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At least 1,747 records · Page 97

Capturing the Impact of Storage and Other Flexible Technologies on Electric System Planning

Power systems of the future are likely to require additional flexibility due to the operating characteristics of many clean energy technologies, particularly those relying on renewable energy sources. This subject has been well studied from an operational perspective, but it has been more difficult to incorporate into capacity expansion models (CEMs) that study investment decisions on the decadal scale. The primary purpose of this report is to present new capabilities that were developed for a particular CEM, NREL's Resource Planning Model (RPM), to better reflect the impact of variable wind and solar generation on system operations and resource adequacy, and, complementarily, to model energy-constrained flexibility resources.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

State Engagement in Electric Distribution System Planning

Electric distribution system planning is focused on assessing needed physical and operational changes to the local grid to maintain safe, reliable, and affordable service. While electric utilities have always engaged in this activity, the planning horizon has typically been short and involvement by state utility regulators minimal. Safety, reliability, and affordability remain top objectives for deeper state engagement in longer-term distribution system planning. Other drivers are proposed utility investments to replace aging infrastructure and modernize grids, opportunities to improve distribution system efficiency, enabling consumers to have greater control over energy costs and sources, and integrating higher levels of distributed energy resources (DERs) such as rooftop solar, distributed energy storage, and price-responsive demand. This report provides a snapshot of current state engagement in distribution system planning: •Part 1 describes activities in states that have adopted some elements of integrated distribution system planning and analysis (see Figure 1): New York, California, Hawaii, Massachusetts, and Minnesota. It summarizes their impetus for early action, stated goals, regulatory requirements, additional state activities related to distribution system planning, and next steps. •Part 2 covers a broader array of state approaches throughout the country. For example, some of these states have long-standing distribution reliability and performance codes, requiring regulated utilities to report regularly on poor-performing circuits and propose investments for improvements. Other states require regulated utilities to make filings related to proposed grid modernization investments. A growing number of states are beginning to consider comprehensive distribution system planning processes. As this report highlights, approaches vary significantly from state to state, in part stemming from differences in electricity market structure. States can learn from each other and tailor successful approaches to their unique circumstances. Reviewing the broad range of legislative and public utility commission activities described in this report is a useful starting point.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

Understanding Lustre Internals. Second Edition

The Lustre file system has become a preferred storage resource for systems on the Top500 list, and it is often the file system of choice for small- to medium-sized HPC systems that require parallel shared access to data. Several resources exist to help users deploy and configure Lustre, but the same cannot be said for resources that explain the inner workings of the Lustre source code. A previous ORNL technical report entitled "Understanding Lustre Filesystem Internals" (ORNL/TM-2009/117) provided an excellent summary of Lustre subsystem operations. However, that report is over a decade old and is based on Lustre version 1.6. Since that report was published, Lustre has evolved significantly. Several subsystems underwent significant code changes and many new features have been added to the file system, bringing the current Lustre version up to 2.15.This report aims to document and explain the internal workings of the latest version of the Lustre file system. It will provide more complete and up-to-date information than the previous technical report and should serve as a foundational document for anyone interested in Lustre software development. Key data structures will be described along with the APIs used for interaction among the various Lustre subsystems. Although the Lustre software is constantly being developed, the details in this document should remain relevant for the forseeable future.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Probabilistic Modeling of Climate Change Impacts on Renewable Energy and Storage Requirements for NM's Energy Transition Act (SAND Report)

This report provides a study of the potential impacts of climate change on intermittent renewable energy resources, battery storage, and resource adequacy in Public Service Company of New Mexico’s Integrated Resource Plan for 2020 – 2040. Climate change models and available data were first evaluated to determine uncertainty and potential changes in solar irradiance, temperature, and wind speed in NM in the coming decades. These changes were then implemented in solar and wind energy models to determine impacts on renewable energy resources in NM. Results for the extreme climate-change scenario show that the projected wind power may decrease by ~13% due to projected decreases in wind speed. Projected solar power may decrease by ~4% due to decreases in irradiance and increases in temperature in NM. Uncertainty in these climate-induced changes in wind and solar resources was accommodated in probabilistic models assuming uniform distributions in the annual reductions in solar and wind resources. Uncertainty in battery storage performance was also evaluated based on increased temperature, capacity fade, and degradation in round-trip efficiency. The hourly energy balance was determined throughout the year given uncertainties in the renewable energy resources and energy storage. The loss of load expectation (LOLE) was evaluated for the 2040 No New Combustion portfolio and found to increase from 0 days/year to a median value of ~2 days/year due to potential reductions in renewable energy resources and battery storage performance and capacity. A rank-regression analyses revealed that battery round-trip efficiency was the most significant parameter that impacted LOLE, followed by solar resource, wind resource, and battery fade. An increase in battery storage capacity to ~25,000 – 30,000 MWh from a baseline value of ~14,000 MWh was required to reduce the median value of LOLE to ~0.2 days/year with consideration of potential climate impacts and battery degradation.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Hydrogen Energy Storage Integrated with a Combined Cycle Plant

