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At least 127 records · Page 7
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2023

Wind as a Distributed Energy Resource

Distributed wind can be installed in a wide range of locations and wind conditions, supporting millions of systems and thousands of gigawatts of power production capacity. As a result, utilities, communities, and nations are looking to distributed generation as an effective way to meet future energy needs. This fact sheet provides an overview of distributed wind, including where distributed wind projects can be located, and how U.S. and international research supports distributed wind applications. This fact sheet was produced as a resource for the International Energy Agency Task 41 members to use as an educational resource.

behind-the-meter wind energy↗
DOE OSTI2023

City and Borough of Sitka, Alaska: Modeling and Controls Assistance and Renewable Energy Resource Assessment [Slides]

This project develops the dynamic modeling of hydro plants and wind generation in Sitka, Alaska. A dynamic penetration of renewables was evaluated under various conditions. The impact of altering hydro generation control to synchronous condenser control was evaluated. While the existing hydro generations are sufficient to address voltage instability, a detailed study of the active-reactive capability limits of hydro generation operation should be conducted to uptake at various wind penetration levels.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Performance of wind assessment datasets in United States coastal areas

The atmospheric dynamics that occur near the intersection of land and water offer exciting and challenging opportunities for wind energy deployment in coastal locations. New models and tools are continually being developed in support of wind resource assessment, and three recent products are explored in this work for their performance in representing characteristics of the wind resource at coastal locations: the Global Wind Atlas 3 (GWA3), the 2023 National Offshore Wind dataset (NOW-23), and the wind climate simulations that are a component of the Wind Integration National Dataset (WIND) Toolkit Long-Term Ensemble Dataset (WTK-LED Climate). These relatively new products are freely available and user-friendly so that anyone – from a utility-scale developer to a resident or business owner – can evaluate the potential for wind energy generation at their location of interest. The validations in this work provide guidance on the accuracy of wind resource assessments for coastal customers interested in installing small or midsize wind turbines (≤ 1 MW in capacity) to support energy needs at the residential, business, or community scale, such as the island and remotely located participants of the U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Transitions Initiative Partnership Project. At 23 coastal locations across the United States, dataset performance varies according to different evaluation metrics. All three recent datasets tend to overestimate the observed coastal wind resource. GWA3 produces the smallest annual average wind speed relative errors, whereas WTK-LED Climate is in best agreement in terms of representing diurnal wind speed cycles. NOW-23 is the highest performing of the datasets for representing seasonal and interannual trends in the coastal wind resource. While GWA3 and WTK-LED Climate are relatively insensitive to the dataset output heights selected for wind resource assessment at small and midsize wind turbine hub heights (20–60 m), significant variation in the NOW-23 representation of wind shear across the wind profile in the lowest 100 m of the atmosphere leads to notable differences in wind speed estimates according to the dataset output heights selected for evaluation. GWA3 exhibits challenges in the representation of observed wind speed diurnal cycles at small and midsize turbine hub heights, likely due to the dataset's consistent treatment of hourly wind speed trends regardless of altitude.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2023

Eastport Energy Resilience Opportunities [Slides]

This presentation offers a high-level overview of the Energy Transitions Initiative Partnership Project's (ETIPP's) work in Eastport, Maine. It covers the project's work to explore microgrid options for the island community; opportunities for incorporating renewable energy technology such as tidal power, solar power, and battery storage; potential benefits and costs for the community; and an estimated timeline for implementing different options.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

McGrath, Alaska Community Energy Plan [Slides]

The US Department of Energy's Energy Transitions Initiative Partnership Project (ETIPP) works alongside remote and island communities seeking to transform their energy systems and increase energy resilience. The City of McGrath took part in the ETIPP program in 2023-2024. As part of the project, community members formed the McGrath Energy Committee, made up of residents and local stakeholder organizations. The McGrath Energy Committee then worked with technical advisors from regional associations, university programs, and national labs to conduct a baseline energy assessment of the community, organize a community energy education series, identify key focus areas relevant to McGrath, explore funding opportunities, and create the McGrath Community Energy Plan. This plan serves as a foundational guide for future energy projects in the community, aligned with McGrath's long-term energy goal: "to be a catalyst to encourage energy resiliency in our community and the Upper Kuskokwim Region." - November 2024.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Winds of fortune? Understanding the geographic, sociodemographic, and temporal distribution of benefit mechanisms from land-based wind projects in the United States

