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The Pumped Storage Hydropower (PSH) FAST Commissioning Prize aimed to reduce the time, cost, and risk required to commission PSH projects by crowdsourcing ideas via a three-stage prize. Objectives were to reduce the time to commission PSH projects from 10+ years to less than 5 years and to develop a baseline analysis for PSH.
The US energy landscape has undergone major changes over the past 10 years and will continue to see significant changes in future decades as the power grid increases its reliance on variable renewable energy resources. Because of the inherent variability of these resources, renewable energy growth may require additional energy storage capacity to provide flexible load-following capabilities and other grid services that can quickly adjust to changes in energy demand and generation. Pumped storage hydropower (PSH)—one such energy storage technology—uses pumps to convey water from a lower reservoir to an upper reservoir for energy storage and releases water back to the lower reservoir via a powerhouse for hydropower generation. PSH facility pump and generation cycling often follows economic and energy demand conditions. Across the United States, 43 PSH facilities are in operation and 55 projects are in various permitting or licensing stages. Altogether, the 43 operational projects provide the wide majority (95%) of utility-scale electricity storage in the United States. These facilities also provide significant power and nonpower grid benefits, including large-scale electrical system reserve capacity, grid reliability support, and electricity supply-demand balancing through quick-response capabilities and operational flexibility. PSH systems can accomplish these at a scale (e.g., size) and cost that makes these systems highly attractive from a technical standpoint. Although these research concepts are still in their infancy, they demonstrate promising potential as future PSH energy storage technologies. Although PSH has many advantages, development in the United States has effectively stalled since the 1990s, partially because of the magnitude of project costs and financing interest during development and construction, the length of time from project investment until project revenue begins, permitting challenges, construction risks, competition from other storage technologies (e.g., batteries, hydrogen storage), and electricity market evolution and uncertainty. In short, the time, cost, and risk associated with modern PSH development have resulted in limited growth in the United States recently, despite the growing energy storage demand stemming from increased wind and solar power deployment. Technology innovation is needed to help reduce PSH commissioning time, cost, and risk, particularly during the post-licensing phase of project development. To address challenges facing the PSH industry and to improve PSH commissioning timelines, the US Department of Energy (DOE) Water Power Technologies Office (WPTO) initiated the PSH Furthering Advancements to Shorten Time to (FAST) Commissioning Prize project.
This report summarizes work performed by PNNL staff to support the Southwest Research Institute under PNNL CRADA 456 as part of the DOE-WPTO FAST Commissioning Prize competition.
This report is designed to address barriers and solutions to modern pumped storage hydropower (PSH) development by establishing baseline project development knowledge, defining key aspects of project development, and identifying opportunities to reduce project timelines, costs, and risks. This report’s scope includes post-licensing activities and excludes factors related to permitting or licensing. The U.S. PSH fleet is composed of 43 projects providing the majority (95%) of utility-scale electricity storage in the US. However, only one new PSH facility has become operational in the past 20 years. Several factors contribute to diminishing PSH growth in the US, including the magnitude of project costs and financing interest during development and construction; the length of time from project investment until project revenue; permitting challenges and construction risks; competition from other storage technologies; and unrecognized energy storage valuation. Although innovative PSH concepts (including underground, small, and modular systems) have been investigated, widespread application has yet to occur. In short, the time, cost, and risk associated with modern PSH development has resulted in limited recent growth in the United States, despite the rising energy storage demand from increased deployment of variable renewable technologies. To address these challenges, the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Water Power Technologies Office initiated the PSH Furthering Advancements to Shorten Time to (FAST) Commissioning project, aimed at catalyzing new solutions, designs, and strategies to accelerate PSH development. This report uses available data from previous license applications, ongoing project cost data, and other global PSH project information based on a typical closed-loop PSH project.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory initiated a Prize with support from Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), and sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy Water Power Technologies Office (DOE WPTO) to encourage ideas to reduce the time to commissioning for PSH projects. As a result, nine finalists have been chosen to develop their concepts in advance of the FAST Prize Pitch Contest to be held on October 7, 2019. The National Labs will provide technical and business advisement to the noted FAST Prize finalists in preparation for this Pitch Contest.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) initiated a Prize with support from Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), and sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy Water Power Technologies Office (DOE WPTO) to encourage ideas to reduce the time to commissioning for PSH projects. As a result, nine finalists have been chosen to develop their concepts in advance of the FAST Prize Pitch Contest to be held on October 7, 2019. The national labs will provide technical and business advisement to the noted FAST Prize finalists in preparation for this Pitch Contest.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) initiated a Prize with support from Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), and sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy Water Power Technologies Office (DOE WPTO) to encourage ideas to reduce the time to commissioning for PSH projects. As a result, nine finalists have been chosen to develop their concepts in advance of the FAST Prize Pitch Contest to be held on October 7, 2019. The national labs will provide technical and business advisement to the noted FAST Prize finalists in preparation for this Pitch Contest.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory initiated a Prize with support from Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), and sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy Water Power Technologies Office (DOE WPTO) to encourage ideas to reduce the time to commissioning for PSH projects. As a result, nine finalists have been chosen to develop their concepts in advance of the FAST Prize Pitch Contest to be held on October 7, 2019. The National Labs will provide technical and business advisement to the noted FAST Prize finalists in preparation for this Pitch Contest.
