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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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At least 1,423 records · Page 79
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2002

ISTP Solar Maximum Extended Science Program

We have studied the entry of solar energetic particles (SEPS) into the magnetosphere by following particles in the time dependent magnetic and electric field from global magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations of the magnetosphere. The MHD simulations can either be for idealized interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) conditions, or for upstream conditions measured by spacecraft. An important part of the analysis is understanding the response of the magnetosphere to the IMF conditions. In the idealized case, the MHD simulation included a steady interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) B(sub x), velocity and density, while the B(sub y) and B(sub z) components were varied from southward IMF to dawnward and finally to northward IMF. We launched more than ten million protons, as well as about 1 million He-3 ions and a few thousand electrons upstream of the magnetosphere into the solar wind. They were initialized using a kappa distribution, which is a power law distribution with a power law coefficient of 1.5 at high energies. The particles had energies between 0. 1 and 50 MeV. The particles were run in time dependent MHD fields that were advanced in time as the particles moved through the system.

Ashour-Abdalla, Maha↗
NASA NTRS2001

The TPF Mission at L2

The Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF) is one of the center pieces of NASA's Origins Program. The goal of TPF is to identify terrestrial planets around stars nearby the Sun. For this purpose, a space-based interferometer with a baseline of approximately 100 m is required. To achieve such a large baseline, a distributed system of five spacecraft flying in formation is an efficient approach. Since the TPF instruments need a cold and stable environment, a halo orbit about 4 is ideal. First, we describe formation flight near the Lagrange point is feasible for the TPF mission. Second, we propose a novel approach for human servicing of Lagrange point missions by placing a Lunar service station in an Lunar L1 orbit. The TPF spacecraft can be transferred to a Lunar L1 orbit in a few days and requires relatively little delta-V. This efficient transfer results from the system of low energy pathways connecting the entire Solar System generated by the Lagrange points. The halo orbits are the portals of this Interplanetary . A Lunar Station at the L,portal, in addition to servicing missions from the Sun-Earth Lagrange points, may play an even more important role in the future development of space.

human servicing↗
DOE OSTI2020

Deep Direct-Use Geothermal Feasibility Study for Hawthorne NV

The Hawthorne Nevada, deep direct-use geothermal study is a two-year effort funded by the U.S. Department of Energy to determine the techno-economic feasibility of implementing a large-scale, direct-use facility for the Hawthorne Army Depot (HAD) and the public facilities of the city of Hawthorne and Mineral County. The approach links a production side analysis (PSA) and a demand side analysis (DSA) into a whole-system analysis (WSA) to provide an integrated assessment of the resource and the probability of delivering economically viable direct-use energy to Hawthorne. Hawthorne, Nevada is in the western part of the Basin and Range province and has been the focus of geothermal investigations for over 40 years. Over the last 15 years, several studies completed by the U.S. Navy Geothermal Program Office (GPO) in conjunction with industry professionals quantified the existence of several low temperature geothermal prospects, the most promising of which is called Prospect A. The promise of Prospect A is based on drilling and flow testing that produced ~100 °C water at flow rates of up to 31 l/s (500 gallons per minute). Measured productivity indexes range from 40-85 l/s/MPa, suggesting a warm and productive heat source. Despite the promise of the resource, uncertainties in its spatial extent and long-term sustainability mean that techno-economic analyses must include probabilities of the sustainability of the resource under different operating scenarios. Here, the PSA is conducted by integrating a wide range of disparate data to estimate lognormal P90, P50, and P10 resource capacities. These capacities are used as input to a thermal-hydrologic (T-H) model to estimate thermal drawdown for each capacity estimate for several different DSA scenarios. Using a systems-based approach, the WSA links the dynamic T-H simulations of the PSA/DSA combinations with the techno-economic model GEOPHIRES to account for both the temporal dynamics and uncertainties in the system to produce probabilistic distributions of several performance metrics including the levelized cost of heat (LCOH) and the return on investment (ROI). This report is the final delivery for the project and documents the study's activities and results.

