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DOE OSTI2017

User’s Guide for Biodegradation Reactions in TMVOCBio

TMVOCBio is an extended version of the TMVOC numerical reservoir simulator, with the capability of simulating multiple biodegradation reactions mediated by different microbial populations or based on different redox reactions, thus involving different electron acceptors. This modeling feature is implemented within the existing TMVOC module in iTOUGH2. TMVOCBio, originally developed by Battistelli (2003; 2004), uses a general modified form of the Monod kinetic rate equation to simulate biodegradation reactions, which effectively simulates the uptake of a substrate while accounting for various limiting factors (i.e., the limitation by substrate, electron acceptor, or nutrients). Two approaches are included: 1) a multiple Monod kinetic rate equation, which assumes all the limiting factors simultaneously affect the substrate uptake rate, and 2) a minimum Monod model, which assumes that the substrate uptake rate is controlled by the most limiting factor among those acting for the specific substrate. As the limiting factors, biomass growth inhibition, toxicity effects, as well as competitive and non-competitive inhibition effects are included. The temperature and moisture dependence of biodegradation reactions is also considered. This report provides mathematical formulations and assumptions used for modeling the biodegradation reactions, and describes additional modeling capabilities. Detailed description of input format for biodegradation reactions is presented along with sample problems.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2012

HPC Innovation Center Feasibility Assessment Final Report CRADA No. TC02172.0

This was a collaborative effort between Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC as manager and operator of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and IBM TJ Watson Research Center to research, assess feasibility and develop an implementation plan for a High Performance Computing Innovation Center (HPCIC) in the Livermore Valley Open Campus (LVOC). The ultimate goal of this work was to help advance the State of California and U.S. commercial competitiveness in the arena of High Performance Computing (HPC) by accelerating the adoption of computational science solutions, consistent with recent DOE strategy directives. The desired result of this CRADA was a well-researched, carefully analyzed market evaluation that would identify those firms in core sectors of the US economy seeking to adopt or expand their use of HPC to become more competitive globally, and to define how those firms could be helped by the HPCIC with IBM as an integral partner.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2017

A new class of tandems: Optically coupled III-V/silicon module with outdoor efficiency exceeding 30%

The aim of this project was to introduce a new class of technology—that of high-efficiency silicon-based tandem photovoltaic (PV) modules—that, with follow-on development, has a clear path to reduced levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) for utility-scale power generation. In particular, the objective of the project was to demonstrate the first 30%-efficient III-V/silicon module in outdoor conditions using a tandem geometry in which the sub-cells are detached physically but coupled optically. In present PV power plants installed in the US, the module makes up only approximately one-third of the cost; area-dependent balance-of-systems (BOS) costs such as installation materials, labor, land, and site prep made up an additional third, and area-independent BOS costs round out the final third. With this pricing structure, (annually averaged) module efficiency is a clear market driver: increase the annual energy output per module and the effective costs translated into $/W of both the module and the area-dependent BOS—two-thirds of the total cost—decrease proportionately. However, the dominant PV technology—flat-plate silicon modules—is reaching its theoretical efficiency limit, and thus a tandem technology in which silicon is coupled with a wider-bandgap cell is a promising route to remain responsive to market forces. As it is not trivial to couple silicon with other cells in conventional two-terminal geometries due to, e.g., lattice mismatch, this project introduced a new, four-terminal configuration using a “PVMirror.” A PVMirror utilizes PV cells as a three-in-one technology—they act as a concentrating mirror, spectrum splitter, and high-efficiency light-to-electricity converter. Light is incident upon a full-aperture dichroic mirror that reflects visible light and transmits infrared light. The transmitted light is absorbed in silicon PV cells that are placed behind the dichroic mirror and that convert IR photons to electricity with high efficiency. The dichroic mirror and silicon PV cells are affixed to a curved glass trough that tracks the sun about a single, North-South axis such that the reflected VIS light is concentrated at a common line focus, at which is placed a second, wider-bandgap GaAs PV cell having high efficiency at shorter wavelengths. The innovation of PVMirrors lies in their design, which maximizes annual energy output and minimizes the constraints placed on the sub-cells. In particular, the cells are free of lattice- and current-matching restrictions, neither cell requires a transparent rear electrode, and either sub-cell can be placed at the focus depending on their relative costs. Furthermore, the greatest benefit of PVMirrors is that they make use of a portion of the diffuse light whereas concentrator tandems cannot. This results in a benefit in energy yield and extends PVMirrors’ competitive range. Over the course of this one-year project, a silicon PVMirror and GaAs receiver were fabricated, characterized, and placed outdoors on a sun tracker, where the efficiency of the tandem “module” was measured for three days. Notable results include the first demonstration of this flexible tandem configuration, a maximum tandem efficiency of 29.6% (just shy of the 30% overall project goal), successful conversion of diffuse light into electricity, a thorough loss analysis indicating a path to over 31% efficiency, and a roadmap to cost-competitive PVMirror tandems using a wide-bandgap polycrystalline PVMirror and a silicon receiver. Development of a >18%-efficient wide-bandgap polycrystalline cell—the key enabler of this envisioned tandem—should be a future research focus. This project has laid the groundwork for a PV technology that, with continued development, has the potential to reach LCOEs as low as $0.03/kWh according to our calculations. Such a system would provide the public with inexpensive, clean solar power.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2018

