Federal Incentives for Water Power (Fact Sheet)
This fact sheet describes the federal incentives available as of April 2013 for the development of water power technologies.
13 HYDRO ENERGY↗
SEARCH · Engineering Papers
Results for “Wind Power”
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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2011 Wind Technologies Market Report
An annual report on the wind energy industry including key statistics, economic data, installation, capacity, and generation statistics, and more.
17 WIND ENERGY↗
Analysis of hydrogen as a Transportation Fuel FY17 Report
This report summarizes the results of literature reviews, surveys and analyses performed to evaluate the potential of hydrogen-fueled vehicles to be an economically viable transportation alternative. Five existing and important drivers of expanding hydrogen-fueled transportation adoption are multi-billion dollar sales reservations of Nikola Class 8 trucks, CALSTART viability analysis of hybrid-hydrogen drayage trucks in the shipyard cargo application, analysis showing economic advantages of Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (FCEV)s over Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV)s beginning at 150-mile ranges, the announcement of a commercial 5kg electrolyzer, and commercial plans or vehicle availability by nine vehicle manufacturers of FCEV passenger vehicles. But hydrogen infrastructure availability needed to support broad adoption of hydrogen-fueled vehicles is limited to less than 50 publicly-available refueling stations, primarily in California. The demand side (consumer) economics associated with FCEV adoption showed strong economic sensitivity to the original vehicle’s fuel economy (mpg), distance traveled, and hydrogen (H2) generation costs. Seven use cases were used to evaluate the broad range of potential FCEV purchasers, including autonomous vehicle applications. Each consumer use case analysis resulted in a different hydrogen fuel cost that would be equivalent to the current fuel cost being paid by the consumer. The H2 generation costs (supply side) were sensitive to the volume of H2 supplied and H2 production costs needed to repay H2 supply facility capital costs and produce competitively-priced energy. H2FAST was used to more accurately incorporate capital, maintenance and production costs into a viable H2 supply cost to the consumer. When the H2 generation and consumer economics were combined, several applications with positive economics became clear. The availability of low-cost hydrogen pipeline connections, and therefore low-cost hydrogen, greatly benefits the California drayage truck application with hybrid-hydrogen retrofits being repaid within seven years. Class 8 trucks could also take advantage of these low-cost, but regional hydrogen supplies. In addition, the IVYS electrolyzer-based hydrogen generation product showed the potential to deliver hydrogen economically in an urban or freeway off-ramp setting to a limited number of passenger vehicles in areas with low-cost electricity. These positive, manually developed results show the need to develop more advanced tools to provide an expanded evaluation of the economics of hydrogen-based fuel applications. The use cases evaluated showed significant potential for hydrogen-fueled vehicles to have a sustainable impact as a transportation fuel. The positive impact is not limited to transportation fuels, but also grid resilience and flexibility through the use of controllable and variable electrolyzer output to rapidly adjust to changing grid conditions and enable greater integration of solar and wind generated power. This capability would directly enable alternative fuel vehicles to impact energy consumption, GHG emissions, and the economy at the regional and national levels.
08 HYDROGEN↗
Radiation Modified Ion-Implanted Materials
The objective of this project, by BNL and PVI, is to develop radiation-modified materials like titanium, nickel, aluminum, steel, refractory metals and alloys by implanting them with ions. Ion implantation radically improves strength & friction resistance. The focus will be on components of products like jet engines & windmills. Example: implanting windmill parts subject to friction may greatly reduce operating costs. Currently, electric power from wind is a factor of 1.5 more costly than coal due to labor costs [frequent lubrication of parts involves stopping a windmill & opening its nacelle (enclosures)]. A 50% friction reduction through ion implantation of parts will reduce the need for lubricants and make wind-generated electricity cheaper than fossil fuel. Major PVI role is adapting laboratory experimental results into commercially viable industrial processes and marketing them.
