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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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DOE OSTI2024

Megawatt-Scale Low Temperature Electrolyzer Research Capability

The development and installation of a flexible low-temperature electrolyzer research capability at the multi-MW scale with integrated renewables will help lower the cost barrier to entry for electrolyzer manufactures needing at scale system and stack evaluation and enable more electrolyzer manufactures to accelerate to commercialization with building block scale demonstration and validation. This NREL capability represents a DOE HFTO investment to support the $1B DOE Clean Hydrogen Electrolysis Program working to achieve the Hydrogen Shot goal of $1 for 1 kg hydrogen in 1 decade, lower greenhouse gas emissions and criteria pollutants, build clean energy infrastructure, and provide pathways to private sector uptake.

electrical grid↗

DOE OSTI2024

Energy Systems Integration Facility (ESIF): World-Class Systems Integration Capabilities and Research

The Energy Systems Integration Facility (ESIF), located at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) South Table Mountain campus, is a world-renowned user facility for research and development of modern, advanced, and clean energy technologies. ESIF is distinguished by its continuously evolving, highly integrated systems that span throughout the building, connecting research capabilities across multiple laboratories and test areas. The primary ESIF research systems include: [1] data, cyber, and control networks, [2] research electrical distribution buses (REDB), [3] thermal integration infrastructure, and [4] hydrogen systems. The data, cyber, and control networks provide monitoring, control, communication, automation, visualization, and time series data storage and tagging capabilities for research projects and ESIF systems, including facility safety functions. The REDB system consists of four dedicated AC and DC electrical power networks that can connect devices located across the facility through versatile, automatic circuit configuration to support complex power electronics experiments up to the megawatt-scale. The thermal integration infrastructure consists of three temperature-conditioned water loops that provide heating and cooling interfaces and capabilities for thermal energy research. The hydrogen systems provide megawatt-scale hydrogen production, drying, compression, high-pressure storage, and delivery to laboratory end uses, including hydrogen fuel cell vehicle fueling. The ESIF research systems interconnect and extend throughout the various lab areas of the facility to create elaborate networks composed of diverse technologies for cutting-edge research. The ESIF capabilities are operated and stewarded by the ESIF Research Operations group, who also actively upgrade and advance the systems to ensure they remain ahead of anticipated research - enabling the success of many pioneering energy integration projects. The poster, created by members of the ESIF Research Operations team, highlights and summarizes the four core integrated systems at ESIF. The poster was first presented at the internal NREL Energize Forum on May 13th, 2024, and received the "Best Poster" award.

capabilities↗

DOE OSTI2024

Water Security: Trends, Capabilities, and Research Directions to Secure Water Infrastructure

Water and wastewater sector is target rich and resource poor ~153k water utilities, serve 80% of US population ~16k publicly-owned wastewater systems in the US serve 75% of the population Need scalable solutions to fit small and medium to large systems Federal attention to critical infrastructure continues to grow – particularly in the water sector Increase in water sector incidents and threats for large scale disruption – particularly by nation-state actors and their proxies EPA is the SRMA DHS CISA focuses on critical infrastructure protection across sectors They must work together to secure WWW systems Research capabilities to enable secure water systems Current and future threats Resilience – natural disasters, accidents, cyber-physical attacks

99 - GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

DOE OSTI2024

The First Tri-Lab Workshop on Formal Verification: Capabilities, Challenges, Research Opportunities, and Exemplars

The First Tri-Lab Workshop on Formal Verification was held in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on December 5th, 2023. This workshop gathered staff from Sandia, Los Alamos, and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. This report summarizes and expands on the presentations given and discussion had at this workshop. In this report, we describe the current capabilities and research needs related to formal methods at the NNSA labs. In particular, we identify medium-term and long-term research gaps in programming languages, formalization efforts of complex systems, embedded systems verification, hardware verification, cybersecurity, formal methods usability, workflows, numerical methods, the use of formal methods for artificial intelligence (and its converse, artificial intelligence for formal methods), and collaboration opportunities and considerations on these topics. We conclude with a small number of exemplar research problems related to these topics.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

