected conversion energy. Experimental results from previous experiments indicate the RMC endpoint ($\kmax$) to be of $\sim$ 90 MeV. A precise modeling of this background is relevant due to the proximity of the photon spectrum endpoint to the positron conversion energy. The calorimeter group is obviously interested to reconstruct the RMC distribution having also the opportunity to improve the current knowledge of the process. \\ A toy MC has been developed to evaluate the number of $e^+$ from external RMC background in the signal window. Knowing this value and ev...

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Collider Physics (Final Technical Report)

The UNM members of the ATLAS Collaboration published a comprehensive study of ATLAS Pixel leakage current recorded from the beginning of Run 1 through the end of Run 2. This study depended upon a hardware system that was designed and built by UNM and installed by us in the ATLAS cavern. The study compared ATLAS data to predictions by the Hamburg Model, thereby leveraging ATLAS data to improve a widely used simulation that has application to other LHC experiments as well as silicon systems in radiation environments outside HEP applications. Having validated the model in this way, we then used it to make predictions for ATLAS tracker design and operational conditions in Run 3 and beyond.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2020

bifiPV2020 Bifacial Workshop: A Technology Overview

The virtual bifiPV Workshop was held in July 2020 to provide the solar industry with a forum for sharing and discussing research into bifacial photovoltaic (PV) technology. This report outlines major insights from the workshop to give the reader an overview of the latest developments in bifacial PV technology worldwide, from the lab to the field. Citations are drawn from this workshop unless otherwise noted, with all proceedings available online at bifipvworkshop. com. Presentations for the bifiPV2020 Workshop focused on the following areas: bifacial power plant modeling and simulation, albedo improvements, the development of encapsulants, the durability and reliability of current bifacial technologies, performance comparisons between glass-glass and glass-transparent backsheet configurations, the future of passivated emitter and rear contact (PERC) solar cells, and the growing adoption of n-type solar cells. With 650 GW total PV installed worldwide and 1 TW to come very soon, PERC is now the standard PV cell type produced en masse. However, it is already reaching 23% efficiency, the upper limit for this type of technology. PV modules breaking the 0.5-kW barrier are starting to appear, and the costs of standard PERC technology are already below 0.2 USD/Wp. In 2019, five GW of bifacial PV were installed worldwide. In 2020, the majority of bifacial installations are expected to be located in the United States, China, and Middle East and North Africa (MENA) states. N-type bifacial technologies are becoming increasingly viable and have huge potential to dominate the market in the coming years. With bifacial technology mounted on horizontal single-axis trackers (HSAT), bids below 10 USD/MWh will soon be observed in the MENA region, and later in Chile and the United States. Factory audits and reliability testing can reduce field failures by helping buyers to select producers that follow rigorous quality assurance and quality control processes.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2020

Expression of Interest in Contributions to the Electron-Ion Collider: Forward Silicon Vertex/Tracker Developments

The LANL EIC team would like to contribute to the EIC silicon vertex/tracking detector design, construction, commissioning and operation. Our primary focus is for a proposed forward silicon tracker with pseudorapidity coverage from 1 to 3.5 in the nucleon/nuclei beam going (forward) direction at IP-6 of the EIC. LANL LDRD is currently supporting this effort from FY20-FY22 with a funding of $5M. Meanwhile, we are open to collaborate on the other EIC detector sub-systems such as the central, backward silicon vertex/tracking detectors and/or a precision timing detector based on the LGAD technology.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