2017 Alabama PV Soft Cost and Workforce Development

In 2016, the first comprehensive analysis of the solar market in Alabama was conducted. The market was found to be immature, but price competitive with other parts of the Southeast and the nation. A second survey was completed one year later in 2017 to help understand the changes in trends and changes in the solar market in AL over the calendar. AL is one of three states without comprehensive net metering legislation, yet remains cost competitive with other states around the US and the Southeast. Residential systems average 2.4/W DC, which is considerably lower than the nationwide median of 4/W. Commercial systems cost an average of 2.15/W-DC, which is also below the national median of 2.30/W for nonresidential systems over 500 kW.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2017

Lignite-plus-Biomass to Synthetic Jet Fuel with CO2 Capture and Storage: Design, Cost, and Greenhouse Gas Emissions Analysis for a Near-Term First-of-a-Kind Demonstration Project and Prospective Future Commercial Plants

We report on a 30-month design study for a first-of-a-kind (FOAK) demonstration plant that would be built at a site near Meridian, Mississippi, to coprocess lignite coal and woody biomass into jet fuel. The design uses an oxygen-blown TRIG™ gasifier developed by KBR and Southern Company. Fischer-Tropsch conversion of the syngas produces synthetic paraffinic kerosene (SPK) as the primary product, plus naphtha. Other co-products include electricity sold to the grid and CO 2 sold for use in enhanced oil recovery (EOR). Previous studies have identified coprocessing of various coals and biomass with CO 2 capture as promising options for cost-competitive production of low net lifecycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions synthetic fuels. The effort reported here goes beyond earlier studies in the level of detail in process design and cost estimation with the aim of improving the understanding of the economic prospects for lignite and woody biomass coprocessing systems. Key objectives in the design of the FOAK lignite/biomass-to-jet (LBJ) plant were to achieve net lifecycle GHG emissions for the SPK that are less than for conventional petroleum-derived jet fuel and to make process design and equipment selections such that the plant could be built and operated in the near term, e.g., before 2025. The process design was developed by researchers at Princeton University and the University of Queensland and validated by engineers at the WorleyParsons Group (WP). Commercial vendors provided design and cost estimates for several major plant components. Bare-erected capital costs and operating and maintenance costs were estimated by WP. The primary objective in building and operating the FOAK plant would be to demonstrate the technical viability of the LBJ concept as an essential first step toward launching commercial-scale plants in the longer term. With this in mind, the project team developed a set of principles to help guide the process design: the total plant cost should be less than 2 billion USD (to limit investment risk); the level of input biomass should be both proportionally significant to reflect biomass/lignite co-gasification and sufficient to achieve GHG emissions goals; process design decisions and vendor/equipment selections should prioritize the likelihood of technical success over minimizing the cost of jet fuel production. The resulting FOAK plant design capacity is 1,551 metric t/d (45.5% moisture) lignite and 556 t/d (43.3% moisture) biomass, for a total input of 295 MW HHV , of which 25% is biomass. The design output is 1,252 actual barrels per day of liquids, of which 80% is SPK (62.3 MW LHV ) and 20% is naphtha (13.9 MW LHV ). It exports 15 MW e of electricity after satisfying a 38 MW e onsite auxiliary load. Additional products are 1,326 t/d of pressurized pipeline-quality CO 2 and 49 t/day of sulfuric acid (93 wt% H 2 SO 4 ). With thinnings from sustainably-managed southern pine plantations as the biomass, and with captured CO 2 stored underground via EOR, the net lifecycle emissions for the SPK