DOE OSTI2024

The National Criticality Experiments Research Center: Capability Expansion and Experiments in the Last Three Years

The National Criticality Experiments Research Center (NCERC) is a general purpose criticality experiments facility located inside the Device Assembly Facility (DAF) at the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS). Critical experiments containing any special nuclear material, any enrich ment/separation, most physical forms, and any configuration are possible within the constraints of the defined safety basis. NCERC draws upon physical assets and experimental knowledge to solve some of the most difficult problems with respect to criticality safety, reactor physics, and reactor kinetics. In terms of physical assets, NCERC houses hundreds of kilograms of special nuclear material with a majority consisting of highly enriched uranium (HEU) and weapons grade plutonium (WGPu). NCERC is home to four critical assembly machines: Comet, Planet, Flattop, and Godiva IV. To support various derivative diagnostics on fissioning systems, NCERC houses a count room to measure irradiated samples and dosimeters. This paper will step through each of these capabilities explaining recently completed work and upgrades.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

DOE OSTI2022

Evaluating the performance of a high resolution SLIM IM module integrated with an Agilent 6560 IM-QTOF MS - CRADA 413 (Final Report)

Developing new technologies that enhance our abilities to identify molecular signatures is important for the health of the public, the environment, and national security. Deploying these novel technologies requires multiple stages of validation and evaluation. This project focused on evaluating a technology developed at PNNL named Structures for Lossless Ion Manipulations (SLIM) in the context of a commercially available ion mobility mass spectrometer instrument from Agilent Technologies. There is a benefit to integrating the recently developed SLIM module into a real-world instrument platform. Data from the combined instrument will provide new standards for characterizing samples using ion mobility. These standards, related to both the drift time of ions and their resulting collisional cross sections (CCS) will be of value in characterizing samples from both humans and environmental samples, such as soil microbiomes. Because no previous instrument has been designed and implemented to simultaneously analyze the same sample in both constant and oscillating drift fields, the project will provide a new research capability that will support research in a wide variety of applications. The evaluation approach included measuring the resolving power, mass range, sensitivity, and accuracy of two SLIM variations (constant and oscillating fields). Although SLIM performed similarly to the commercial instrument in terms of sensitivity, mass range, and accuracy the resolving power of SLIM far exceeded that of the commercially-available instrument. This validation will provide critically useful data to our commercial partners which they can use to reach informed decisions on the advantages of the SLIM technology such as the outstanding performance and the low cost of manufacturing.

42 ENGINEERING↗

DOE OSTI2022

Development of In-Situ Corrosion Kinetics and Salt Property Measurements (Final Technical Report)

The goal of this research is to fill the knowledge gaps of salt properties and gain a fundamental understanding of corrosion mechanisms, thereby to guiding material selections of salts and containment materials. The proposed research is focused on building unique cross-cutting research capabilities that can perform research and analysis relevant to the following three research topics important for Generation 3 Concentrating Solar Power Systems: (1) Material characterization including investigations of fluid thermophysical properties and stability, (2) Durability testing of containment materials, and (3) Corrosion behavior characterization relative to levels of known contaminants (e.g., water and oxygen) in Heat Transfer Fluid (HTF).

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2021

Accomplishments and Year-End Performance Report; Wind Energy Program: Fiscal Year 2021