Despite decades of research on factors shaping local responses to wind development, there is relatively little known about benefit mechanisms (e.g., agreements, funds, donations) used by developers in the U.S. land-based wind sector. To address this gap, we collected benefit mechanism data across all current utility-scale land-based wind projects installed between 1982 and 2024 (n = 1047), finding that just under one-third of projects had a benefit mechanism attached to them. We find the use of benefit mechanisms has become more common over time, is associated with larger projects, and varies by region. In terms of host community characteristics, the use of benefit mechanisms is associated with characteristics like higher education level, higher percent white, higher percent Republican, higher decision-making capacity, lower unemployment rate, and higher poverty rate. Building on a theoretical framework of purposes, we discuss what these findings could suggest about the motivations driving developers' use of these mechanisms, such as increasing local acceptance of a wind project or supporting distributive fairness. This first-of-its-kind study builds a comprehensive understanding of how benefit mechanisms have been used in the U.S. wind industry throughout its history, which can inform future approaches to benefit-sharing across sectors.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Metatranscriptomics reveals a shift in microbial community composition and function during summer months in a coastal marine environment

Abstract Temperate coastal marine waters are often thermally stratified from spring through fall but can be dynamic and disrupted by tidal currents and wind‐driven upwelling. These mixing events introduce deeper, cooler water with a higher partial pressure of CO 2 (pCO2) and its associated microbial communities to the surface. Anecdotally, these events impact shellfish hatcheries and farms, warranting improved understanding of changes in composition and activity of marine microbial communities in relation to environmental processes. To characterize both compositional and functional changes associated with abiotic factors, here, we generate a reference metatranscriptome from the Strait of Georgia over representative seasons and analyze metatranscriptomic profiles of the microorganisms present within intake water containing different pCO 2 levels at a shellfish hatchery in British Columbia from June through October. Abiotic factors studied include pH, temperature, alkalinity, aragonite, calcite, and pCO 2 . Community composition changes were observed to occur at broad taxonomic levels and most notably to vary with temperature and pCO 2 . Functional gene expression profiles indicated a strong difference between early (June–July) and late summer (August–October) associated with viral activity. The taxonomic data suggest this could be due to the termination of cyanobacteria and phytoplankton blooms by viral lysis in the late season. Functional analysis indicated fewer differentially expressed transcripts associated with abiotic variables (e.g., pCO 2 ) than with the temporal effect. Microbial composition and activity in these waters vary with both short‐term effects observed alongside abiotic variation and long‐term effects observed across seasons. The analysis of both taxonomy and functional gene expression simultaneously in the same samples by environmental RNA (eRNA metatranscriptomics) provided a more comprehensive view for monitoring water bodies than either would in isolation.

Sutherland, Ben J. G.↗
DOE OSTI2022

Impact of Tropical Cyclone Wind Forcing on the Global Climate in a Fully Coupled Climate Model

Tropical cyclones (TCs) alter upper-ocean temperature and influence ocean heat content via enhanced turbulent mixing. A better understanding of the role of TCs within the climate system requires a fully coupled modeling framework, where TC-induced ocean responses feed back to the atmosphere and subsequently to the climate mean state and variability. Here, we investigate the impacts of TC wind forcing on the global ocean and the associated feedbacks within the climate system using the fully coupled Community Earth System Model version 1.3 (CESM1.3). Using the low-resolution version of CESM1.3 (1° atmosphere and ocean grid spacing) with no intrinsic TCs, we conduct a suite of sensitivity experiments by inserting TC winds extracted from a high-resolution (0.25° atmosphere grid spacing) TC-permitting simulation into the low-resolution model. Results from the low-resolution TC experiment are compared to a low-resolution control simulation to diagnose TCs’ impact. We found that the added TC winds can increase ocean heat content by affecting ocean vertical mixing, air–sea enthalpy fluxes, and cloud amount. Here, the added TCs can influence mean SST, precipitation, ocean subsurface temperature, and ocean mixed layer depth. We found a strengthening of the wind-driven subtropical cells and a weakening of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation due to the changes of surface buoyancy fluxes. TCs in the model cause anomalous equatorward ocean heat convergence in the deep tropics and an increase of poleward ocean heat transport out of the subtropics. Our modeling results provide new insights into the multiscale interactions between TCs and the coupled climate system.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2026