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Electric Grid Security (EGS) FY24 Annual Report

Sandia’s Electric Grid Security program advances a national vision of a secure, resilient, and affordable electric system for all users. Our achievements reflect a strategic approach combining technology development; modeling, simulation, and data analytics; and partnered demonstrations and outreach to further the adoption of advanced grid and storage technologies. Our FY24 efforts leverage the strengths of our partnerships—spanning Sandia’s core science and technology competencies as well as external technology leaders—to develop the solutions today which enable the grid of tomorrow. Key accomplishments in this report that support our strategy span our technical program areas and include: • The advancement of energy storage technologies, including creation of a national Long Duration Energy Storage Consortium; • Applications of artificial intelligence and machine learning to enhanced grid operations and planning; • Development of solid-state power conversion technologies and a new medium-voltage research lab; • New technologies to assess wildfire vulnerabilities and mitigate potential impacts; • Advanced applications of new cybersecurity technologies with industry partners; • Contributions to understanding the impacts of electromagnetic pulses and geomagnetic disturbances on grid components; and • Digital twin development for hybrid microgrids with multiple generators, storage, and loads.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2016

Comparative Genomics and Functional Analysis of Carbohydrate Utilization Networks in Unicyanobacterial Consortia Derived from Hypersaline Lake Microbial Mats

Hot Lake is a meromictic, hypersaline lake located in Washington state, USA. It harbors a phototrophic microbial mat community stable in dramatic seasonal environmental changes. The complexity of natural community hinders to analyze metabolic interactions between its members. To manage this obstacle, unicyanobacterial consortia (UCC) were sampled from the community and sequenced. UCC is a microbial community in which one cyanobacterium serves as the sole primary producer of carbon sources to several heterotrophic bacteria. Recently available metagenomes for two UCC revealed a shared set of 19 microbial operational taxonomic units (OTU), whose individual genomes were reconstructed by co‐assembly and abundance profile binning. We used this genomic data and a comparative genomics approach to infer carbohydrate utilization pathways and their transcription regulation. We scanned all UCC proteomes against the KEGG Orthology, Pfam, GO and SEED databases to reveal genes potentially involved in sugar utilization. Then we analyzed the genomic and functional contexts of gene loci encoding the obtained proteins and reconstructed the respective metabolic pathways and transcriptional regulons. As result, we observed catabolic pathways for 32 various carbohydrates and their derivatives. Distribution of the inferred catabolic pathways has highly mosaic structure across the UCC genomes. The largest number of pathways was observed in two representatives of the Halomonas genus (14–15 pathways) and one Rhodobacteriaceae sp. (15 pathways). In other UCC genomes, we found up to 10 carbohydrate utilization pathways per genome. However in 7 genomes we didn't observe any pathway. The most widely distributed pathways in UCC were the alpha‐glucosides and the DeLey‐Doudoroff galactose utilization pathways. Both were found in 7 genomes. Majority of pathways are distributed among 1–3 genomes. The reconstructed catabolic pathways were partially validated by phenotypic analyses of UCC community members that were isolated in a pure culture. In the Rhodobacteriaceae sp., we found a novel catabolic pathway that was proposed to be involved in mannoheptulose utilization. To our knowledge, the proposed mannoheptulose catabolic pathway is the first case of a pathway for heptose utilization and will require further experimental validation. The identified pathways are potentially regulated by local transcription factors (TFs) that are often co‐localized with the respective sugar catabolic gene loci. For 63 out of the 80 identified TFs we identified their cognate DNA binding motifs and reconstructed regulons using the bioinformatics approach. Support or Funding Information This research was supported by the Genomic Science Program (GSP), Office of Biological and Environmental Research (OBER), and U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and is a contribution of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) Foundational Scientific Focus Area.