The National Wind Technology Center (NWTC), located at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) Flatirons Campus, has been a driving force in advancing wind energy technology research worldwide since its designation as a DOE national research center in 1992. Enabled by the Flatirons Campus's world-class facilities, scientists, engineers, analysts, and researchers are pushing the frontiers of science to pursue wind energy innovation. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2021, NREL continued to provide the technical expertise, research capabilities, and industry understanding to support DOE's ambitious climate action and research goals by advancing technology, addressing market and deployment barriers, and driving down costs with more efficient, reliable, and predictable wind energy systems. One of several highlights, NREL received an R&D 100 Special Recognition Award for its Thermoplastic Resin System for Wind Turbine Blades. This breakthrough in the wind turbine manufacturing process will enable the production of recyclable blades that are stronger, longer, and less expensive, while increasing energy capture, decreasing energy and transportation costs, and increasing blade reliability. In a year when the entire U.S. economy struggled to address workforce gaps, an NREL study compared wind industry needs, training programs, and hiring practices with perspectives from students and recent college graduates. Researchers hope that, by pinpointing areas of disconnect, the expectations of employers who have difficulty filling entry-level jobs can better align with the preparation of the potential applicants who find it hard to break into the field. The lab also made numerous new data and modeling resources available in FY 2021. Recent NREL releases include a modeling tool for predicting the power performance and structural loads of wind turbines within a wind farm (FAST.Farm), a computational framework for modeling golden eagle behavior near wind farms, and 20 years of offshore wind data. Updates were also made to the widely used Wind Plant Integrated Systems Design and Engineering Model (WISDEM), which couples engineering and cost models to examine system-level trade-offs. Now, bolstered by a renewed national commitment to tackle climate change and revitalize the U.S. economy through increased investment in clean energy - particularly in offshore wind energy - NREL stands poised to lead the way to a sustainable future that powers the United States with significant levels of reliable, low-cost, accessible wind energy. This report provides an overview of the achievements NREL made on behalf of DOE's Wind Energy Technologies Office (WETO) and other partners during FY 2021 (between Oct. 1, 2020, and Sept. 30, 2021).

Flatirons Campus↗

DOE OSTI2022

EMPOWER: Accelerating the Transformation of the Global Energy Economy - 2022 JISEA Annual Report

The 2022 JISEA Annual Report describes accomplishments from the past year at the Joint Institute for Strategic Energy Analysis, which is accelerating the transformation of the global energy economy. 2021 was filled collaboration and high-impact multidisciplinary projects, exploring everything from the energy-water-food nexus, to the cobalt supply chain, to sustainable communities. This year also welcomed the JISEA Catalyzers Initiative that is accelerating research capabilities at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. The Catalyzers are empowering communities and research partners to by bringing together experts working within one space to discuss capabilities and future needs to continue to stay ahead of the research curve.

clean energy↗

DOE OSTI2024

Developing Capabilities in Physical and Computational Sciences

The Physical and Computational Sciences Directorate (PCSD) performs fundamental research in support of the science missions of Offices of Basic Energy Sciences (BES), Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR), High Energy Physics (HEP), Nuclear Physics (NP), and Fusion Energy Sciences (FES), and others within the domains of the chemical, materials, computational sciences, mathematics, and physics. This LDRD project aims to provide funding to develop/demonstrate research capabilities for proposals and publications to support these science missions. Staff will propose small research tasks/projects to be performed under this overall project.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