NREL initiated a prize with support from Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), and sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy Water Power Technologies Office (DOE WPTO) to encourage ideas to reduce the time to commissioning for PSH projects. As a result, Southwest Research Institute (SWRI) was chosen as one of nine finalists to develop their concept in advance of the FAST Prize Pitch Contest held on October 27, 2021. The National Labs provided technical and business advisement to SWRI in preparation for this Pitch Contest.
The space science program at NASA since 1950's has gone through stages of development and implementation in rocketry and scientific advancement. It has become the nation's largest scientific institution of research and innovation for space exploration and military research, and overall a pride of the nation at an exorbitant cost. After placing man on moon, space shuttle program at NASA is an on-going project with a high success rate at an average cost of about $450m per flight. A future endeavor from both government and private sectors needs to be undertaken for commercialization of this expensive mission. In order to attract private enterprises, it needs to boost up its operations with better technology at lower cost to cope with rapid changes in scientific advancement and economic competition. Thus, a second-generation reusable launch vehicle (2GRLV) will play a major role in future operation of NASA centers. Envisioning this potential way of saving the program by reducing the cost, NASA is currently managing an innovative program called the Space Launch Initiative (SLI) to develop key technologies that will support the development of second-generation reusable launch vehicles (RLV) which will be more economical and safer and reliable than the existing space shuttle system. The selection of which technologies to fund for further development is being based on their likelihood to contribute to providing cost reduction or safety improvements. It is envisioned that in the 2006 timeframe, NASA will make a decision as to whether or not to commit to the replacement of the current space shuttle system with a new RLV. The decision to proceed with a new RLV will be partly based on the likelihood that the new system will be better than the existing space shuttle. Government and private entrepreneurs are currently considering four different types of RLV projects: commercial programs, government programs, international concepts, and X Prize competitors. NASA has already commissioned a series of X-programs to study the future RLV program. Today, NASA decision makers need analytical tools to help determine which technologies to fund the development of this technology. In the 2006 timeframe, these same decision makers will need analytical tools to evaluate and compare various RLV architectures, including the existing space shuttle so as to make the best decision for whether or not to proceed with the development of a new RLV, and if so, then which one. A study is conducted here to establish ground level knowledge from the historical data and expertise experiences of the field personnel. Such information is compiled in the form of mission statement, goals, space shuttle operations, payloads and cargo constraints, resource constraints, and bottlenecks to the enhancement vector.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory initiated a Prize with support from Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), and sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy Water Power Technologies Office (DOE WPTO) to encourage ideas to reduce the time to commissioning for PSH projects. As a result, nine finalists have been chosen to develop their concepts in advance of the FAST Prize Pitch Contest to be held on October 7, 2019. The National Labs will provide technical and business advisement to the noted FAST Prize finalists in preparation for this Pitch Contest.
The Region Five Development Commission (“R5DC”) serves five counties in Minnesota, USA and received an Energizing Rural Communities Prize through the U.S. Department of Energy. Currently, R5DC is piloting projects in the City of Motley, for which two energy audits have been conducted. R5DC is seeking input regarding which options to pursue based on these two audits, as well a framework for future audits to be as effective and helpful as possible. This report defines a framework for future audits for R5DC, by providing an overview of the requirements for different levels of audits and identifying available resources for conducting energy audits.
Given here are the rules officially adopted by the Aeronautical Commission of the Aero Club of France for a flight competition to be held in France in 1920 at the Villacoublay Aerodrome. The prize will be awarded to the pilot who succeeds in obtaining the highest maximum and lowest minimum speeds, and in landing within the shortest distance.
The study by the American Productivity & Quality Center (APQC) was commissioned by Loral Space Information Systems, Inc. and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to evaluate internal assessment systems. APQC benchmarked approaches to the internal assessment of quality management systems in three phases. The first phase included work conducted for the International Benchmarking Clearinghouse (IBC) and consisted of an in-depth analysis of the 1991 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award criteria. The second phase was also performed for the IBC and compared the 1991 award criteria among the following quality awards: Deming Prize, Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, The President's Award for Quality and Productivity Improvement, The NASA Excellence Award (The George M. Lowe Trophy) for Quality and Productivity Improvement and the Shigeo Shingo Award for Excellence in Manufacturing. The third phase compared the internal implementation approaches of 23 companies selected from American industry for their recognized, formal assessment systems.