product are estimated to be about one-quarter of those for petroleum-derived jet fuel. The bare-erected cost (BEC) estimated by WP for this plant is 588 million USD (2015). The authors’ best estimate of total plant cost (TPC) is 1,230 million USD, arrived at by assuming engineering, procurement and construction management services (20% of BEC), process 5 contingencies (35% of BEC), and project contingencies (35% of the sum of all other costs, i.e., 35% of 1.55xBEC). Not surprisingly, an annual discounted cash flow (DCF) analysis determined that it would be impossible to generate a positive net present value (NPV) over a wide range in key input assumptions. An SPK production cost subsidy of nearly 400/bbl USD over a 20-year plant life would be required to achieve zero NPV under a baseline set of assumptions (including 3% real weighted average cost of capital and a levelized crude oil price of 80/bbl USD). Alternatively, a capital grant in excess of the TPC value would also achieve zero NPV. The poor financial results reflect the small scale of the plant, the design principle to prioritize technical success, the levels of contingencies appropriate for the relatively early stage of project development, and the first-of-a-kind nature of the plant. Technology innovations, learning via construction and operating experience, alternative plant configurations, and larger scale should improve economics of future plants. To help understand these prospects, a preliminary analysis of N th -of-a-kind (NOAK) plants was developed, but with the limitation that plants would use only equipment components that for the most part are already commercial today: consideration of advanced, not-yet-commercial technologies and of R&D-driven improvements in existing technologies were beyond the scope of this analysis. The analysis found that a variety of NOAK plant designs that coprocess lignite and woody biomass to make jet fuel are unlikely to be economically competitive without subsidy even in the presence of a high future carbon tax or equivalent greenhouse gas mitigation policy. This conclusion applies to process configurations and input biomass/lignite ratios that result in net GHG emissions as high as those for petroleum-derived jet fuel and as low as zero. In contrast, encouraging results were found for plants processing only biomass. The economics of these “BECCS” plants (biomass energy with CCS) improve dramatically with the strength of carbon mitigation policies because of their strongly negative net GHG emissions. These findings do not imply that coal/biomass coprocessing strategies for making synfuels with CCS are not economically promising – only that, in the case of lignite, much more than a 25% biomass coprocessing rate would be needed. However, our analysis shows that all such systems are unlikely to be economic in the absence of a strong carbon mitigation policy. Future R&D driven technological innovations could modify this conclusion. Among other R&D priorities, an emphasis on better understanding and reducing plant auxiliary loads is warranted.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2018

FY2017 Technology Integration Annual Progress Report

The 2017 Technology Integration Annual Progress Report covers 27 multi-year projects funded by the Vehicle Technologies Office. The report includes information on 20 competitively awarded projects, ranging from training on alternative fuels and vehicles for first responders, to safety training and design for maintenance facilities housing gaseous fuel vehicles, to electric vehicle community partner programs. It also includes seven projects conducted by several of VTO’s national laboratory partners, Argonne National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. These projects range from a Technical Assistance project for business, industry, government and individuals, to the EcoCar 3 Student Competition, and the Fuel Economy Information Project.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗
DOE OSTI2018

Coal Upgrading Technologies and the Extraction of Useful Materials from Coal Mine Products: History and Opportunities