A project is being developed that will build upon the existing infrastructure and resources at the Intermountain Power Project (IPP) site to provide reliable, dispatchable energy and to support the transmission of renewable energy resources while transitioning to an economical green energy future. The concept study depicted in this report outlines a techno-economic optimization to fulfill the demand for 30% vol hydrogen co-firing in the IPP 840 MW advanced class combined cycle power plant. In an initial step, a site assessment concluded the site has sufficient land available to co-locate a hydrogen production and storage facility. The team evaluated and defined a scalable concept that considered technology characteristics, including input and output models to be used for optimization purposes. The concept for the hydrogen production and storage system integrates multiple technologies, to determine system size and scalable approach, for each of the technologies evaluated, the team defined component and subcomponent sizes, minimum and maximum capacity, modularity, component utility consumption (electric, water), component flexibility and servicing, layout, and technology status, as well as technology alternatives. For hydrogen generation, the project considers Siemens Energy’s Silyzer-300 (S300) technology, a 17.5 MW modular Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) electrolyzer. For the S300 configuration, the team determined that three S300 arrays, or approximately 1,000 kg/hr, per block would yield a compact block design. This configuration results in a fairly wide and flexible arrangement that fits well into the spaces available at the site. Therefore, the overall design approach is based on multiple identical blocks of 3 arrays to minimize engineering cost and optimize constructability. In parallel, a transmission screening study was conducted to determine any potential transmission constraints from the energy sources that could feed the hydrogen production equipment. The study results show that minimum transmission constraints would be encountered to deliver 400 MW renewable generation from southern California, or south-central Wyoming. At last, the techno-economic analysis concluded that a scenario that uses solar and wind power yields the lowest levelized cost of hydrogen (LCOH 2 ) production and the lowest cost per tonne of CO 2 reduced. In this optimized scenario, the hydrogen production plant was determined as 6,201 kg/hr and the hydrogen storage (underground cavern) was determined as 4,600 tonnes. The resulting capacity factor for the hydrogen production plant was 66.33% with 8,745 operating hours in one year. This techno-economic analysis provided various options for integrating hydrogen storage at the Intermountain Power Plant site to co-fire the CCPP units. The results provide insightful data about the magnitude of capacity needed and the economics of producing hydrogen and reducing CO 2 emissions.

08 HYDROGEN↗

Review of Feasibility and Cost Drivers for Floating Offshore Wind Energy in Washington State

The state of Washington must double its clean electricity supply by 2050 to meet its clean energy goals and comply with the Clean Energy Transformation Act. With more than 6.6 GW of technical resource potential in federal waters where Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has leasing authority, offshore wind energy could play an important role in diversifying Washington State's clean energy mix, reducing dependence on out-of-state energy sources, and helping meet state decarbonization goals. Decision makers need technology-specific information to assist with long-term energy system planning, so the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management requested that the National Renewable Energy Laboratory provide an overview of several drivers of offshore wind energy feasibility and cost in Washington. This study summarizes some of the existing engagement efforts and perspectives on offshore wind energy in the region and quantifies the offshore wind resources in Washington as well as technology costs and performance of potential projects. Furthermore, this report reviews existing grid and port infrastructure and discusses infrastructure needs along with information gaps. This study also explores opportunities and barriers to Washington entities supporting the broader floating offshore wind energy supply chain along the U.S. West Coast. Note that this study is not part of a formal project planning process or official engagement effort, nor does it assess environmental or economic impacts from potential offshore wind energy development.

17 WIND ENERGY↗

Consumer Benefits of Clean Energy: The resilience value of residential solar + storage systems in the continental U.S.

