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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 1,729 records · Page 96

The Evolving Nature of Grid Energy

Current trends in the electricity sector, including more variable renewable energy, electrification of transportation and other end-uses, and city and state-level clean electricity goals, impact our expectations for grid costs and emission rates out into the future. This talk provides an overview of where the grid is and where it is heading, and introduces new data sets under development at NREL that are aimed at enabling conversation between grid and built-environment planning and design.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

Betting on Floatovoltaics: Floating PV Opportunities in the U.S.

Join NREL for a presentation on early findings on the potential for floating PV development in the U.S, covering feasible regions in the U.S., sensitivity analysis of factors affecting LCOE, operational and economic co-benefits, climate factors and early data on system performance and reliability.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

Evaluate Distributed Energy Technologies for Cost Savings and Resilience With REopt Lite

NREL's REopt Lite TM web tool evaluates the economics of grid connected photovoltaics (PV), wind, and battery storage at a site. It allows users to identify the system sizes and battery dispatch strategy that minimize a site's life cycle cost of energy, and it estimates the amount of time a PV, wind, battery, and diesel generator system can sustain the site's critical load during a grid outage.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

REopt Lite Overview & Training Exercise

This training exercise provides users with an introduction to and hands-on, interactive exploration of REopt Lite's capabilities. REopt Lite is a free, publicly available techno-economic optimization web tool for distributed energy systems, developed at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). REopt Lite helps organizations evaluate the economic viability of grid-connected solar photovoltaics (PV), wind turbines, and battery storage; identify system sizes and battery dispatch strategies to minimize energy costs; and estimate how long a system can sustain critical load during a grid outage. The model is formulated as a mixed-integer linear program based in an underlying application programming interface (API) that is also free and publicly available. This training activity is structured as a group exercise. Participants split into eight groups and each group is assigned a different hypothetical site to model and assess the opportunity for solar PV + battery storage. Groups work together to develop results for their site and then re-convene to compare and discuss results, inputs/drivers of the analysis, and other factors impacting the decision-making process for behind-the-meter solar PV and battery storage.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

Internal Insulation and Corrosion Control of Molten Chloride Storage Tanks

The U.S. Department of Energy Gen3 CSP program aims to develop integrated systems capable of delivering high temperature thermal energy to advanced power cycles [1]. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is leading a multi-national team to validate the potential of a chloride-based molten-salt system that uses a ternary blend of MgCl2/KCl/NaCl to provide higher temperature thermal energy storage capability (Fig. 1a). The economic viability of this concept is dependent on internally insulating the hot and cold storage tanks to enable the use of low-cost steel shells (Fig. 1b).

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

REopt Lite Web Tool: Capabilities and Features

REopt Lite transforms complex energy project decisions into actionable results for building owners, utilities, and industry. Based on decades of NREL decision-support expertise, the free, publicly available REopt Lite web tool guides investment in economic, resilient energy technologies. And open source and API access to the tool enables energy analysis at scale. This presentation provides an overview of how REopt Lite can help users optimize the economic and resilience benefits of distributed energy resources.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

Unprecedented Analysis of LA’s Clean Energy Transformation

Jurisdictions like the City of Los Angeles are boldly establishing ambitious energy objectives—and NREL can be a key partner in informing these transitions.The City of Los Angeles is one of several U.S. local governments setting monumental, measurable goals to transform their energy economies. At the direction of its City Council, LA has embarked on a plan to modernize its electricity system infrastructure—aiming for a 100% renewable energy supply by 2045, along with aggressive electrification targets for buildings and vehicles.

LA100↗

Improved Access and Analysis of Data Provides New Opportunities for Smart Cities

Making smart, informed, data-driven energy decisions for cities requires large amounts of high-value data and analysis. Cities’ energy data has traditionally been difficult to access and costly to store and manage for city administrators. When data is available, many cities lack the expertise to properly analyze and model large data sets. NREL’s transparency and knowledge about data availability, integration, and interpretation is critical to decision-making for cities.

cities' data↗

Today's Energy Challenges, Tomorrow's Solutions: Integrated Energy Pathways: Modernizing Our Energy Systems

Integrated Energy Pathways Today's electric grid was built for century-old needs, not the needs of tomorrow's emerging system. As the cost of generating electricity falls, products and systems that previously operated on other types of fuels are becoming increasingly "electrified." Instead of a one-way flow of electricity to systems that operate independently from one another, we are seeing more bi-directional connectivity between the grid and multiple end points. Integrated Energy Systems require a fundamental rethinking of grid infrastructure and the path electricity takes from the source of generation to the end point of use. Inevitably, the way the grid is managed today won't be the way it is managed 10-15 years from now. NREL is pioneering the fundamental research needed to guide this transition through renewable energy fuels and low-carbon electricity generation. Working with industry partners, we can collaboratively develop a fresh approach to energy generation, security, resilience, and advanced mobility.

energy security↗

Environmental Performance Report 2019: Annual Site Environmental Report per the U.S. Department of Energy Order 231.1B Chg 1

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory's (NREL's) Environmental Performance Report provides a description of the laboratory's environmental management activities in 2019, including information on environmental and sustainability performance, environmental compliance activities and status, and environmental protection programs, highlights, and successes. The purpose of this report is to ensure that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the public receive timely, accurate information about events that have positively affected or could adversely affect the health and safety of the public or workers, the environment, or the operations of DOE facilities. This report meets the DOE requirements of the Annual Site Environmental Report (ASER) and has been prepared in accordance with DOE Order 231.1B Chg 1, Environment, Safety and Health Reporting.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Environmental Performance Report 2019: Annual Site Environmental Report per the U.S. Department of Energy Order 231.1B Chg 1