This report will develop topics that may, resultant from successful research and development (R&D), improve the competitive position of United States coal in domestic and international markets. These topics will be exclusively focused on improvements in coal properties that can be achieved through processing of the material. As such, the discussion here will be primarily concerned with upgrading coal quality and optimizing coal properties for end use applications, as opposed to the end use technologies themselves. The objective of this report is the highlighting of the potential for R&D to produce more competitive coal products for existing markets, as well as opportunities for the production of feedstocks for other markets, including those that are emergent.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗
DOE OSTI2018

Analysis of Supply Chains and Advanced Manufacturing of Small Hydropower Systems

Clean energy manufacturing is a sector of increasing importance both in the United States and worldwide. In the United States, it has been presented as an engine for job creation in a sector of the U.S. economy that was hit hard by the 2008-2009 recession. The Clean Energy Manufacturing Analysis Center (CEMAC), sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), conducts credible, objective, industry-relevant, recurring, and consistent analyses of clean energy technologies. In this project, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) collaborated in a hydropower manufacturing and supply chain analysis primarily for U.S. small hydropower (SHP) market to provide insights on supply chain constraints, manufacturing cost, location factors, and opportunities for hydropower using advanced manufacturing technologies. The goal of the project is to improve understanding of the manufacturing opportunities in the U.S. hydropower supply chain, specific competitive advantages, and factors for manufacturing location decisions for SHP. These insights could be used to inform investment and research strategies, policy, and other decisions that could promote economic growth and strengthen U.S. manufacturing capabilities. The project scope included a design for manufacturing and assembly (DFMA) costs analysis and a levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) sensitivity analysis of modular, representative SHP turbines. A representative SHP system was chosen to be made up of two 5 megawatt (MW) turbines, as these Kaplan style turbines could be useable for many non-powered dams (NPDs) across the U.S. The sensitivity analysis used the Integrated Design and Assessment (IDEA) tool, which has helped highlight the impact of the turbine equipment cost on the potential capital expenditure (CAPEX) and LCOE of the installed, representative system. In addition, the project team analyzed international tradeflows (e.g., export and import of hydropower turbines and the parts used in hydropower systems). As part of this project, hydropower stakeholder interviews were undertaken to help identify insights related to hydropower manufacturing opportunities for U.S. players in SHP, the country-specific manufacturing advantages in the United States and threats, and key factors behind manufacturing location decisions made by the SHP industry. Key opportunities for the US SHP market and industry include: Foreign export markets such as Chile, China, Columbia, India and Japan, have an estimated 71,795 MW of technical potential that could be serviced with SHP installations. Utilization of existing manufacturing capacity and expertise, along with economies of scale benefits, could result in increased global competitiveness through lower investment requirements and component costs, which could lead to increased U.S. strength in the export of SHP systems and components. Technology advances such as modular turbine designs, standardized units for conduit systems, precast systems, and improved powertrain technologies could help reduce costs, particularly for manufacturing a small number of units. The DOE is also exploring modular hydropower designs, which would integrate standard independently-produced components, validated to meet multiple specifications. Using modules in product design simplifies manufacturing activities such as inspection, testing, assembly, and purchasing, may increase economies of scale to lower total system cost. There are significant opportunities for the use of composites and Additive Manufacturing (AM) for hydropower components, when design changes are made to hydropower systems. By taking advantage of the corrosion resistance, light-weighting and structural benefits, composites and AM could help significantly alter hydropower structures and installations.