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
FY2021 Isolated Grids and Grid-Connected Turbine Reference Systems
For individuals, businesses, and communities focused on building resilient electrical grid infrastructure, wind energy can provide an affordable, accessible, and compatible distributed energy resource option that also enhances the capabilities of local grid operations. However, there are technical barriers to realizing the market value and resilience benefits of distributed wind, and there is little to no ability to quantify those benefits so that stakeholders can compare grid investment options. The central aims of this report are: (1) to drive technology transfer of the methods and technologies developed under the Microgrids, Infrastructure Resilience, and Advanced Controls Launchpad (MIRACL) project and (2) increase the number of referenceable case studies available to stakeholders interested in additional value-added capabilities of wind systems beyond bulk energy supply. We achieve this aim by applying three major methods developed under MIRACL to two real-world distributed wind reference systems. The two real-world distributed wind reference systems are the isolated grid of St. Mary’s, Alaska, and the two 10.5-megawatt (MW) front-of-the-meter wind turbine deployments owned and operated by Iowa Lakes Electric Cooperative (ILEC).
17 WIND ENERGY↗
A Resource Aware Droop Control Strategy for aPV, Wind, and Energy Storage Flexible Power(Flexpower) Plant.
Abstract not provided.
Wilches-Bernal, Felipe↗
Performance Testing of Moving Bed Gasifier Using Biomass and Waste Fuels to Generate Low-Cost Clean Hydrogen
Our need for hydrogen is growing as the world transitions toward a low-carbon future. Hydrogen provides long-term energy storage for grid stability in a solar- and wind-dominated power market and can be used to decarbonize other sectors. One promising process for generating low-cost hydrogen that produces net-negative carbon is to gasify biomass with a mixture of legacy coal wastes, waste plastics, and other wastes with carbon capture. Use of waste fuels lowers costs and diverts waste from landfills. EPRI is leading a project, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, to conduct performance testing of modular, moving-bed gasification for the generation of low-cost, clean hydrogen from biomass mixed with legacy coal waste, waste plastic, and/or refuse derived fuels. The work scope includes preparation of multiple pellet feedstocks using biomass (both woody biomass and corn stover) with a mixture of legacy coal waste, plastic waste (wire insulation), and refuse-derived fuel (RDF). These pelletized feedstocks are being qualified based on performance testing of selected fuel blend compositions in updraft moving-bed gasifier located in Sardinia, Italy. Testing is being conducted to obtain relevant data to advance the modular design of the moving-bed gasification process, and successfully use these feedstocks to produce a high hydrogen content raw syngas that can be shifted to produce clean hydrogen. Testing results will be used to determine the effects of the various fuels on feedstock development, the resulting products (i.e., syngas compositions, organic condensate production, and ash characteristics), and impacts on gasifier operations.
08 HYDROGEN↗
The Wind Data Hub, also known as The Data Archive and Portal.
The Wind Data Hub, or WDH (formerly known as the Data Archive and Portal), is established by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s Wind Energy Technologies Office (WETO). The WDH provides secure, timely, easy, and open access to all laboratory, field, and benchmark model data produced by land-based and offshore projects funded by WETO.
17 WIND ENERGY↗
Best Practices for Wake Model and Optimization Algorithm Selection in Wind Farm Layout Optimization
This paper presents the results of two case studies regarding the wind farm layout optimization problem. We asked a general audience to take part in the studies that we designed, and nine individuals participated. Case study 1 considered variations in optimization strategies for a given simple Gaussian wake model. Participants were provided with a wake model that outputs annual energy production (AEP) for an input set of wind turbine locations. Participants used an optimization method of their choosing to find an optimal wind farm layout. Case study 2 looked at trade-offs in performance resulting from variation in both physics model and optimization strategy. For case study 2, participants calculated AEP using a wake model of their choice while also implementing their chosen optimization method. Participants then used their wake model to calculate the AEP all other participant submitted turbine configurations produce for cross-comparison results. for optimized turbine locations were then cross-compared by recalculating the AEP using every other participant's wake model. Results for case study 1 show that the best optimal wind farm layouts in this study were achieved by participants who used gradient-based optimization methods. A front-runner emerged with the Sparse Nonlinear OPTimizer plus Wake Expansion Continuation (SNOPTplusWEC) optimization method, which consistently discovered a higher AEP for each scenario. Results for case study 2 show that for small wind farms with few turbines, turbine placement on the wind farm boundary is superior. Conclusions for case study 2 were drawn from participant cross-comparison of results.