Leyn, Semen A.↗
DOE OSTI2019

Dissolution of Light Curium Oxide with a Catalyzed Electrolytic Process

The ability to produce transcurium elements and isotopes, such as 249 Bk and 252 Cf, requires the appropriate feed material and a high thermal neutron flux. Currently, at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) provides one of the world’s highest steady state thermal neutron fluxes. The feed material consists of recycled curium from the decades of production of 249 Bk, 252 Cf, 253 Es, and 255/257 Fm at the Radiochemical Engineering Development Center (REDC). Over time, the feed material has been depleted and needs to be replenished. The current feed material is called “heavy recycled curium” and consists of over 50 wt% of 246/248 Cm isotopes. In order to replenish this stock material, additional curium is needed. The only curium material that is currently available consists predominantly (greater than 80 wt%) of 244 Cm. This material also contains 240 Pu from the radioactive decay of the 244 Cm. Because of the amount of 244 Cm is greater than 50% of the total Cm, this material is termed “light curium.” Today, 249 Bk and 252 Cf are produced in only two places in the world: the United States and Russia. In the United States, the US Department of Energy and its predecessors have made these isotopes and others available to research agencies and commercial users since the late 1960s as part of the Department of Energy heavy-element production program located at ORNL. Currently these materials are provided through the DOE Office of Science Nuclear Physics-Isotope Development and Production for Research and Applications and the Basic Energy Science-Heavy Element Chemistry. Feedstock for the production of 252 Cf and other transcurium element by-product isotopes was originally prepared by means of irradiation of multi-kilograms of 239 Pu in the large production reactors at the Savannah River Site. Products of the Savannah River Site irradiation were predominantly 242 Pu, 243 Am, and 244 Cm. These materials were shipped to ORNL for production of multi-milligram amounts per year of 252 Cf and other transcurium element isotopes by means of irradiation in the HFIR, followed by separation and purification processing in the Radiochemical Engineering Development Center (REDC). The transcurium element isotopes produced were distributed to other US and collaborating foreign laboratories for research studies to determine the nuclear and chemical properties of these rare materials. The Cm feed material plays a key role in the efficient production of 252 Cf. The early targets irradiated in HFIR contained only the 242 Pu, 243 Am, and 244 Cm produced at Savannah River Site, and the rate of production of 252 Cf was less than 1 mg per 8 g of target material as shown in Figure 1. Also, shown in Figure 1 is the significant difference in 252 Cf production between the light and heavy curium; it differs by approximately 2 orders of magnitude.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Cyberguardians Webinar

Robust solar industry growth is creating a shortage of U.S. workers who are knowledgeable in emerging Distributed Energy Resource (DER) technologies including networking, operational software, smart advanced inverters, smart advanced PV modules, and cybersecurity. Retraining military veterans and other qualified individuals to fill workforce gaps in those technologies is the project focus. The project leverages the experience and contributions of DER and cybersecurity experts, educational organizations offering accreditation, and groups serving our nation’s veterans to meet its goals. To bridge this workforce skills gap, the Cyberguardians and STEM Warriors project will establish a complete learning and career advancement system for veterans, transitioning military personnel and other qualified individuals into the DER workforce. The project will guide participants successfully through the process of program/vocation selection, curriculum enrollment, academic mentoring, degree or certificate attainment, job board enrollment, introduction to hiring managers at DER companies, and successful job acquisition. This webinar was used to promote the Cyberguardians program and to ensure ample news coverage to reach veterans, employers, and others that would benefit from this program.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2023

HIGH-LOW FIDELITY THERMAL HYDRAULIC COUPLING USING AI/MACHINE LEARNING ALGORITHMS

The primary goal of the US Department of Energy (DOE) office of Nuclear Energy Integrated Energy Systems (IES) program is to develop the tools and framework for coupling multi-scale and multi-physical thermal and electrical energy usage and storage systems. High- and low-fidelity (high–low) coupling is a key feature of multi-scale, multi-component systems and has been an important focus of research in the nuclear energy community for the past two decades. An essential feature of demonstrating the capability to couple high-fidelity and low-fidelity systems for real-time applications are surrogate/reduced order models (ROM). For the purposes of this study, surrogate models are essentially Blackbox models, typically developed using supervised Machine learning (ML) algorithms. The surrogate models can be used to mimic the response of high-fidelity models to represent large historical datasets and coupled with more general low-fidelity system models distributed as Functional Mock-up Interface (FMI) or Functional Mock-up Units (FMU) modules. The example is demonstrated with Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) First Target Station flow loop data. The flow loop is a liquid mercury loop with a pump, piping, heat exchange, and internal heat generation in the target window. This work elucidates some of the potential benefits and future needs of developing tools for high–low system coupling of energy systems.