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2018

Low-Cost Titanium Casting Technology

This is the final report of "Low-Cost Titanium Casting Technology" project. Titanium alloys have attracted increasing attentions as structural materials for high performance and weight-sensitive applications in aerospace and biomedical fields. However, in mass-production of civil applications like automotive components, titanium alloys are scarcely used due to the unaffordable costs in manufacturing compared with other metallic materials, such as aluminum, magnesium and steel. Therefore, there is a need to reduce the manufacturing cost of titanium alloys so that titanium alloys can be more competitive in terms of property and cost considerations. In this 4-year project, we started from exploring new low-cost titanium alloy systems with the guidance of Integrated Computational Materials Engineering – Calculation of Phase Diagram (ICME-CALPHAD) framework, and determined several promising alloy systems, alloying elements including Ti-Al-Fe-Mn-B-C, that can allow further development (lab-scale and industry-scale) in the future. During the new alloy system exploration, considerable amount of scientific work was completed regarding CALPHAD modeling, microstructure morphology, mechanical properties, and processing of the new alloy systems. The relevant ternary titanium alloy systems, Ti-Al-Mn and Ti-Al-Fe, were examined and reassessed both computationally and experimentally, leading to more comprehensive understanding of these alloy systems. Based on this above study, a new low-cost casting titanium alloy was developed, Ti-6Al-5Fe-0.05B-0.05C (designated as T65-0.05BC), which has competitive as-cast strength level with current commercial titanium alloys but relatively low ductility. However, in this project, since the target application, automotive engine connecting rod, is a fatigue-limited component and does not require high ductility, this alloy shall suffice as the deliverable alloy in this project. After designing and confirming the potent of the new alloy, we designed and built a lab-scale manufacturing equipment aided by computational tools at OSU labs to conceptually prove that this alloy can be manufactured with permanent mold casting, which is low-cost and potentially a mass production process. We produced a lab-scale prototype connecting rod demonstrating the capability of permanent mold casting of this new alloy.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2018

Generation of Switchgrass Plants with Optimized Biomass Composition for Biofuel Production

Liquid fuel produced from dried plant mass is approaching cost competitiveness with corn ethanol. Lignocellulosic biomass can be used to produce biofuel and is the most abundant, readily available, and renewable material on Earth. However, lignin, a key component of plant structures necessary for growth and protection against pathogens and pests, is a very tough substance that prevents easy accessibility to fermentable sugars present in biomass. Consequently, high lignin content in the biomass makes processing for biofuels very difficult and expensive. Previous efforts to develop low lignin plants have failed due to weakened stalks and stems and poor growth. In the CRADA project, we developed synthetic biology tools for plant transformations to generate low lignin, high sugar switchgrass transgenic lines. This engineering technology enabled healthy switchgrass plants to grow with 25-55% more fermentable sugars and 20-25% less lignin (but reduced only in selected internal fiber structures so that stalks and stems remain strong). Consequently, biorefineries using this low lignin switchgrass can reduce initial investment, lower ongoing operating expenses, and increase annual revenue. The low lignin switchgrass would give cellulosic biofuels an economically competitive advantage compared to corn ethanol.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2019

Roll-to-Roll Integrated Substrates for OLED Lighting (Final Report)

OLED lighting has immense potential as aesthetically pleasing, energy-efficient general illumination. Unlike other light sources, such as incandescents, fluorescents, and inorganic LEDs, OLEDs naturally emit over a large-area surface. They are glare free, do not need to be shaded, and are cool to the touch, requiring no heatsink. The best efficiencies and lifetimes reported are on par with or better than current forms of illumination. However, the cost for OLED lighting remains high – so much so that these products are not market competitive and there is very low consumer demand. We believe that flexible, plastic-based devices will highlight the advantages of aesthetically-pleasing OLED lighting systems while paving the way for lowering both materials and manufacturing costs. These flexible devices require new development in substrate and support technology, which was the focus of the work reported here. Sinovia Technologies, as part of a collaborative team, has developed integrated plastic substrates to serve as supports for flexible OLED lighting. These substrates include a barrier to protect the OLED from moisture and oxygen-related degradation, a smooth, highly conductive transparent anode to define the OLED area, and a light scattering layer to improve emission efficiency. To ensure low cost, the anode pattern must be defined using high throughput, continuous processing, and any pattern shape should be possible. No current patterning technique meets all of these requirements. This SBIR work demonstrated the use of flexographic printing as an effective method of patterning for integrated substrates. Flexography is a letterpress process commonly used for many types of everyday items including boxes, retail bags, milk cartons, food packaging, disposable cups, adhesive tapes, envelopes, wallpaper, and newspaper. The printing process can go as fast as 600 meters per minute with feature resolution around 10 microns, showing promise for low-cost with high throughput. In this case, Sinovia has successfully used this technique to print transparent anode patterns roll-to-roll as part of our integrated substrate for OLED lighting. We have characterized the printed films and tailored the edges of the printed areas for OLED compatibility. We followed this by making white OLEDs using these anodes. To ensure that our anodes were compatible with different OLED stack structures, we fabricated solution-processed polymer white OLEDs, as well as collaborated with OLEDWorks to fabricate evaporated small-molecule devices. Comparing to results from our previous studies, we find that the flexography process does not have any detrimental effects to our overall substrate. We were able to show that our flexographically printed integrated substrate improves OLED efficiency by 24 – 35%, similar to previous results demonstrated using batch-patterning techniques. The success of this work represents two substantial opportunities for OLED lighting manufacturers. The first to first facilitate flexible lighting panels at scale, and the second to lower costs for by enabling roll-to-roll manufacture of the entire device stack. When realized, both of these will help OLED to become market competitive with other forms of general illumination.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2018