Kauhale 'O Kipapa: Kahikinui Community Cultural, Educational, and Resilience Center Preliminary Design Technical Assistance Summary Report

The Kahikinui Homestead Community in Maui faces energy resilience challenges due to its remote, off-grid location. This report summarizes preliminary technical assistance to design a microgrid for six modular homes using solar PV, wind, and battery storage. Findings show hybrid PV and battery systems, supplemented by small wind turbines, offer cost-effective, resilient solutions. This work supports enhanced energy independence and disaster preparedness for the community.

Quiroz, Jimmy Edward [Sandia National Laboratories↗
DOE OSTI2024

AmeriFlux US-TaS Taylor Slough/Panhandle

This is the AmeriFlux version of the carbon flux data for the site US-TaS Taylor Slough/Panhandle. Site Description - This tower is located in the Florida Everglades, a unique community of stunted mangroves which receive seasonally driven freshwater inputs and wind-driven estuarine inputs

Malone, Sparkle↗
DOE OSTI2026

AmeriFlux FLUXNET-1F US-TaS Taylor Slough/Panhandle

This is the AmeriFlux Management Project (AMP) created FLUXNET-1F version of the carbon flux data for the site US-TaS Taylor Slough/Panhandle. This is the FLUXNET version of the carbon flux data for the site US-TaS Taylor Slough/Panhandle produced by applying the standard ONEFlux (1F) software. Site Description - This tower is located in the Florida Everglades, a unique community of stunted mangroves which receive seasonally driven freshwater inputs and wind-driven estuarine inputs

Malone, Sparkle [Yale University]↗
DOE OSTI2023

Electric Vehicle Charging Management in Smart Energy Communities to Increase Renewable Energy Hosting Capacity

Abnormal climates due to global warming have emerged as a big concern in the global community. To mitigate climate change and achieve sustainability, distributed energy resources (DERs), including solar and wind, have been recently deployed in power systems. As the penetration level of DERs has increased, however, it caused a multitude of issues in the power systems, such as voltage fluctuation in the distribution network limiting renewable hosting capacity. On the other hand, the electric vehicle (EV) industry is rapidly growing to facilitate the transition to a carbon-neutral community, illuminating the potential of EVs as a flexible grid asset to mitigate some of the issues and improve grid operation, if properly exploited. To explore the potential of EVs, this paper proposes an EV scheduling strategy. By using an optimal EV charging scheduling proposed, distribution system operators (DSOs) can minimize their operating costs and stably operate the system with a high level of DERs. To validate the method, a modified IEEE 33-bus system with DERs is developed. The case study shows the proposed scheduling strategizes EV charging to reduce the cost of PV curtailment. In the study, the method outperforms the renewable-only case with curtailment by 4.97% in DSO cost. It also demonstrates its potential to increase the renewable hosting capacity by harmonizing EV charging with renewables.

ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS,POWER TRANSMISSION AND↗
DOE OSTI2022

Intersections of Disadvantaged Communities and Renewable Energy Potential: Data Set and Analysis to Inform Equitable Investment Prioritization in the United States

Renewable energy development can bolster local economies through job creation, local tax revenues, and reduced energy costs; however, communities most in need of economic development and employment opportunities often see lower levels of renewable energy deployment. We sought to identify areas where disadvantaged community indicators and high generation potential from cost-effective renewable energy opportunities intersect and deployment could lead to economic development and job creation. This presentation will highlight several of our findings. This research and the associated county-level data set are intended to inform national- and state-level energy-related assistance programs, economic development efforts, and infrastructure programs seeking to prioritize investments in disadvantaged communities.

community energy planning↗
DOE OSTI2023

LA100 Equity Strategies. Chapter 4: Lessons Learned and Options for Community Engagement in Los Angeles

