Land-Based Wind Market Report: 2021 Edition
The Land-Based Wind Market Report: 2021 Edition provides an overview of developments and trends in the U.S. wind power market.
17 WIND ENERGY↗
SEARCH · Engineering Papers
Results for “Power Development”
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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Increasing CO2 Conversion Efficiency with Optical Thermal Management in Concentrated Solar Reactors: New Dual-Stage Solar Reactor Design for Reduction of CO2 to Fuels
The proposed project will result in a new dual-stage solar chemical reactor designed to convert carbon dioxide (CO2) to value-added chemicals. Using sunlight as the main power source, a sustainable process will be developed that closes the loop on our industrial carbon cycle in an energy efficient and environmentally friendly manner. The hybrid photochemical and photothermal reactor design will vastly increase utilization of the solar spectrum and increase CO2 conversion efficiencies over Dimensional Energy’s current state-of-the-art.
10 SYNTHETIC FUELS↗
Cooperative Research and Development Agreement among National Energy Technology Laboratory, The Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia by and on behalf of Georgia Institute of Technology, and University of Texas at El Paso [Abstract]
Georgia Institute of Technology (GIT), University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), and the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) will collaborate and develop cyber-physical systems for advanced power systems. GIT will test virtual models on hybrid power system hardware and cyber physical components. UTEP will test novel actuators on hybrid power system hardware. NETL will access GIT’s expertise in the engineering and real time simulation of power system processes for cyber-physical systems and simulations to control hardware. NETL will establish a relationship to promote UTEP’s capabilities in additive manufacturing and high-temperature piezo-electric devices with the potential for controlling high-temperature flows with a light and inexpensive device at high response rates. This project is the result of an EERE Advanced Manufacturing Office open Multi-Topic awarded proposal led by GIT titled, “Robust Combined Heat and Hybrid Power (CHHP) for High Electrical Efficiency Cogeneration”.
42 ENGINEERING↗
Workshop on Materials & Manufacturing for Marine Energy Technologies (Summary Report: October 5, 2021)
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Water Power Technologies Office (WPTO) enables research, testing, development, and commercialization of emerging technologies to advance marine energy, as well as next-generation hydropower and pumped storage systems, for a flexible, reliable grid. This report summarizes the results of a WPTO-sponsored public workshop held virtually on October 5, 2021.
13 HYDRO ENERGY↗
Deployment Readiness Framework Subtask 1.1 (Literature Review)
Island and remote coastal communities face some of the most challenging environments for building, operating, and maintaining energy infrastructure, as well as the highest costs for electricity, fuels, and other essential energy sources. As sea-levels rise and storms become more intense and frequent, these communities and the energy infrastructure that supports coastal lives and livelihoods are also at increasing risk from natural hazards. To address these challenges, many coastal communities are envisioning energy solutions that will support the triple bottom line goals of the blue economy: economic growth, environmental sustainability, and social equity. Yet, island and remote coastal communities often face limited resources and capacity to tackle complex energy and coastal resilience issues. To support community-driven energy transitions in island and remote communities, and to better understand relationships between energy, community, and ecosystem resilience, the Department of Energy’s Water Power Technologies Office (WPTO) has initiated the development of a Deployment Readiness Framework (DRF). The objective of the work is to co-produce and test practical tools and approaches that assess the readiness of coastal communities for marine energy demonstration, deployment, and operation. The DRF aims to build on and support the Energy Transitions Initiative Partnership Program (ETIPP) and other community-oriented energy transition programs. This project is jointly led by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The development of the DRF includes three main phases: 1) a learning phase involving stakeholder engagement and literature review to synthesize metrics of community readiness to advance through an energy transition and to understand the state of the research and practice of participatory science-policy processes in various sectors, 2) a design phase to define readiness approaches and tools that will be developed as part of the DRF, and 3) an implementation phase to create the applications and interfaces for WPTO and the national laboratories to interact with the DRF. All three phases include close collaboration with communities and end-users of the framework, first to identify gaps in the science and tools needed to achieve community-driven energy transition goals and second, to test and improve the framework iteratively. Through technical assistance programs like ETIPP and utilizing the completed DRF to understand the influencing factors which motivate or deter energy transitions, WPTO hopes to engage a number of near-term marine energy demonstration opportunities. Here we report on the results from the literature review (Subtask 1.1) to inform the stakeholder engagement (Subtask 1.2) and design phase (Task 2) of the project.