Strategy for Safety-Related Digital I&C Qualification

Digital I&C qualification continues to be a major impediment to addressing the reliability and obsolescence issues of the legacy analog I&C systems of the operating LWR fleet. In particular, the issue of digital common cause failure (CCF) has been difficult to address and has been the reason that some nuclear plant licensees have deferred upgrades of these critical plant systems and have rather opted to maintain them with considerable engineering and maintenance efforts. This is getting more and more difficult in the face of declining analog technology suppliers and dwindling supplies of spare parts and support for many critical components. To remain a viable energy source for the nation, the nuclear fleet must reduce its operating costs to a competitive level. Digital technology is the foremost means of implementing performance improvements and cost reductions for this purpose. This has been demonstrated over and over again in other industry sectors, as well as in conventional generation facilities. However, due to the special nature of nuclear energy, these digital I&C qualification barriers remain and must be resolved in order to modernize these plants and transform the business model to one that is competitive. The purpose of this report is to present an assessment of digital I&C qualification issues and address gaps in qualification methods and processes that would potentially benefit from Department of Energy (DOE)-sponsored research and development. Two new qualification methods are described that are recommended for further Department of Energy-sponsored research and development. They are 1) Testability – the exhaustive (100%) testing of certain digital devices addressing all combinations of inputs and internal states, and 2) Elimination of CCF triggers – ensuring that any latent digital defects are not concurrently triggered in redundant and back-up safety systems. In addition this report presents a strategy for full nuclear plant modernization based on four interrelated elements that together address the remaining barriers to prudent implementation. These four elements are 1) End-State Architecture, 2) Cost-Benefit Analysis, 3) Regulatory Approval, and 4) Implementation Sequence Plan.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2019

Technology Integration 2018 Annual Progress Report

The FY 2018 Technology Integration Annual Progress Report covers 28 multi-year projects funded by the Vehicle Technologies Office. The report includes information on 21 competitively awarded projects, ranging from training on alternative fuels and vehicles for first responders, to safety training and design for maintenance facilities housing gaseous fuel vehicles, to electric vehicle community partner programs. It also includes seven projects conducted by several of VTO’s national laboratory partners, Argonne National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. These projects range from a Technical Assistance project for business, industry, government and individuals, to the EcoCar 3 Student Competition, and the Fuel Economy Information Project.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Exploring Renewable Energy Opportunities in Select Southeast Asian Countries: A Geospatial Analysis of the Levelized Cost of Energy of Utility-Scale Wind and Solar Photovoltaics

The costs of renewable energy-based electricity generation have fallen precipitously in recent years to levels that are increasingly competitive with traditional generation such as fossil fuel-based generation. As these costs become increasingly competitive, private developers, policymakers, and energy system planners are searching for opportunities to harness high-quality renewable energy resources. Developing economies are setting ambitious targets and exploring how cost-effective, grid-connected renewable energy options can help power economic growth and meet growing electricity demands. This includes the member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) that are determined to reach a target of 23% of renewable energy in the region's total primary energy supply by 2025. A critical gap to identifying opportunities and scaling up renewable energy is the lack of quality data and analyses to support decisions on the investment and deployment of renewables - including wind and solar photovoltaics (PV). This work supports decision making by providing high-quality data and spatial analysis of the cost of utility-scale wind and solar PV generation in select countries of Southeast Asia - specifically, the ASEAN member states. Generation costs are expressed as the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) - a commonly used metric that represents the net present value of the unit cost of electricity during the lifetime of a particular electricity generation technology. This is the first spatial estimate of LCOE for these technologies within the ASEAN member states - providing insights into the roles that renewable energy resource quality and other factors may play in generation costs.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2019