DOE OSTI2023

Oak Ridge National Laboratory Annual Sustainability Report 2023

ORNL, managed under contract by UT-Battelle LLC, is DOE’s largest science and energy laboratory and, as such, executes the widest range of mission capabilities. Diverse expertise spans a broad range of scientific and engineering disciplines, enabling research and science achievements to accelerate the delivery of solutions to the marketplace. ORNL supports DOE’s national missions of scientific discovery, clean energy, and security. To execute these activities, ORNL has grown significantly over 80 years of continuous operations, consisting of facilities with commissioning dates ranging from the 1940s to the present—an extraordinary set of distinctive scientific facilities and equipment. The complexities of such a variety of facilities require teamwork among divisions, a wide variety of conservation projects, and creative strategies to achieve the desired energy and water savings. Such a diverse and unique set of major facilities, totaling over 5.5 million square feet, with 6,000 employees, requires an innovative plan to accomplish advancements in operational efficiencies. ORNL is tasked with the management of an extraordinary set of distinctive scientific facilities and equipment for DOE. ORNL is mission-driven, and its mission has grown substantially over the decades. ORNL’s core research capabilities provide broad science and technology support for DOE in the areas of energy, environment, and national security. Currently, ORNL is a world leader in materials, neutron, and nuclear science and engineering, and in high-performance computing and data analytics. ORNL’s vast portfolio of research facilities must be maintained and carefully upgraded to protect the nation’s investment in scientific analysis. The goal of sustainable and resilient operations is to enable more effective execution of ORNL’s science and technology mission. Sustainable operational practices and enhanced resilience strive for excellent results while remaining diligent in energy conservation, environmental stewardship, asset management, and community engagement. The Sustainable ORNL Program (Sustainable ORNL) Continuous improvements in operational and business processes must be integrated into the fabric of the ORNL culture to maximize the return from the investment made in modernizing facilities and equipment. The Sustainable ORNL program promotes the legacy of system-wide best practices, management commitment, and employee engagement that will lead ORNL into a future of efficient, resilient, and sustainable operations. ORNL leadership and Sustainable ORNL champions receive regular status reports on the progress of each project and focus area (i.e., roadmap) and periodic summary reports. More information can be found at the program’s website. The Sustainable ORNL roadmap structure endorses 15 vital roadmaps. The figure below summarizes the current project assignments and demonstrates that each project contributes to the wellbeing of the whole. Continuous employee engagement and regular status reports confirm the ideals of the program. The roadmap structure is not static; as the science mission advances and the needs of the organization evolve, the Sustainable ORNL roadmap structure elements are modified to align with developing priorities. In 2022, Sustainable ORNL made roadmap changes to better align ORNL to support new federal requirements that have been issued.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2026

NLR CSP Optical Facilities: Illuminating the Path Forward Through Innovation and Impact: Agreement 38490

This initiative is a multi-faceted project at the National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR) aimed at strengthening its Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) Optical Facilities to advance the development of low-cost, high-performance materials for solar and other applications. The project's strategy is built on three pillars: strategic stakeholder engagement, diligent facility maintenance and utilization, and the development of new research capabilities. The overarching goal is to ensure the facilities remain state-of-the-art resources for industry and academia, thereby accelerating the conversion of concentrated sunlight into energy. A key driver of the project is an international Advisory Board, which provides critical guidance on research priorities and industry needs, leading to new collaborations and secured funding. This external engagement, combined with proactive outreach to industry partners, ensures the lab's work remains aligned with real-world challenges, including materials durability and performance certification. Significant efforts in facility maintenance have addressed challenges with aging infrastructure. Notable achievements include the complete refurbishment of the hail-damaged Ultra-Accelerated Weathering System (UAWS) and the successful replacement of a failing 15-year-old Lambda 1050 spectrophotometer with a new-generation model, substantially upgrading material characterization capabilities. These maintenance activities were complemented by achieving a prestigious ISO 9001:2015 certification for the Advanced Optical Materials Labs, formally recognizing the quality and reliability of NLR's measurement capabilities. Despite these successes, challenges remain, including high demand for the High Flux Solar Furnace (HFSF) and intermittent failures of other key instruments. The project has delivered major advancements in research techniques and capabilities. At the Flatirons campus, a new indoor laboratory, was established to house advanced deflectometry and photogrammetry systems for heliostat characterization. For on-sun testing, a novel, actively cooled turning mirror was developed for the HFSF, enabling more realistic testing of particle receivers and components. A collaboration with Virginia Tech successfully demonstrated the high-temperature durability of a new solar absorber coating through extensive cyclic testing. Concurrently, new modeling took place to better predict material degradation on rough, fractal surfaces. In summary, this project has systematically enhanced NLR's CSP Optical Facilities through strategic upgrades, rigorous maintenance, and stakeholder-guided research. By overcoming equipment failures, budgetary constraints, and logistical hurdles, the project has reinforced NLR's role as a central hub for CSP innovation and materials testing. Future work will focus on securing diverse funding, expanding collaborations, and continuing to provide the critical infrastructure needed to accelerate the development and deployment of next-generation technologies.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2025