29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
Stellarator Simplification using Permanent Magnets (PM4Stell)
This Report describes the design and prototyping of an array of rare-Earth permanent magnets to form a stellarator. This effort was motivated by the hypothesis that the usage of permanent magnets, rather than electromagnetic coils with complex geometry, could reduce the cost of stellarator construction and thereby make increase the feasibility of the stellarator as a technology for a fusion-based power plant. In this project, we have developed novel methods for specifying the positions, shapes, and polarizations of the magnets in the array, and have developed designs for mounting structures and tooling for assembly. We have also performed detailed finite-element modeling to qualify the accuracy of the magnetic field produced by the magnet array as designed, and to confirm that the structure can withstand the forces between the magnets. We have also developed techniques for measuring the magnetic field produced by the array once constructed, as well as for correcting errors in the field arising from misalignments and offsets within the tolerances for mounting and fabrication. Finally, we have constructed a tabletop prototype of a section of the array to qualify the concept for assembling and mounting magnets within the array.
70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
Flexible Stellarator Physics Facility
We propose to build a Flexible Stellarator Physics Facility to explore promising regions of the vast parameter space of disruption-free stellarator solutions for Fusion Pilot Plants (FPPs). The FESAC Long Range Plan recognized the quasi-symmetric stellarator as “the leading US approach to developing disruption-free, low-recirculating-power fusion configurations”. To deliver the ambitious Decadal Vision for Commercial Fusion Energy, we must establish a persuasive stellarator program in parallel to the tokamak one: the stellarator will prove to be a better path to a reactor if theoretical predictions are confirmed and novel optimization techniques and strategies work as desired. Since the release of the Long Range Plan in 2020, stellarators have arguably made the most significant advances of all fusion concepts. Groundbreaking results from W7-X demonstrated low neoclassical transport and the successful operation of the island divertor. Advances in theory and modeling now allow us to minimize turbulent transport, to achieve equilibria with precise quasisymmetry, to reduce neoclassical transport and fast ion loss to levels far below what has been previously achieved, and to minimize the effect of coil manufacturing errors. If realized, these advances will lead to cost-effective stellarator designs with confinement comparable to tokamaks but without the fundamental challenges of disruptions and current drive.
70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
ECAR-6584 MARVEL Reactor Support Frame Analysis
Idaho National Laboratory (INL) is developing a small microreactor to produce electrical power utilizing a small nuclear core and Stirling engines for power output under the Microreactor Application Research Validation and Evaluation (MARVEL) program. The MARVEL Reactor will be installed in the Transient Reactor Test (TREAT) Facility. Walsh Engineering Services, PC (WES) has contracted with the INL to support the completion of the final design. There are six main systems in the MARVEL, one of which is the MARVEL Reactor System (MRS). The MRS contains a subsystem – the Reactor Support Frame (RSF) – that supports and orients nearly all the MRS and the RSF will be bolted to the TREAT Facility. The subject of this Engineering Calculations and Analysis Report (ECAR) is the frame weldment (see Figure 1), which is the only item that is contained in the RSF subsystem and will be called herein “RSF”.
21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
ECAR-6585 MARVEL Core Support Structure Analysis: Project #33526
Idaho National Laboratory (INL) is developing a small microreactor to produce electrical power utilizing a small nuclear core and stirling engines for power output under the Microreactor Application Research Validation and Evaluation (MARVEL) program. The MARVEL Reactor (Figure 1) will be installed in the Transient Reactor Test (TREAT) Facility. Walsh Engineering Services, PC (WES) has contracted with the INL to detail the final design. There are six main systems in the MARVEL, one of which is the Fuel and Core System (FCS). The FCS contains a subsystem–the Core Support Structures Subsystem (CSS)–that supports and orients each of the 36 nuclear fuel pins in the MARVEL Reactor System. The FCS (apart from the fixed Beryllium Oxide radial reflectors) is shown in light green and is depicted in more detail in Figure 1 and Figure 2. The main subject of this analysis is the lower grid plate, which is the principal item in the CSS which supports the fuel, see Figure 3. Additionally, the upper grid plate thermal expansion of the upper grid plate is presented in Appendix A.