Development of a Sustainable Green Chemistry Platform for Production of Acetone and Downstream Drop-in Fuel and Commodity Products Directly From Biomass Syngas Via a Novel Energy Conserving Route in Engineered Acetogenic Bacteria

LanzaTech and Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed and scaled up a process for sustainable production of acetone and downstream drop-in fuel and commodity products directly from biomass syngas via a novel energy conserving route in engineered acetogenic bacteria. This process offers a safer and more environmentally-friendly production method for acetone production than the current phenol-dependent method, and the product has significantly lower GHG emissions. The developed process offers a cost competitive route to Acetone and enables biofuels at or below DOE’s $3 gge target. In addition, it also provides an attractive biological alternative to traditional sugar-based ABE fermentation, by enabling utilization of non-food biomass resources as fermentation feedstocks. Challenges overcome: • By-products formation: Byproduct 2,3-butandiol and 3-hydroxybutyrate reduce yield and stability. Addressed by elimination of both pathways in our chassis acetone production strain. • Cost competitiveness: Addressed by developing an integrated acetone strain and eliminating by-products to increase yield and stability. Optimized co-selectivity and coproductivity of acetone and ethanol instead of titer, based on technoeconomic analysis. • Limited enzyme variety: Addressed by genome mining of over 300 industrial strains in LanzaTech collection, identifying unique enzyme sequences, and refactoring these unique enzyme variants through LanzaTech’s engineering platform. Resulted in over 10x improvement in acetone production from gas. • Continuous process (stability): Identified bottleneck through detailed omics studies, addressed by integration of the acetone pathway on the chromosome. • Novel process to scale up: Addressed by demonstrating stable acetone production in a 80- L pilot reactor, with acetone productivity and selectivity comparable to those observed under the same conditions in 2-L reactors. We have demonstrated stable acetone production for over 7 days at commercial target rate and selectivity in 2-L reactors and have piloted the process.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2019

Developing a Roadmap for Total Nuclear Plant Transformation

Commercial nuclear power plants (NPPs) provide emission free, always-on electricity that must be part of the energy mix if U.S. industry and business are to remain competitive while enjoying the benefits of a clean environment. Most U.S. NPPs in operation today were licensed using state-of-the-art analog technology of the 1970’s. While these systems are well proven and designed with multiple redundant channels, they required extensive manual surveillance and testing procedures to demonstrate their continued functioning. All of this adds up to increasing labor costs as the only means to increase plant availability. The United States (U.S.) Department of Energy (DOE) Light Water Reactor Sustainability (LWRS) Program is performing a study to determine how an NPP can fully modernize, improve safety, and improve efficiency enough to make nuclear power competitive with current and future market conditions. The study is a process improvement analysis whereby current operational processes are evaluated to identify where efficiencies and cost-savings can be realized. This report will describe a process that will provide each utility with the tools to evaluate their present state, set goals for where they want to be regarding Operation and Maintenance (O&M) costs, while offering transformative pathways to achieve these improvements. The transformative changes will be divided into 1) work process improvements, 2) technology solutions, and 3) regulatory reform. By applying these pathways in combination, NPPs can achieve the dramatic O&M savings needed to sustain safe and economic operation into the future.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
DOE OSTI2019