The LA100 Equity Strategies project synthesizes community guidance with robust research, modeling, and analysis to identify strategy options that can increase equitable outcomes in Los Angeles' clean energy transition. Grounded in the analysis of past and ongoing energy inequities and engagement with underserved communities, the project presents community-guided strategies that aim to operationalize recognition and procedural justice. Building on the community-identified problems and solutions, and the analysis of the 11 strategies described in Chapter 3, this chapter continues to focus on the solution space through the lens of recognition and procedural justice. It centers the role of community engagement in energy utility planning and project development with a specific focus on how the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) can engage and work equitably with Los Angeles communities to cocreate a clean and just energy future for LA. LA100 Equity Strategies is rooted in the crucial role community engagement plays in restructuring the energy systems of cities, states, and nations. Scholarship on wind, solar, and other transitional energy technologies and projects has documented that such engagement is commonly used as a top-down mechanism for adapting social practices to fit new technological innovations. Yet, understanding how the clean energy transition - with related changes in technologies, infrastructures, practices, and costs - will fit equitably into the existing socio-political context is a challenge that requires substantive collaboration with local communities. Any form of community engagement opens up government officials and utilities to opposition from their public. Meaningful engagement methods turn such dissent into a strength, embracing critical feedback - particularly from communities historically excluded from decision-making - as contributing to more grounded design and effective implementation. Leveraging this collaborative model to further rectify past and ongoing inequities in the social, cultural, and institutional scaffolding of LA, this chapter presents options and methods to support LADWP in launching a just and equitable clean energy transition. We approach community engagement as a critical process linking recognition, procedural, and distributional justice, outlining how LADWP could learn from past engagement, coordinate such knowledge organization-wide, and use engagement as a key tool for achieving energy justice and equity.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2023

LA100 Equity Strategies. Chapter 5: Low-Income Energy Bill Equity and Affordability

The LA100 Equity Strategies project synthesizes community guidance with robust research, modeling, and analysis to identify strategy options that can increase equitable outcomes in Los Angeles' clean energy transition. Grounded in the analysis of past and ongoing energy inequities and engagement with underserved communities, the project presents community-guided strategies that aim to operationalize recognition and procedural justice. Building on the community-identified problems and solutions, and the analysis of the 11 strategies described in Chapter 3, this chapter continues to focus on the solution space through the lens of recognition and procedural justice. It centers the role of community engagement in energy utility planning and project development with a specific focus on how the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) can engage and work equitably with Los Angeles communities to cocreate a clean and just energy future for LA. LA100 Equity Strategies is rooted in the crucial role community engagement plays in restructuring the energy systems of cities, states, and nations. Scholarship on wind, solar, and other transitional energy technologies and projects has documented that such engagement is commonly used as a top-down mechanism for adapting social practices to fit new technological innovations. Yet, understanding how the clean energy transition - with related changes in technologies, infrastructures, practices, and costs - will fit equitably into the existing socio-political context is a challenge that requires substantive collaboration with local communities. Any form of community engagement opens up government officials and utilities to opposition from their public. Meaningful engagement methods turn such dissent into a strength, embracing critical feedback - particularly from communities historically excluded from decision-making - as contributing to more grounded design and effective implementation. Leveraging this collaborative model to further rectify past and ongoing inequities in the social, cultural, and institutional scaffolding of LA, this chapter presents options and methods to support LADWP in launching a just and equitable clean energy transition. We approach community engagement as a critical process linking recognition, procedural, and distributional justice, outlining how LADWP could learn from past engagement, coordinate such knowledge organization-wide, and use engagement as a key tool for achieving energy justice and equity.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2026

Wind Turbine Materials Recycling Prize Phase 2 (Commercialization of Wind Turbine Blade Waste (WTBW)-Based, Lightweight, Cementitious Composite Materials): Cooperative Research and Development Final Report, CRADA Number CRD-24-31305

The National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR) and AltiSora, LLC., will develop new lightweight cementitious composite material technologies that will utilize wind turbine blade waste as a raw material to; (1) allow a high value addition (2) at low cost, enabling (3) a significant waste consumption volume; while (4) consuming the entire wind turbine blade, without (5) creating any waste or emissions and to also (6) offer specific benefits to communities involved.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Community-Scale Solar Deployment in the Northwest Arctic