Williams, Wesley↗
DOE OSTI2018

ARC algorithm: A novel approach to forecast and manage daily electrical maximum demand

This paper proposes an innovative algorithm for predicting short-term electrical maximum demand by using historical demand data. The ability to recognize in peak demand pattern for commercial or industrial customers would propose numerous direct and indirect benefits to the customers and utility providers in terms of demand reduction, cost control, and system stability. Prior works in electrical maximum demand forecasting have been mainly focused on seasonal effects, which is not a feasible approach for industrial manufacturing facilities in short-term load forecasting. The proposed algorithm, denoted as the Adaptive Rate of Change (ARC), determines the logarithmic rate-of-change in load profile prior to a peak by postulating the demand curve as a stochastic, mean-reverting process. The rationale behind this analysis, is that the energy efficient program requires not only demand estimation but also to warn the user of imminent maximum peak occurrence. This paper analyzes demand trend data and incorporates stochastic model and mean reverting half-life to develop an electrical maximum demand forecasting algorithm, which is statistically evaluated by cross-table and F-score for three different manufacturing facilities. Lastly, the aggregate results show an overall accuracy of 0.91 and a F-score of 0.43, which indicates that the algorithm is effective predicting peak demand in predicting peak demand.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2019

Approximate Scheduling of DERs with Discrete Complex Injections

Rapid penetration of renewable energy based Distributed Energy Resources (DER) has the potential to exacerbate the challenges inherent in grid frequency and voltage regulation. However, their real time controllability can be leveraged to not only mitigate such challenges, but improve the economics and quality of grid operations. A plethora of DER scheduling algorithms have been developed for fast and efficient scheduling of these resources. These algorithms schedule the complex - real and reactive power injected into (or drawn from) the grid by the DERs under various cost objective functions and grid constraints. However, a vast majority of such algorithms assume the feasible range of power injections to be continuous. In reality, the control options available for several DERs form a discrete space. This implies that the feasible range of power injections also forms a discrete space. This makes DER scheduling an NP-hard problem. Integer/Mixed Integer program based algorithms, which guarantee optimality in the objective value, have been developed. But these are prohibitively expensive in terms of computational time requirements. On the other hand, fast heuristic based solutions have also been developed. But as they do not provide any guarantee on the optimality of the objective, or on satisfying the constraints, they are unreliable for grid operations. Recent works have developed approximation algorithms which offer the best of both the approaches above: (near) optimality and low computational complexity, both of which are governed by a user defined accuracy parameter ϵ. In this work, we significantly improve upon such existing works by developing an approximation algorithm which schedules DERs with complex injections (as opposed to only real injection) and whose runtime is polynomial (as opposed to exponential) in 1/ϵ. We provide theoretical analysis and support them with experimental results to validate the guarantees provided by our approximation algorithm.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
NASA NTRS1993

A solar photovoltaic power system for use in Antarctica

A solar photovoltaic power system was designed and built at the NASA Lewis Research Center as part of the NASA/NSF Antarctic Space Analog Program. The system was installed at a remote field camp at Lake Hoare in the Dry Valleys, and provided a six-person field team with electrical power for personal computers and printers, lab equipment, lighting, and a small microwave oven. The system consists of three silicon photovoltaic sub-arrays delivering a total of 1.5 kWe peak power, three lead-acid gel battery modules supplying 2.4 kWh, and an electrical distribution system which delivers 120 Vac and 12 Vdc to the user. The system was modularized for ease of deployment and operation. Previously the camp has been powered by diesel generators, which have proven to be both noisy and polluting. The NSF, in an effort to reduce their dependence on diesel fuel from both an environmental and cost standpoint, is interested in the use of alternate forms of energy, such as solar power. Such a power system also will provide NASA with important data on system level deployment and operation in a remote location by a minimally trained crew, as well as validate initial integration concepts.

Kohout, Lisa L.↗
DOE OSTI2024

Advancing electrochemical impedance analysis through innovations in the distribution of relaxation times method

Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) is a key tool across various scientific disciplines, including energy sciences, chemistry, and biology, enabling the analysis of electrochemical systems. However, conventional methods for interpreting EIS data are often complex and model dependent. The distribution of relaxation times (DRT) offers a non-parametric approach that simplifies the interpretation process by providing a timescale interpretation of EIS data. This article provides a comprehensive review of current methods for DRT inversion. Additionally, a survey of practitioners highlights key challenges in the field. Here, the findings underscore the need for standardized DRT analysis and benchmarks, as well as the development of automated analysis tools. These advancements would improve the usability and interpretability of EIS data. Ultimately, implementing these improvements could not only propel the field forward but also expand the application of DRT in scientific research by making it accessible to a broader range of researchers, including those without specialized expertise in programming or statistics.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2018