Neutron detectors are crucial in fundamental science, nuclear security, safeguards, and civil applications. 3 He-filled gas proportional counters are the gold standard for thermal neutron detection, prized for their efficiency, neutron/gamma discrimination, and stability; however, the scarcity of 3 He has prompted the search for alternatives. Here, we introduce a neutron detector design based on a scintillating composite consisting of 6 Li glass scintillator particles dispersed in an organic matrix. A detector consisting of this scintillating composite, photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) for optical detection, and electronics for reading out the PMT signal in both pulse and current modes was prototyped and characterized using various neutron and gamma sources. The prototype achieves a measured intrinsic detection efficiency of 6.70 ± 0.01%, a die-away time of 10.3 ± 0.1 μs, a negligible gamma misidentification probability, and response linearity up to at least 3.7 × 10 6 incident neutrons/s established via a cross-calibration technique. This detector holds the potential to outperform traditional 3 He-gas-based neutron detection systems, offering a viable alternative amidst the ongoing 3 He shortage and promising advancements in neutron detection technology.
Recent research has highlighted the potential for solar to act as a zero-marginal-cost and zero-emission flexibility resource on the bulk power system when operated with advanced control systems. To increase the performance of these systems, leading technologies, including machine learning (ML) and hierarchical inverter set point allocation, have been developed by Latimer Controls, Inc. to estimate the headroom of large PV plants for grid operation and control; however, these technologies lack comprehensive validation under real-world application scenarios. Latimer Controls, Inc. received two voucher awards for research at a national laboratory from the Department of Energy American Made Solar Prize Round 6. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) was selected to collaborate with Latimer staff to conduct a performance evaluation of Latimer PV control software. The NREL team will develop a hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testbed to perform testing and validation of the Latimer PV control technology in a de-risked yet realistic testbed environment. Latimer and NREL worked together to analyze the test data, draw conclusions from the results, and disseminate the resulting scientific findings. In this CRADA work, we propose to test and validate the real-world application of the Latimer Control solution in an HIL environment. We evaluate the performance of different flexible solar technologies in responding to automatic generation control signals in a closed-loop fashion. In particular, a data-driven potential high limit (PHL) estimation is developed for large solar plants to accurately estimate their headroom so that they have fast and short-time regulation and control capability to participate in grid services and respond to grid signals in real time (e.g., AGC). This PHL estimation algorithm is embedded in a hardware power plant controller (PPC) and tested with an IEEE-39 bus system model developed in RTDS. To account for the varying cloud conditions and diverse inverter dispatches, we developed a 135-MW PV plant with detailed modeling of 27 individual PV modules and inverters using RTDS. The real-world communications used in such big plants, such as ModBus TCP/IP for inverter level and DNP3 for plant level, were developed to emulate the real-world applications in big PV plants. The ML-based PHL estimation method is tested under nine separate weather scenarios against the ‘reference-control’ solution, hereafter referred to as the baseline solution. The baseline method reserves a subset of inverters (reference group) to operate at their PHL at all times and dispatches only the remaining inverters (control group) at curtailed levels to fulfill the flexibility need. Despite being successfully piloted by NREL in California in 2017 and Chile in 2020, there exist two gaps in the state of the art to fully unlock the flexibility of PV plants: a. There is a trade-off between the PHL estimation accuracy and the flexibility range. b. There lacks granularity in the PHL estimation to capture the variation across inverters. The Latimer solution seeks to address these gaps by applying machine learning methods to improve PHL estimation accuracy while accounting for variability at every inverter. Performance metrics were taken from the 2023 Georgia Power CARES utility-scale RFP. The results demonstrate that the ML-based approach outperforms the traditional baseline method in PHL estimation accuracy for 7 of 9 scenarios. The average PHL error across the nine scenarios was 7.40% for the ML-based method, 2.06% less than the 9.46% PHL error average across scenarios that was exhibited by the baseline method. Additionally, the PHL error was below 5% for at least 95% of the testing interval for 3 of 9 tested intervals with the ML approach, whereas it did not achieve this metric for any of the baseline tests. Overall, simulation results indicate the superior performance of an ML-based approach compared to the conventional baseline reference-control approach, showcasing its potential to support grid stability and operational efficiency. This laboratory HIL testing using real PPC, representative power system simulation models in real-time with detailed PV plant and inverter models, and real-world communication protocols gives us confidence that this machine learning based PHL estimation algorithm works well in the hardware PPC and therefore de-risks future field commissioning. The end goal of this project is to advance grid technology to address the grid operation challenges brought by solar plant’s variability and uncertainties in power generation.