21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
Stellarator Simplification using Permanent Magnets (PM4Stell)
This Report describes the design and prototyping of an array of rare-Earth permanent magnets to form a stellarator. This effort was motivated by the hypothesis that the usage of permanent magnets, rather than electromagnetic coils with complex geometry, could reduce the cost of stellarator construction and thereby make increase the feasibility of the stellarator as a technology for a fusion-based power plant. In this project, we have developed novel methods for specifying the positions, shapes, and polarizations of the magnets in the array, and have developed designs for mounting structures and tooling for assembly. We have also performed detailed finite-element modeling to qualify the accuracy of the magnetic field produced by the magnet array as designed, and to confirm that the structure can withstand the forces between the magnets. We have also developed techniques for measuring the magnetic field produced by the array once constructed, as well as for correcting errors in the field arising from misalignments and offsets within the tolerances for mounting and fabrication. Finally, we have constructed a tabletop prototype of a section of the array to qualify the concept for assembling and mounting magnets within the array.
47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
FLEXO: A Portably Performant Code for Pulsed Power Target Physics
FLEXO (Flux-Limited Extended-MHD Ohm's Law) is a production-line multiphysics code developed at Sandia to enable more predictive modeling of target physics on pulsed-power devices. FLEXO uses an extended magnetohydrodynamics (XMHD) model which includes a generalized Ohm's law (GOL), an electron inertia term, and Hall physics. This report describes the code's numerical methods, its computational performance, and test problems of interest.
42 ENGINEERING↗
Design Basis Document / Owner’s Technical Specification for Nitrate Salt Systems in CSP Projects: Volume 1 Specifications for Parabolic Trough Projects, Volume 2 - Specifications for Central Receiver Projects, Volume 3 - Narrative
Design Basis Documents / Owner’s Technical Specifications are developed for parabolic trough and central receiver power plants using nitrate salt as the heat transport fluid and the thermal storage medium. The goals were to 1) distill the successful experience with nitrate salt systems from as many commercial projects as possible, 2) provide technical bases for equipment design/selection that an owner can impose on an EPC contractor, 3) compile this information in one location to provide guidance on salt systems that is as broadly applicable to as many projects as possible, and 4) work toward an industry consensus on a Design Basis Document that reflects the lessons learned from earlier commercial projects. The document allows an owner to provide design guidance, and to impose a minimum set of requirements, above and beyond those in the normal Codes and Standards, on an EPC contractor in an effort to avoid a repeat of past mistakes. If successful, this would allow salt systems to achieve the same levels of reliability and availability as commercial parabolic trough plants using diphenyl oxide / biphenyl (i.e., Dowtherm A, Therminol VP-1) as the heat transfer fluid. The report consists of 3 volumes: • Volume 1 - Specifications for Parabolic Trough Projects • Volume 2 - Specifications for Central Receiver Projects • Volume 3 - Narrative Volumes 1 and 2 include discussions of the following topics: • Plant functional requirements for the salt systems • Plant operating states, and transitions between states, for the salt systems • Risk analysis of the principal salt components • Plant requirements for the salt systems to meet the functional and the operating requirements • Type of specification for the principal salt components: functional; or prescriptive • Current state of the art for salt systems. Volume 3 discusses a number of cases in which the salt equipment at commercial parabolic trough and central receiver projects has not met the projected levels of reliability and availability. Possible reasons for the sources of the problems are discussed, as is a range of possible alternate designs that could avoid the known problems.
14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
Advanced CO 2 Capture Solvent Systems for Dynamic Power Generation: Quarterly Research Performance Progress Report, QR4 (Q4FY24)
We developed an integrated Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model to simulate the multi-physics coupled cooling process of mixed gas by cold water within a Direct Contact Cooler (DCC) equipped with a rotating packing bed (RPB). The model captures the interactions between fluid dynamics, heat transfer, mass transport, and phase transitions, while accounting for key operational variables such as RPB rotational speed and the mass flow rates of both liquid and gas. The CFD model has been validated using experimental data, specifically by comparing predicted outflow gas and liquid temperatures to measured results. Our findings demonstrate the significant effects of RPB rotational speed and mass flow rates on cooling performance, providing valuable insights for optimizing DCC efficiency in industrial applications.