17 WIND ENERGY↗
Best Practices for Wake Model and Optimization Algorithm Selection in Wind Farm Layout Optimization: Preprint
This paper presents the results of two case studies regarding the wind farm layout optimization problem. We asked a general audience to take part in the studies that we designed, and nine individuals participated. Case study 1 considered variations in optimization strategies for a given simple Gaussian wake model. Participants were provided with a wake model that outputs annual energy production (AEP) for an input set of wind turbine locations. Participants used an optimization method of their choosing to find an optimal wind farm layout. Case study 2 looked at trade-offs in performance resulting from variation in both physics model and optimization strategy. For case study 2, participants calculated AEP using a wake model of their choice while also implementing their chosen optimization method. Participants then used their wake model to calculate the AEP all other participant submitted turbine configurations produce for cross-comparison results. for optimized turbine locations were then cross-compared by recalculating the AEP using every other participant's wake model. Results for case study 1 show that the best optimal wind farm layouts in this study were achieved by participants who used gradient-based optimization methods. A front-runner emerged with the Sparse Nonlinear OPTimizer plus Wake Expansion Continuation (SNOPTplusWEC) optimization method, which consistently discovered a higher AEP for each scenario. Results for case study 2 show that for small wind farms with few turbines, turbine placement on the wind farm boundary is superior. Conclusions for case study 2 were drawn from participant cross-comparison of results.
17 WIND ENERGY↗
Airport and Heliport Setbacks
This dataset represents a first-order quantification of airport and heliport setback requirements based on the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) 14 CFR Part 77.9. It defines the following FAA notice criteria that we use to create runway buffers. Runways longer than 3,200 feet receive a 20,000 foot buffer, runways less than 3,200 feet long receive a buffer of 10,000 feet, and heliports receive a buffer of 5,000 feet. A setback requirement is a minimum distance from an airport or heliport that an energy project may be developed. For further details and citation, please refer to the publication linked below: Lopez, Anthony, Pavlo Pinchuk, Michael Gleason, Wesley Cole, Trieu Mai, Travis Williams, Owen Roberts, Marie Rivers, Mike Bannister, Sophie-Min Thomson, Gabe Zuckerman, and Brian Sergi. 2024. Solar Photovoltaics and Land-Based Wind Technical Potential and Supply Curves for the Contiguous United States: 2023 Edition. Golden, CO: National Renewable Energy Laboratory. NREL/TP-6A20-87843.
airport↗
Wind Turbine Oil and Gas Pipeline Setbacks: Ordinances (2022) and Extrapolated Trends, 115 Hub Height 170 Rotor Diameter
This dataset represents wind energy setback requirements from oil and gas pipelines. A setback requirement is a minimum distance from a pipeline that an energy project may be developed. As of April 2022, no ordinances were discovered for any counties. Such ordinances are likely to arise as regulations continue to expand. Therefore, this dataset applies a median setback equivalent to 1.1 times the turbine tip-height, sourced from trends in other infrastructure. A TIF data file and a PNG map of the data are provided, showing areas where wind energy is prohibited or permitted across the contiguous United States. The turbine parameters used were a hub-height of 115 meters and a rotor diameter of 170 meters, as obtained from the Annual Technology Baseline (ATB) 2022. For further details and citation, please refer to the publication linked below: Lopez, Anthony, Pavlo Pinchuk, Michael Gleason, Wesley Cole, Trieu Mai, Travis Williams, Owen Roberts, Marie Rivers, Mike Bannister, Sophie-Min Thomson, Gabe Zuckerman, and Brian Sergi. 2024. Solar Photovoltaics and Land-Based Wind Technical Potential and Supply Curves for the Contiguous United States: 2023 Edition. Golden, CO: National Renewable Energy Laboratory. NREL/TP-6A20-87843.