Assessment and Planning of Decarbonization Research and Training at UTRGV

During the one-year project, we identified research areas that align with Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) mission goals and assessed our university's current research capability and resources. In addition, we determined the resources needed to support FECM-related research and development (R&D) at our minority-serving institution, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) in to increase our competitiveness for future funding opportunities in this area. We also gathered information on the current academic courses, programs and curriculum at UTRGV that aligns with FECM goals and described additional needs pertaining to student training.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2023

Physics Basis, Optimization, and Control for Integrated 3D Edge Long-pulse Tokamak Scenarios

The aim of this project with international collaborations (PI: J.-K. Park of Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory) is to develop a unified physics basis and predictive capability for the control of edge-localized modes (ELMs) with optimized non-axisymmetric (3D) fields, by leveraging the unique research capabilities of international KSTAR tokamak in Korea. At the University of California, Irvine, we use a fusion simulation code GTC to study the effects of the 3D magnetic fields (including both magnetic islands and stochastic magnetic field lines) on microturbulence. We focus on the effects of 3D equilibrium on turbulent and neoclassical transport that leads to ELM suppression. During the project period, the UCI team of this collaboration has made significant progress in understanding turbulent transport in 3D geometry including both tokamaks with RMP and stellarators. Four UCI postdoctoral researchers, Drs. Javier Nicolau, Gyungjin Choi, Pengfei Liu, and Xishuo Wei were partially supported by this project and collaborating with the entire project team. We have published 4 journal papers and gave several invited talks. This project advance physics understand of 3D effects on microturbulence, specially effects of magnetic islands. It will contribute to the DOE SciDAC ISEP project in the area of GTC development for general 3D geometry capability, rigorous verification and validation, and readiness for the emerging exascale computing. Through collaborations with computational scientists, the project helps to advance high performance computing in the area of GPU acceleration, linear solver, and data management.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

DOE OSTI2026

Oakland University Cybersecurity Center (Final Scientific/Technical Report)

This report summarizes the outcomes of Award DE-CR0000023, “Oakland University Cybersecurity Center,” a 31-month project funded by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER). The project addressed cybersecurity risks facing small and medium-sized manufacturers (SMMs) transitioning to Industry 4.0. The project integrated customer discovery, applied research, and cybersecurity training development. A total of 51 cybersecurity assessments identified significant gaps in baseline practices, incident response, and workforce capability. Research efforts produced a scalable mitigation framework tailored to SMM environments, and workforce analysis identified persistent talent gaps. Eight cybersecurity training modules were developed and deployed via Oakland University’s Professional and Continuing Education (PACE) platform. All objectives were completed, with 98.93% federal budget utilization and cost share exceeding requirements. The project establishes a scalable model for strengthening cybersecurity resilience and workforce capacity across U.S. manufacturing supply chains.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

DOE OSTI2025

Tracking and Positioning System for Floating Solar (CRADA Abstract)