NANA Regional Corporation (NRC, or NANA) was formed as an Alaska Native Corporation (ANC) pursuant to the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971. Our lands cover 39,000 square miles of the Northwest Arctic region of Alaska. We partner closely with the Northwest Arctic Borough (NAB) and our 11 remote communities on numerous projects and activities, especially around clean energy initiatives that improve quality of life and help to reduce extremely high energy costs experienced by the communities in our region. Collectively, the regional partnership has developed numerous successful solar, wind, biomass, and energy storage, distribution upgrade, and efficiency projects. To further progress, we created the Northwest Arctic Energy Steering Committee to share and replicate these benefits across the region. NANA’s mission is to provide economic opportunities for our more than 13,500 Iñupiat shareholders and to protect and enhance NANA lands.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Irrigation Modernization Task 4: Accelerating Energy Solutions (FY2022 Final Report)

This report offers insights on energy solutions for irrigation modernization that serve the needs of farmers as well as residents and industry in the local community. Solutions are found in the irrigation districts where local generation from renewable energy sources – solar, hydro, and wind – can be combined with energy storage and customer loads. These combined resources configured in microgrids can lower costs during peak loads and provide resiliency by maintaining electricity supply during outages. The goal of this project, as stated in the FY2022 AOP, is to promote realization of energy solutions that are tailored to physical location, community, infrastructure, and energy value streams. Further, it is to develop examples of how to increase value of, and overcome barriers to, energy solutions in the context of irrigation modernization. In pursuit of that goal, the project looked at options for: 1) Reducing the cost of energy consumed in irrigation systems, 2) Increasing the revenue from surplus power generation, and 3) Deploying new power generation configured as part of a local microgrid. Potential solutions to reducing energy costs and increasing surplus power revenue revolve around addressing regulatory and legal constraints tied to how power is purchased by and sold to the irrigator or irrigation district. Some headway was made in identifying barriers and ways to push utilities to be more accommodating to distributed energy sources; however, for the most part, real progress hinges on changes at the regulatory and legislative level. Deployment of local, renewable generation systems can be implemented provided the economics of the project and the location are favorable. In concert with Famers Conservation Alliance and Energy Trust of Oregon, a number of approaches were studied in the past year, including off-grid solar powered pumps, grid-tied community solar projects, and in-conduit canal hydropower systems. Ultimately three viable projects were identified: 1) North Unit Irrigation District/City of Redmond, Oregon Critical Facility Microgrid – offers combined in-conduit hydro and solar power generation. 2) Wallowa County/Joseph, Oregon Irrigation System Upgrades – centered on upgrades to a non-powered dam that will add a turbine as well as in-conduit power in canal feeders downstream. 3) Medford, Oregon Wastewater Treatment Plant Biogas Cogeneration System – centered on building out biogas storage and grid upgrades to power the plant, sell excess power, and provide emergency backup power (supplanting a diesel generator). Each of these projects has characteristics that broaden the understanding of the value of microgrids employing renewable energy to achieve resiliency and net-zero carbon goals. The first two projects are centered on new hydropower systems. Although the Medford project is only tangentially tied to an irrigation district, it was selected for study analysis as it was the only one mature enough (with sufficient data) to complete an analysis within this project year. Thus, we chose to move forward developing a case study, in concert with the Community Water-Power Resilience project, to demonstrate a method for evaluating such projects. Essentially, this case study serves as a template for studies to be carried out next year that more directly involve irrigation system hydropower, e.g., the project at the Wallowa County/Joseph, Oregon Irrigation System. Lastly, it is recognized that the locations and case studies in this report are all located in Oregon. We recognize this as a limitation. While the intent is not to ignore other states or regions, this result is driven by the fact that we have cultivated a collaboration with non-profit entities in Oregon that focus on these topics – Farmers Conservation Alliance and Energy Trust of Oregon. These partners were central to identifying projects that may be good fits for this program. A goal in the coming year is to establish collaboration with entities in other states/regions that, similarly, can connect us to potential projects in their geographic area. The potential benefits from the WPTO’s support for demonstration projects as energy solutions in irrigation districts include: (1) Alternative power supplies for communities and farms using renewable, carbon-free energy resources, (2) Cost savings for electricity for communities and farms, (3) Resiliency of power supplies for critical loads when electricity from the grid is not available, (4) Resiliency of power supplies for critical infrastructure in the event of catastrophic events, and (5) Demonstration of irrigation modernization projects that provide resilience and a reduced carbon footprint to irrigation districts and nearby communities. These deployments can serve as vanguards/archetypes spurring similar projects in other districts and states.

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