2018 Wind Technologies Market Report

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Wind Technologies Market Report provides an annual overview of trends in the U.S. wind power market. Highlights of this year’s report include: ~Wind power capacity additions continued at a robust pace in 2018: $11 billion was invested in new wind power plants in 2018. In 2018, wind energy contributed 6.5% of the nation’s electricity supply, more than 10% of total electricity generation in fourteen states, and more than 30% in three of those states—Kansas, Iowa, and Oklahoma. 232 gigawatts of wind are seeking transmission interconnection, 2% of which represents proposed wind plants paired with storage. ~Bigger turbines are enhancing wind project performance: Increased blade lengths have dramatically increased wind project capacity factors, one measure of project performance, and taller towers are on the horizon. The average 2018 capacity factor among projects built from 2014 through 2017 was 42%, compared to an average of 31% among projects built from 2004 to 2011 and 24% among projects built from 1998 to 2001. Low wind turbine pricing continues to push down installed project costs: Wind turbine prices have fallen to $700–$900/kW. The average installed cost of wind projects in 2018 was $1,470/kW, down 40 percent since the peak in 2009 and 2010. ~Wind energy prices are at historical lows: After topping out at 7¢/kWh for power purchase agreements (PPAs) executed in 2009, the national average price of wind PPAs has dropped to below 2¢/kWh—though this nationwide average is dominated by projects that hail from the lowest-priced Interior region of the country. These prices, which are possible in part due to federal tax support, compare favorably to the projected future fuel costs of gas-fired generation. Solar PPA prices have declined precipitously, pressuring wind’s competitive position. ~The grid-system value of wind has declined over the last decade, but rebounded over the last two years. The value of wind in wholesale power markets is impacted by the location of wind plants, their hourly output profiles, and how those characteristics correlate with real-time electricity prices and capacity markets. The market value of wind in 2018 was the lowest in the Southwest Power Pool and Texas (average of $17/MWh and $18/MWh, respectively) whereas the highest-value market was New England (at $41/MWh). Wind energy prices are generally competitive with these value estimates. ~The domestic supply chain for wind equipment is diverse: For wind projects recently installed in the U.S., domestically manufactured content is highest for nacelle assembly (>90%), towers (75-90%), and blades and hubs (50-70%), but is much lower (<20%) for most components internal to the nacelle. Wind sector employment reached a new high of more than 114,000 full-time workers at the end of 2018. ~Continued strong growth in wind capacity is anticipated in the near term: With federal tax incentives still available, various forecasts for the domestic market show expected wind power capacity additions of 9,000-12,000 MW in 2019 and 11,000-15,000 in 2020, with market contraction anticipated beginning in 2021 as those tax incentives are phased out.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2019

Development of a Sustainable Green Chemistry Platform for Production of Acetone and Downstream Drop-in Fuel and Commodity Products directly from Biomass Syngas via a Novel Energy Conserving Route in Engineered Acetogenic Bacteria

LanzaTech and Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed and scaled up a process for sustainable production of acetone and downstream drop-in fuel and commodity products directly from biomass syngas via a novel energy conserving route in engineered acetogenic bacteria. This process offers a safer and more environmentally-friendly production method for acetone production than the current phenol-dependent method, and the product has significantly lower GHG emissions. The developed process offers a cost competitive route to Acetone and enables biofuels at or below DOE’s $3/gge target. In addition, it also provides an attractive biological alternative to traditional sugar-based ABE fermentation, by enabling utilization of non-food biomass resources as fermentation feedstocks. Challenges overcome: (1) By-products formation: Byproduct 2,3-butanediol and 3-hydroxybutyrate reduce yield and stability. Addressed by elimination of both pathways in the chassis acetone production strain. (2) Cost competitiveness: Addressed by developing an integrated acetone strain and eliminating by-products to increase yield and stability. Optimized co-selectivity and co-productivity of acetone and ethanol, based on technoeconomic analysis. (3) Limited enzyme variety: Addressed by genome mining of over 300 industrial strains in LanzaTech collection, identifying unique enzyme sequences, and refactoring these unique enzyme variants through LanzaTech’s engineering platform. Resulted in over 10x improvement in acetone production from gas. (4) Continuous process (stability): Identified bottleneck through detailed omics studies, addressed by integration of the acetone pathway on the chromosome. (5) Novel process to scale up: Addressed by demonstrating stable acetone production in an 80-L pilot reactor, with acetone productivity and selectivity comparable to those observed under the same conditions in 2-L reactors. LanzaTech has demonstrated stable acetone production for over 7 days at commercial target rate and selectivity in a 2-L reactor and have piloted the process.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