Array↗
An RTDS-Based Testbed for Investigating the Impacts of Transmission-Level Disturbances on Solar PV Operation
The increasing penetration of renewable energy resources such as solar and wind via power electronic inverters is challenging grid dynamics, as well as grid planning, operation, and protection. Recently, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) has reported a series of similar events of the unintended loss of solar generation in Southern California over a large geographic area following the transmission-level disturbances. These events highlight the importance of understanding the characteristics of the transmission-side disturbances propagating into the distribution systems and their impacts on the operation of inverter-based resources. In this paper, a real-time electromagnetic simulation testbed is constructed for real-time electromagnetic simulations to generate realistic transmission-level disturbances and investigate their impacts on the solar PV operation under different fault types and locations, solar penetration levels, and loading levels. Through the simulation analysis and grid strength assessment, it is found that the grid strength at points of integration (POIs) of solar PVs significantly affects the transient stability of solar generators. Particularly, undesirable transient stability events are more likely to occur at the weak POIs following the transmission-level disturbances. Moreover, undesirable transient stability events become severer when the transmission-level disturbance is closer to the weak POIs or the disturbances become more serious. Additionally, the impact of the transmission-level disturbances on the solar PVs at the weak POIs exacerbate with the increasing solar penetration levels and loading levels. Thus, it is important to study and develop new technologies for grid planning, operation, and protection in weak grid conditions to address the emerging issues of integrating the high penetration of solar PVs and other IBRs.
14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
Modeling and Optimal Design of Absorbent Enhanced Ammonia Synthesis
Synthetic ammonia produced from fossil fuels is essential for agriculture. However, the emissions-intensive nature of the Haber–Bosch process, as well as a depleting supply of these fossil fuels have motivated the production of ammonia using renewable sources of energy. Small-scale, distributed processes may better enable the use of renewables, but also result in a loss of economies of scale, so the high capital cost of the Haber–Bosch process may inhibit this paradigm shift. A process that operates at lower pressure and uses absorption rather than condensation to remove ammonia from unreacted nitrogen and hydrogen has been proposed as an alternative. In this work, a dynamic model of this absorbent-enhanced process is proposed and implemented in gPROMS ModelBuilder. This dynamic model is used to determine optimal designs of this process that minimize the 20-year net present cost at small scales of 100 kg/h to 10,000 kg/h when powered by wind energy. The capital cost of this process scales with a 0.77 capacity exponent, and at production scales below 6075 kg/h, it is less expensive than the conventional Haber–Bosch process.
10 SYNTHETIC FUELS↗
Peering through the dust: NuSTAR observations of two FIRST-2MASS red quasars
Some reddened quasars appear to be transitional objects in the paradigm of merger-induced black hole growth/galaxy evolution, where a heavily obscured nucleus starts to be unveiled by powerful quasar winds evacuating the surrounding cocoon of dust and gas. Hard X-ray observations are able to peer through this gas and dust, revealing the properties of circumnuclear obscuration. Here, we present NuSTAR and XMM-Newton/Chandra observations of FIRST-2MASS-selected red quasars F2M 0830+3759 and F2M 1227+3214. We find that though F2M 0830+3759 is moderately obscured (N{sub H,Z} = (2.1 ± 0.2) × 10{sup 22} cm{sup −2}) and F2M 1227+3214 is mildly absorbed (N{sub H,Z}=3.4{sub −0.7}{sup +0.8}×10{sup 21} cm{sup −2}) along the line of sight, heavier global obscuration may be present in both sources, with N{sub H,S}=3.7{sub −2.6}{sup +4.1}×10{sup 23} cm{sup −2} and <5.5 × 10{sup 23} cm{sup −2} for F2M 0830+3759 and F2M 1227+3214, respectively. F2M 0830+3759 also has an excess of soft X-ray emission below 1 keV, which is well accommodated by a model where 7% of the intrinsic X-ray emission from the active galactic nucleus (AGN) is scattered into the line of sight. While F2M 1227+3214 has a dust-to-gas ratio (E(B – V)/N{sub H}) consistent with the Galactic value, the value of E(B – V)/N{sub H} for F2M 0830+3759 is lower than the Galactic standard, consistent with the paradigm that the dust resides on galactic scales while the X-ray reprocessing gas originates within the dust sublimation zone of the broad-line region. The X-ray and 6.1 μm luminosities of these red quasars are consistent with the empirical relations derived for high-luminosity, unobscured quasars, extending the parameter space of obscured AGNs previously observed by NuSTAR to higher luminosities.