32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
Overview of IMPACT Data Acquisition System and Data Reduction Process
This report documents the development of the data acquisition system (DAS) and data reduction methodologies for the Irradiated Material Property Accelerated Characterization Test (IMPACT) experiment at the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR). The IMPACT experiment is designed to enable in-pile measurement of thermal conductivity in metallic nuclear fuels, specifically U-10Zr, using an instrumented thermal conductivity probe. The DAS supports both passive temperature monitoring and active thermal interrogation of the probe through controlled AC and DC excitation. Significant modifications to laboratory-scale systems were required to accommodate the higher resistance paths associated with the in-pile application. Custom electronics and relay-controlled measurement sequencing were developed to enable the measurement and sufficient power delivery to the sensing region. A reduced-order, axisymmetric thermal model based on the thermal quadrupoles method is presented to support data interpretation. This model enables efficient evaluation of transient heat transfer behavior and facilitates solution of the inverse problem required to extract thermal properties from measured signals. Multiple boundary condition formulations are discussed to address varying experimental time scales and geometries. Additionally, machine learning techniques are introduced to support data reduction and improve confidence in inverse solutions. Convolutional neural networks are applied to identify the presence of gas gaps and other evolving geometric features that significantly impact thermal response during irradiation. These efforts contribute to the broader integration of digital twin frameworks and real-time modeling capabilities within the Advanced Fuels Campaign.
46 - INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AN↗
A Scalable Approach to Minimize Charging Costs for Electric Bus Fleets
Incorporating battery electric buses into bus fleets faces three primary challenges: a BEB’s extended refuel time, the cost of charging, both by the consumer and the power provider, and large compute demands for planning methods. When BEBs charge, the additional demands on the grid may exceed hardware limitations, so power providers divide a consumer’s energy needs into separate meters even though doing so is expensive for both power providers and consumers. Prior work has developed a number of strategies for computing charge schedules for bus fleets; however, prior work has not worked to reduce costs by aggregating meters. Additionally, because many works use mixed integer linear programs, their compute needs make planning for commercial-sized bus fleets intractable. This work presents a multi-program approach to computing charge plans for electric bus fleets. The proposed method solves a series of subproblems where the solution to the charge problem becomes more refined with each problem, moving closer to the optimal schedule. The results demonstrate how runtimes are reduced by using intermediate subproblems to refine the bus charge solution so that the proposed method can be applied to large bus fleets of 100+ buses. Not only will we demonstrate that runtimes scale linearly with the number of buses but we will also show how the proposed method scales to large bus fleets of over 100 buses while managing the monthly cost of energy.
Mortensen, Daniel (ORCID:0000000276494452)↗
Accelerating Next-Generation Cybersecurity R&D Using AI Workflows: BADGER Project Development
The Broadband Automation for Distributed Grid Efficiency and Resilience (BADGER) project aligns with national strategic priorities for integrating emerging wireless technologies and advancing AI-driven security. As critical infrastructure modernizes toward increasingly software-defined and interconnected systems, the ability to leverage 5G/NextG networks and AI-enabled control becomes essential. This report outlines work at the National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR) to develop a NextG-native security architecture powered by AI-RAN concepts and evaluate workflows that enable efficient and reliable architectures. Together, these efforts position the laboratory to accelerate innovation while directly supporting national security and resilience objectives.
5G/6G↗
TCF Base Technology-Specific Final Report: Negative Cracked Film Lithography for PERC CdTe
NLR worked with the world's leading thin-film photovoltaic manufacturer - First Solar, an American company - to develop electrical contacting methods that improve the power conversion efficiency of First Solar's cells by 0.5% absolute. We met this milestone but contrary to our hypothesis, these performance gains are not passivation (PERC)-based. Instead, we identified another mechanism by which our micropatterned Al 2 O 3 contacts improve efficiency. Using the results of this project, we will adapt NLR's cracked film lithography intellectual property (IP) toward the application we identified, which is a new route to commercialization.
14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
Advanced Zonal Infiltration Measurement Method for Multifamily Buildings: A Novel Test Procedure to Determine Air Leakage Through External and Internal Surfaces
Measuring air infiltration through the external building envelope as well as between adjacent zones within a building is important since air leakage is related to increased energy use and poor indoor air quality (IAQ). State of the art methods can determine both leakages, however it can be both time consuming and labor intensive as it requires running both guarded and compartmentalization tests. This paper presents our work on developing a simplified testing procedure to determine power law flow equation leakage parameters of both external and internal boundaries of tested zones. The proposed Zonal Multipoint Pressure Test (ZMPT) method modulates airflow in the zone using a variable airflow measurement panel (mounted in either a window or the door), and solving the mass balance equations for the leakage parameters. ZMPT results were compared to conventional test results and found to correlate to within +/-7%.
Jayarathne, Tharanga↗