Meeting national and state decarbonization goals requires a transition to clean energy technologies. Energy efficiency, demand flexibility, renewable energy and storage can reduce consumers’ electricity bills, lower total electricity system costs, and provide health and resilience benefits. Berkeley Lab developed a series of briefs that explore these consumer benefits of a clean energy transition. Clean energy resources that are located behind the meter have the potential to benefit the hosting customers by providing affordability, environmental, and reliability and resilience value. Solar plus storage systems (PVESS) are clean energy resources that can supply backup power without requiring fuel resupply or increasing local emissions. This report examines the regional value of PVESS for resilience by calculating a benefit-cost ratio (BCR) that considers the annual resiliency benefits of PVESS and the annualized cost of the investment. In addition, we estimate the expected technical mitigation potential of PVESS systems at the county-level to these expected events, and characterize the customer interruption costs by determining the value of lost load at the state level.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

Strong Scalability Analysis of the Albany Land Ice code on HPC Architectures

Scalability is a critical factor in High-Performance Computing (HPC), where optimizing resource usage has a direct impact on cost-effectiveness and time-efficiency. This report presents a strong scaling performance study of the Albany Land Ice (ALI) code across different HPC architectures, towards determining the best configuration to use when running large-scale simulation ensembles.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Microbial Community Field Surveys Reveal Abundant Pseudomonas Population in Sorghum Rhizosphere Composed of Many Closely Related Phylotypes

While the root-associated microbiome is typically less diverse than the surrounding soil due to both plant selection and microbial competition for plant derived resources, it typically retains considerable complexity, harboring many hundreds of distinct bacterial species. Here, we report a time-dependent deviation from this trend in the rhizospheres of field grown sorghum. In this study, 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing was used to determine the impact of nitrogen fertilization on the development of the root-associated microbiomes of 10 sorghum genotypes grown in eastern Nebraska. We observed that early rhizosphere samples exhibit a significant reduction in overall diversity due to a high abundance of the bacterial genus Pseudomonas that occurred independent of host genotype in both high and low nitrogen fields and was not observed in the surrounding soil or associated root endosphere samples. When clustered at 97% identity, nearly all the Pseudomonas reads in this dataset were assigned to a single operational taxonomic unit (OTU); however, exact sequence variant (ESV)-level resolution demonstrated that this population comprised a large number of distinct Pseudomonas lineages. Furthermore, single-molecule long-read sequencing enabled high-resolution taxonomic profiling revealing further heterogeneity in the Pseudomonas lineages that was further confirmed using shotgun metagenomic sequencing. Finally, field soil enriched with specific carbon compounds recapitulated the increase in Pseudomonas, suggesting a possible connection between the enrichment of these Pseudomonas species and a plant-driven exudate profile.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Emerging needs for mobile nuclear powerplants

Incentives for broadening the present role of civilian nuclear power to include mobile nuclear power plants that are compact, lightweight, and safe are examined. Specifically discussed is the growing importance of: (1) a new international cargo transportation capability, and (2) the capability for development of resources in previously remote regions of the earth including the oceans and the Arctic. This report surveys present and potential systems (vehicles, remote stations, and machines) that would both provide these capabilities and require enough power to justify using mobile nuclear reactor power plants.

Anderson, J. L.↗

Toward improved durability in advanced aircraft engine hot sections

Advanced aircraft turbine engine durability needs were addressed in the NASA sponsored Hot Section Technology (HOST) Project. The seven-year project, which was concluded in late 1987, involved representatives from six engineering disciplines who were spread across three work sectors. To address more fully the technology needs resulting from durability challenges, the NASA Lewis Research Center encouraged researchers from the disciplines of instrumentation, combustion, turbine heat transfer, structural analysis, fatigue and fracture, and surface protection to work together, and prompted both basic and applications-oriented research within each of the six disciplines. This involved scientists and engineers from three work sectors: academia, where significant basic research usually is performed; industry, where research as well as applications work is addressed; and NASA, which supports both basic and applications research and has the resources to link the other two sectors. Research results from the HOST project have been reported in approximately 250 technical reports. The ASME 33rd International Gas Turbine and Aeroengine Congress and Exposition, conducted in June 1988, provided a timely and most appropriate forum in which to summarize such research results. The one-day session entitled “Toward Improved Durability in Advanced Aircraft Engine Hot Sections” and this volume of the session’s papers is the result.