The project goal is to develop a floating solar photovoltaics (FPV) tracking & position system that: (1) increases annual energy production of FPV projects by >10%, (2) lowers levelized cost of energy (LCOE) for FPV by >10%, and (3) leverages U.S. contract supply chain & manufacturing. The outcome of the project will be a certified tracking product that has undergone extensive field testing and is ready for commercial sales. The primary objectives for each budget period are: • BP1: Define product requirements, develop initial controls architecture and design other sub-components, complete small-scale pilot testing, install a larger-scale pilot, secure sites for commercial pilots, and develop the beta-version of a user portal. • BP2: complete control system and sub-component design, successful demonstration and testing at a commercial pilot, certification & bankability, finalize user portal, and complete various commercialization activities related to supply chain, customer acquisition, and sales. PNNL will provide support during both project phases for prototype development and testing of the controls architecture, software, and hardware components of the tracking and positioning system. PNNL will provide support during both project phases for prototype development and testing of the controls architecture, software, and hardware components of the tracking and positioning system. This effort represents PNNL’s first opportunity to support the floating solar photovoltaics (FPV) industry with capabilities, facilities, and personnel developed to contribute to the marine energy (e.g., wave and tidal energy) sector. This portfolio expansion leverages internal and DOE EERE investments and the growing visibility of PNNL-Sequim’s Marine and Coastal Research Laboratory (MCRL) and our marine research capabilities, in general. The development of effective and low-cost FPV platforms is a potential way to increase the nation’s set of tools for providing emission-free electricity without utilizing valuable terrestrial resources. Successful commercialization of such a project may lead to economic benefits through job creation, supply chain creation, and access to a cheaper source of electricity.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2022

H2@Scale Program Multi-Party Cooperative Research and Development Agreement: California Hydrogen Infrastructure Research Consortium Task (Cooperative Research and Development Final Report, CRADA Number CRD-18-00754)

Many stakeholders are working on hydrogen and fuel cell products, markets, requirements, mandates, and policies. California has been leading the way for hydrogen infrastructure and fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) deployment. This leadership has advanced a hydrogen network that is not duplicated anywhere in the United States and is unique in the world for its focus on providing a retail fueling experience. In addition, the advancements have identified many lessons learned for hydrogen infrastructure development, deployment, and operation. Other interested states and countries are using California's experience as a model case, making success in California paramount to enabling market acceleration and uptake in the United States. The technical research capability of the national laboratories can be used to assist California in decisions and evaluations, as well as to verify solutions to problems impacting the industry. Because these challenges cannot be addressed by one agency or one laboratory, a hydrogen research consortium has been organized to combine and collaborate. The collaboration aims to ensure that data are available to evaluate projects and inform decision makers, independently verify and validate component solutions, provide experimental results for future hydrogen infrastructure, increase the availability of technical experts for quick-need issues for California hydrogen infrastructure development, deployment, operation, and technology advances. The proposed tasks include data collection from operational stations, component failure fix verification (i.e. nozzle freeze lock), new fueling methods for medium and heavy duty applications, and ensuring hydrogen quality is maintained. U.S. leadership for hydrogen technologies is rooted in California, a location for implementing many H2@Scale pathways such as reducing curtailment and stranded resources, reducing petroleum use and emissions, and developing and creating jobs.

08 HYDROGEN↗

DOE OSTI2025

Controlled environment agriculture: An opportunity to strengthen interagency research collaboration in the US government

Challenges facing food production and agricultural systems are increasingly interconnected with economic, security, health, and equity issues, among others. Threats such as extreme weather, economic volatility, and shrinking water resources and arable land, influence our ability to maintain a safe and resilient food supply. One promising solution to these threats is controlled environment agriculture (CEA). In many cases, CEA can drastically reduce the amount of water and land used in crop production while increasing productivity. Operations may be established in nearly any environment and harvests can take place year-round, supporting food system resiliency and sustainability. CEA sits at the nexus of a number of disciplines and industries, making it well suited for transdisciplinary and multi-institutional research coordination. Herein, authors from multiple US government agencies present CEA as a case study in improving cross-agency research collaboration. The federal government houses a range of scientific expertise and research capabilities, positioning scientists to lead national and global efforts in transdisciplinary, interagency approaches to complex challenges. Navigating cross-agency collaboration can be a challenge, especially coordinating across different scientific disciplines, geographic locations, and funding mechanisms. To enhance multiagency efforts, collaborators could prioritize (i) organizing personnel and resources, (ii) enhancing existing multiagency collaborations, and (iii) focusing on further opportunities for coordination. Adopting these approaches could enable federal researchers to reinforce and advance academic and industry efforts to address current CEA challenges while solidifying the United States as a leader in this arena.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