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
STAR-FORMATION ACTIVITY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD OF W–R 1503-160L STAR IN THE MID-INFRARED BUBBLE N46
In order to investigate star-formation (SF) processes in extreme environments, we have carried out a multi-wavelength analysis of the mid-infrared bubble N46, which hosts a WN7 Wolf–Rayet (W–R) star. We have used {sup 13}CO line data to trace an expanding shell surrounding the W–R star containing about five condensations within the molecular cloud associated with the bubble. The W–R star is associated with a powerful stellar wind having a mechanical luminosity of ∼4 × 10{sup 37} erg s{sup 1}. A deviation of the H -band starlight mean polarization angles around the bubble has also been traced, indicating the impact of stellar wind on the surroundings. The Herschel temperature map shows a temperature range of ∼18–24 K toward the five molecular condensations. The photometric analysis reveals that these condensations are associated with the identified clusters of young stellar objects, revealing ongoing SF process. The densest among these five condensations (peak N(H{sub 2}) ∼9.2 × 10{sup 22} cm{sup 2} and A{sub V} ∼ 98 mag) is associated with a 6.7 GHz methanol maser, an infrared dark cloud, and the CO outflow, tracing active massive SF within it. At least five compact radio sources (CRSs) are physically linked with the edges of the bubble, and each of them is consistent with the radio spectral class of a B0V–B0.5V-type star. The ages of the individual infrared counterparts of three CRSs (∼1–2 Myr) and a typical age of WN7 W–R star (∼4 Myr) indicate that the SF activities around the bubble are influenced by the feedback of the W–R star.
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
A VLA Survey of Late-time Radio Emission from Superluminous Supernovae and the Host Galaxies
We present the results of 3 GHz radio continuum observations of 23 superluminous supernovae (SLSNe) and their host galaxies by using the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array conducted 5–21 yr after the explosions. The sample consists of 15 Type I and 8 Type II SLSNe at z < 0.3, providing one of the largest samples of SLSNe with late-time radio data. We detected radio emission from one SLSN (PTF10hgi) and five hosts with a significance of >5σ. No time variability is found in late-time radio light curves of the radio-detected sources in a timescale of years except for PTF10hgi, whose variability is reported in a separate study. Comparison of star formation rates (SFRs) derived from the 3 GHz flux densities with those derived from SED modeling based on UV–NIR data shows that four hosts have an excess of radio SFRs, suggesting obscured star formation. Upper limits for undetected hosts and stacked results show that the majority of the SLSN hosts do not have a significant obscured star formation. By using the 3 GHz upper limits, we constrain the parameters for afterglows arising from interaction between initially off-axis jets and circumstellar medium (CSM). Here, we found that the models with higher energies ( E iso ≳ several × 10 53 erg) and CSM densities ( n ≳ 0.01 cm –3 ) are excluded, but lower energies or CSM densities are not excluded with the current data. We also constrained the models of pulsar wind nebulae powered by a newly born magnetar for a subsample of SLSNe with model predictions in the literature.
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
Biases in preconstruction estimates of wind plant annual energy production
Estimating the energy yield of a wind plant during the preconstruction phase is a historically difficult task, even with industry improvements in these estimations. We build on prior research comparing the realized energy production of wind plants and their estimated annual energy production P50 values (median energy production), using owner-provided energy production and losses. We produced similar results to prior studies but with a slightly increasing bias of overestimating median energy production (a bias between realized and estimated energy production of −7.4 % to −6.6 %, depending on the scenario, as opposed to −6.7 % to −5.5 % from earlier studies). In addition to assessing annual energy production P50 bias, we compared both the 1-year and the long-term annual energy production P90 and uncertainty energy yield assessment estimates to the observed long-term-corrected energy production. We found that neither the energy yield assessment uncertainty nor the P90 is conservative enough compared to the observed distribution of prediction errors, suggesting significant room for improvement in the energy yield assessment process.
17 WIND ENERGY↗