Turbine engine↗

Cargo transfer vehicle RCS propellant contamination issues

The purpose of this report is to address Cargo Transfer Vehicle (CTV) RCS contamination issues and contribute to the resources necessary to optimize the vehicle and propulsion systems required in the CTV of the National Launch System (NLS) Heavy Lift Launch Vehicle (HLLV). This study reviews the thruster-induced contaminants; their transportation from the thrust chamber to the vehicle, payload, and SSF; and the mechanism by which damage is inflicted on their components. The effect of both monopropellant and bipropellant RCS rocket exhaust plumes on a spacecraft and related functional surfaces has been the subject of considerable study over the years. It is recognized that the RCS rocket produces contaminants which can significantly degrade the performance of optical windows, solar cells, thermal-protective coatings, and other external vehicle components. This is particularly true when the rocket is operating in the pulse mode. The exhaust plume impingement pressure and heat-transfer phenomena also complicate the environment to which the vehicle and its functional surfaces are exposed, but are not addressed in this study. Bipropellant contamination presented several modes of damage to incident surfaces, which can pose a long-term deleterious consequence to CTV payloads and the Space Station Freedom (SSF). Monopropellant contamination did not pose any significant long-term issues other than the possibility of aniline deposition. The use of either bipropellant and monopropellant propulsion systems can have a design impact on the CTV propulsion system with respect to maneuvering operations in the proximity of SSF.

Ballard, Richard O.↗

Behavior and Performance on Long-Duration Spaceflights: Evidence from Analogue Environments

Analyses of data collected in Antarctica since 1963 were conducted to identify features of behavior and performance likely to occur during long-duration missions in space.The influence of mission duration and station latitude on POMS mood scores was examined in 450 American men and women who overwintered in Antarctica between 1991 and 1998. The influence of crewmember social characteristics, personality traits, interpersonal needs, and station environments on measures of behavior and performance at the end of the austral winter was examined in 657 American men who overwintered between 1963 and 1974. Both data sets were used to examine the influence of crew social structure on individual performance. Results: Seasonal variations in mood appear to be associated with the altered diurnal cycle and psychological segmentation of the mission. Concurrent measures of personality, interpersonal needs, and coping styles are better predictors of depressed mood and peer-supervisor performance evaluations than baseline measures because of the unique features of the station social and physical environments and the absence of resources typically used to cope with stress elsewhere. Individuals in crews with a clique structure report significantly more depression, anxiety, anger, fatigue and confusion than individuals in crews with a core-periphery structure. Depressed mood is inversely associated with severity of station physical environment, supporting the existence of a positive or "salutogenic" effect for individuals seeking challenging experiences in extreme environments.

Palinkas, Lawrence A.↗

The Atmospheric Data Acquisition And Interpolation Process For Center-TRACON Automation System

The Center-TRACON Automation System (CTAS), an advanced new air traffic automation program, requires knowledge of spatial and temporal atmospheric conditions such as the wind speed and direction, the temperature and the pressure in order to accurately predict aircraft trajectories. Real-time atmospheric data is available in a grid format so that CTAS must interpolate between the grid points to estimate the atmospheric parameter values. The atmospheric data grid is generally not in the same coordinate system as that used by CTAS so that coordinate conversions are required. Both the interpolation and coordinate conversion processes can introduce errors into the atmospheric data and reduce interpolation accuracy. More accurate algorithms may be computationally expensive or may require a prohibitively large amount of data storage capacity so that trade-offs must be made between accuracy and the available computational and data storage resources. The atmospheric data acquisition and processing employed by CTAS will be outlined in this report. The effects of atmospheric data processing on CTAS trajectory prediction will also be analyzed, and several examples of the trajectory prediction process will be given.