Diffusion and photon-stimulated desorption of CO on TiO2(110)

Thermal diffusion of CO adsorbed on rutile TiO2(110) was studied in the 20 - 110 K range using photon-stimulated desorption (PSD), temperature programmed desorption (TPD) and scanning tunneling microscopy. During UV irradiation, CO desorbs from certain photoactive sites (e.g. oxygen vacancies). This phenomenon was exploited to study CO thermal diffusion in three steps: first empty these sites during a first irradiation cycle, then replenish them with CO during annealing, and finally probe the active site occupancy in the second PSD cycle. The PSD and TPD experiments show that the CO diffusion rate correlates with the CO adsorption energy – stronger binding corresponds to slower diffusion. Increasing the CO coverage or hydroxylation of the surface decreases the CO binding and increases the CO diffusion rate. Relative to the reduced surface, the CO adsorption energy increases and the diffusion decreases on the oxidized surface. The CO diffusion kinetics can be modeled satisfactorily as an Arrhenius process with a “normal” prefactor (i.e. = 1012 s 1) and a Gaussian distribution of activation energies where the peak of the distribution is ~0.28 eV and the full width at half maximum (FWHM) is 0.1 eV at the lowest coverages. The observations are consistent with a significant electrostatic component of the CO binding energy on the TiO2(110) surface which is affected by changes in the surface dipole and dipole-dipole interactions.

Petrik, Nikolay G.↗
DOE OSTI2024

ORNL FY2024 Nuclear Data Evaluation Contributions: Cu, La, N, and Ta [Slides]

63,65 Cu angular distributions resolved for ENDF/B-VIII.1, consistent with both differential data and integral benchmark performance. 139 La RRR and URR evaluations will be merged with the LANL high energy evaluation, and to be submitted to the future ENDF-B release (post-VIII.1). 14 N RRR evaluation is planned to produce n+ 14 N, p+ 14 C, and a+ 11 B contributions to be submitted to the future ENDF-B release (post-VIII.1). 181 Ta covariances repaired and reported as intended in an errata to ENDF/B-VIII.1.

139-La↗
DOE OSTI2020

A Census of Star Formation in the Outer Galaxy. II. The GLIMPSE360 Field

We have conducted a study of star formation in the outer Galaxy from 65°< l < 265° in the region observed by the GLIMPSE360 program. This Spitzer warm mission program mapped the plane of the outer Milky Way with IRAC at 3.6 and 4.5 μm. We combine the IRAC, Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), and Two Micron All Sky Survey catalogs and our previous results from another outer Galaxy survey and identify a total of 47,338 young stellar objects (YSOs) across the field spanning >180° in Galactic longitude. Using the DBSCAN method on the combined catalog, we identify 618 clusters or aggregations of YSOs having five or more members. We identify 10,476 class I, 29,604 class II, and 7325 anemic class II/class III YSOs. The ratio of YSOs identified as members of clusters was 25,528/47,338, or 54%. We found that 100 of the clusters identified have previously measured distances in the WISE H ii survey. We used these distances in our spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting of the YSOs in these clusters, of which 96 had YSOs with <3σ fits. We used the derived masses from the SED model fits to estimate the initial mass function (IMF) in the inner and outer Galaxy clusters; dividing the clusters by galactocentric distances, the slopes were Γ = 1.87 ± 0.31 above 3 M {sub ⊙} for R {sub Gal} < 11.5 kpc and Γ = 1.15 ± 0.24 above 3 M {sub ⊙} for R {sub Gal} > 11.5 kpc. The slope of the combined IMF was found to be Γ = 1.92 ± 0.42 above 3 M {sub ⊙}. These values are consistent with each other within the uncertainties and with literature values in the inner Galaxy high-mass star formation regions. The slopes are likely also consistent with a universal Salpeter IMF.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

NASA Power: Global Solar Insolation, Meteorological Parameter Data, and Web Services to Support Sustainable Building Design and Operations