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory's (NREL's) Environmental Performance Report provides a description of the laboratory's environmental management activities in 2019, including information on environmental and sustainability performance, environmental compliance activities and status, and environmental protection programs, highlights, and successes. The purpose of this report is to ensure that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the public receive timely, accurate information about events that have positively affected or could adversely affect the health and safety of the public or workers, the environment, or the operations of DOE facilities. This report meets the DOE requirements of the Annual Site Environmental Report (ASER) and has been prepared in accordance with DOE Order 231.1B Chg 1, Environment, Safety and Health Reporting.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Materials Flows Through Industry Tool

As next-generation technologies gain traction and change the marketplace, they allow the U.S. manufacturing sector to steadily evolve. However, they may be more energy and emissions intensive than current technologies. That’s why the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) developed the Materials Flows through Industry (MFI) tool to help manufacturers stay efficient and sustainable.

advanced manufacturing↗

An Integrated Platform for Wind Plant Operations: From Atmosphere to Electrons to the Grid

Under the Atmosphere to Electrons to Grid project (A2e2g), the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is developing an optimization platform for wind plant operations. The platform merges forecasting tools with aerodynamic and economic models in order to identify optimal operating schedules and controller functions that will maximize a wind plant's value streams for energy and other grid services. In this presentation, we will describe functionalities of the platform. We will also discuss the implications the use of the platform might have for understanding and valuing the capabilities of wind resources for power system operations.

A2E2G↗

Smart-DS: Synthetic Models for Advanced, Realistic Testing: Distribution Systems and Scenarios

The explosion of new ideas for distributed energy resources and advanced distribution grid algorithms faces a critical challenge: how can one effectively develop and evaluate these breakthrough technologies without an adequate set of power systems network, load, and resource data to test against? Today's open test systems, particularly for distribution systems, are tiny and incomplete; and though with enough effort, obtaining utility data under NDA can overcome scale challenges, the results can't be openly shared, preventing fair comparison. The Smart-DS project-led by NREL in partnership with MIT, Universidad Pontificia Comillas, CYME, and EDD-is working to overcome this gap by generating multiple large-scale, open, synthetic, distribution systems that are realistic but not real. These datasets go beyond a single medium voltage feeder (~1000 customers) to cover entire metropolitan areas and their surrounds with up to hundreds of feeders and millions of customers, complete with low voltage customer connections and high voltage sub-transmission. This scale allows adequate testing and analysis of not just local controls and advanced DERs, but also multiple substation interactions, optimized switching, full-scale distribution-OPF, and more. To accompany these datasets, the project is also building a rich set of scenario generation tools that can be used for distribution and transmission systems alike. This includes automated, spatially aware access to world-class, high-resolution solar, wind, and weather data: forward looking generation mixes: and highly configurable DER, load, climate, outage, control-scheme, and other scenarios. We will also highlight DiTTo, an exciting open-source, multi-way distribution dataset transformation tool for many-to-many format translation with scenario, merge/split, and many other manipulation capabilities.

DERs↗

Urban Traveler - Changes and Impacts: Mobility Energy Productivity (MEP) Metric

For nearly a century, the automobile has been the primary mode of personal transportation in American life. This remains true today as millions of people rely heavily on cars to connect suburbs with cities or to travel long distances—often out of routine or convenience. However, advances in technology are fueling an era of transportation transformation, with the potential to transform a system that has remained virtually unchanged for decades. Aspiring smart cities are wrestling with questions such as: How does mobility impact a person’s quality of life? Would people make different travel choices if they were presented with better information about their mobility options? The ability to quantify the mobility potential of a given location is the first step toward answering these questions. In response, an interdisciplinary team at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has developed the Mobility-Energy Productivity (MEP) metric. The MEP metric provides an avenue to not only measure the mobility potential at a specific location in its current configuration, but also to test how various technological advances (e.g., connected and automated vehicles, plug-in electric vehicles, shared mobility) and infrastructure investments (e.g., building an additional highway lane, constructing a new shopping mall, implementing a transit-oriented development) impact the mobility of that location over time. This presentation details the FY19 progress on the MEP metric project funded through DOE VTO's SMART Mobility Consortium.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

Custom Controls for Improved Demand Response from Heat Pump Water Heaters

As part of a Grid Modernization Laboratory Consortium (GMLC) project looking at defining grid services for a range of devices, NREL used a custom controller to investigate the ability of a HPWH to provide load add and load shed in hybrid and electric resistance mode using standard set point control. Based on those results, changes were made to the controls to increase the amount of grid services delivered, especially in the load-add case, and speed up the recovery from those events. The custom controls also include less common methods, such as duty cycling of the heat pump or elements. The improved controls led to an increase the amount of demand response that could be provided and enabled faster recovery. Results from the laboratory experiments will be presented, along with details about the custom controls that were implemented.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Albedo Data for Bifacial PV Systems Update

For use by the PV and financial communities to better estimate the performance and to reduce the risk of bifacial PV systems, data sets of ground albedo and associated meteorological data were developed by using existing measurement network data and data contributed by the PV industry. The data sets include time-series data as well as summary information of tabular monthly and yearly data and plots of monthly and hourly albedo values. Complete information is presented in a user’s guide and data are available for download from NREL’s DuraMAT website.

albedo↗