Jardin, M. R.↗

The Integrated Hazard Analysis Integrator

Hazard analysis addresses hazards that arise in the design, development, manufacturing, construction, facilities, transportation, operations and disposal activities associated with hardware, software, maintenance, operations and environments. An integrated hazard is an event or condition that is caused by or controlled by multiple systems, elements, or subsystems. Integrated hazard analysis (IHA) is especially daunting and ambitious for large, complex systems such as NASA s Constellation program which incorporates program, systems and element components that impact others (International Space Station, public, International Partners, etc.). An appropriate IHA should identify all hazards, causes, controls and verifications used to mitigate the risk of catastrophic loss of crew, vehicle and/or mission. Unfortunately, in the current age of increased technology dependence, there is the tendency to sometimes overlook the necessary and sufficient qualifications of the integrator, that is, the person/team that identifies the parts, analyzes the architectural structure, aligns the analysis with the program plan and then communicates/coordinates with large and small components, each contributing necessary hardware, software and/or information to prevent catastrophic loss. As viewed from both Challenger and Columbia accidents, lack of appropriate communication, management errors and lack of resources dedicated to safety were cited as major contributors to these fatalities. From the accident reports, it would appear that the organizational impact of managers, integrators and safety personnel contributes more significantly to mission success and mission failure than purely technological components. If this is so, then organizations who sincerely desire mission success must put as much effort in selecting managers and integrators as they do when designing the hardware, writing the software code and analyzing competitive proposals. This paper will discuss the necessary and sufficient requirements of one of the significant contributors to mission success, the IHA integrator. Discussions will be provided to describe both the mindset required as well as deleterious assumptions/behaviors to avoid when integrating within a large scale system.

Morris, A. Terry↗

Premonsoon Aerosol Characterization and Radiative Effects Over the Indo-Gangetic Plains: Implications for Regional Climate Warming

The Himalayas have a profound effect on the South Asian climate and the regional hydrological cycle, as it forms a barrier for the strong monsoon winds and serves as an elevated heat source, thus controlling the onset and distribution of precipitation during the Indian summer monsoon. Recent studies have suggested that radiative heating by absorbing aerosols, such as dust and black carbon over the Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) and slopes of the Himalayas, may significantly accelerate the seasonal warming of the Hindu Kush-Himalayas-Tibetan Plateau (HKHT) and influence the subsequent evolution of the summer monsoon. This paper presents a detailed characterization of aerosols over the IGP and their radiative effects during the premonsoon season (April-May-June) when dust transport constitutes the bulk of the regional aerosol loading, using ground radiometric and spaceborne observations. During the dust-laden period, there is a strong response of surface shortwave flux to aerosol absorption indicated by the diurnally averaged forcing efficiency of -70 W/sq m per unit optical depth. The simulated aerosol single-scattering albedo, constrained by surface flux and aerosol measurements, is estimated to be 0.89+/- 0.01 (at approx.550 nm) with diurnal mean surface and top-of-atmosphere forcing values ranging from -11 to -79.8 W/sq m and +1.4 to +12 W/sq m, respectively, for the premonsoon period. The model-simulated solar heating rate profile peaks in the lower troposphere with enhanced heating penetrating into the middle troposphere (5-6 km), caused by vertically extended aerosols over the IGP with peak altitude of approx.5 km as indicated by spaceborne Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization observations. On a long-term climate scale, our analysis, on the basis of microwave satellite measurements of tropospheric temperatures from 1979 to 2007, indicates accelerated annual mean warming rates found over the Himalayan-Hindu Kush region (0.21 C/decade+/-0.08 C/decade) and underscores the potential role of enhanced aerosol solar absorption in the maximum warming localized over the western Himalayas (0.26 C/decade f 0.09 C/decade) that significantly exceed the entire HKHT and global warming rates. We believe the accelerated warming rates reported here are critical to both the South Asian summer monsoon and hydro-glaciological resource variability in the Himalayan-Hindu Kush snowpack and therefore to the densely populated downstream regions.

Gautam, Ritesh↗

Software for Analyzing Laminar-to-Turbulent Flow Transitions

Software assurance is the planned and systematic set of activities that ensures that software processes and products conform to requirements, standards, and procedures. Examples of such activities are the following: code inspections, unit tests, design reviews, performance analyses, construction of traceability matrices, etc. In practice, software development projects have only limited resources (e.g., schedule, budget, and availability of personnel) to cover the entire development effort, of which assurance is but a part. Projects must therefore select judiciously from among the possible assurance activities. At its heart, this can be viewed as an optimization problem; namely, to determine the allocation of limited resources (time, money, and personnel) to minimize risk or, alternatively, to minimize the resources needed to reduce risk to an acceptable level. The end result of the work reported here is a means to optimize quality-assurance processes used in developing software. This is achieved by combining two prior programs in an innovative manner

Chang, Chau-Lyan↗