The buildings industry is currently striving to adopt green solutions to make infrastructure more energy-efficient in order to meet the 2050 net-zero climate goals. This planning requires reliable environmental datasets that are crucial in designing, building, and maintaining our world’s-built environment, as well as other energy-related processes and investments. This webinar for the National Institute of Building Sciences provides an overview of NASA’s Prediction Of Worldwide Energy Resources (POWER) Project that informs decision-making and development for sustainable building design and operations by enabling public open discovery, efficient access, and convenient distribution of NASA’s Earth Observations and global atmospheric model datasets. POWER’s datastore is comprised of solar radiation and surface meteorology parameters, spanning nearly 40 years of hourly data, that are easily accessible via several access methods and tools to support three focus areas: 1) renewable energy deployment and management, 2) sustainable infrastructure, and 3) agroclimatology applications. POWER and NASA Earth Science both plan future data parameters, updated tools, and improved observations that could directly support U.S. and international sustainable development goals, climate strategies, and building information modeling. To this end, solar data from several NASA projects and meteorological data from NASA assimilation models have already been reformatted and disseminated to the public via a user-friendly web GIS-enabled based data portal through the POWER Project. POWER data is analysis-ready and accessible through an Application Programming Interface (API), ArcGIS Image Services, and the project’s Data Access Viewer enhanced (DAVe), an interactive online tool. The POWER DAVe also features data consistent with ASHRAE Climate Design Conditions and has developed web image services showing Building Climate Zones and their variability. Through those tools, the data can be downloaded into multiple formats that support the infrastructure community, including CSV and Energy Plus Weather (EPW). POWER’s entire data product catalog is available through Amazon Web Services (AWS) Open Data Registry (ODR) via a free and publicly accessible Simple Storage Service (S3). This webinar provides a full overview of the NASA POWER Project's data and services developed in collaboration with the sustainable infrastructure community. Examples of how the renewable energy and building communities have utilized POWER data products to make decisions and a preview of future data product expansion, including climate projections, and web services will also be provided. Additionally, use case stories from our broad community of users will be presented.

Paul W. Stackhouse↗
DOE OSTI2024

New U.S. Data Tools are Playing a Crucial Role in Decarbonizing Buildings at Speed, Scale, and Low Cost

Preparing buildings for retrofits traditionally requires expensive on-site audits or timeintensive simulation models. As a result, the majority of buildings fail to pursue cost-saving retrofits. To address these barriers, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has introduced the Building Efficiency Targeting Tool for Energy Retrofits (BETTER)-a new, free, on-line tool that utilizes a data-driven analytical engine and user-friendly web interface to automatically analyze a building's monthly energy usage in response to weather conditions. The tool benchmarks a building's electric and fossil energy usage against peers; estimates energy, cost, and emissions reductions at the building and portfolio levels; recommends energy efficiency measures; and prioritizes buildings for net-zero energy retrofits. Thanks to interoperability with the DOE's Standard Energy Efficiency Data (SEED) platform, BETTER is supporting U.S. jurisdictions to prepare buildings for retrofit at speed, scale, and low cost to comply with energy policies. This paper discusses the use of BETTER and SEED by one of the branches of the California state government to streamline a retrofit program across 455 public non-residential buildings to align with state goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It describes the organization's challenge to reduce energy consumption across a geographically diverse, aging portfolio; explores how BETTER and SEED improved workflow efficiency; presents preliminary results, including avoiding audit costs of $3.28 million and developing the groundwork for retrofit projects estimated to prevent emission of 2,271 t CO2e annually; and provides guidance for other jurisdictions seeking similar results.

BETTER↗
DOE OSTI2022

Grid-Supportive Loads - A New Approach to Increasing Renewable Energy in Power Systems

This paper demonstrates the potential of inverter-based loads to support grid reliability during power system transients thereby enabling reliable integration of renewable energy in power systems. Such loads are referred to in this paper as grid-supportive loads (GSLs). A new GSL model is developed that simulates the transient response capabilities that can be programmed in electronic loads. The model’s design enables it to be easily integrated in widely used commercial power system transient analysis software. Theoretical expressions are derived that explain the workings of the GSL model. The performance, numerical stability, and impact of the GSL model is validated on 9-bus and 2000-bus synthetic power system models using generator tripping and bus fault disturbances. Results on the 2000 bus system show that in the absence of frequency support from wind/solar generation resources, just 20% of loads with grid-supportive capabilities can improve frequency response by up to 2000 MW/0.1 Hz and reduce deviation in frequency at nadir by up to 60% compared to the situation when GSLs are absent. Power system reliability also improves under fault events. Here, it is further shown that GSLs can aid in integrating more renewable generation without degrading the overall transient response of the power system.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