NREL
Date: 2021-11-05
According to Optimal Strategies for a Cost-Effective and Reliable 100 pct Renewable Electrical Grid, a research study conducted by the US DOE's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), "incorporating energy efficiency measures can reduce the amount of energy storage needed to power the nation's buildings entirely with renewable energy." As more communities aim for 100 pct renewable energy, the study offers a strategy that could guide their paths -- one that shifts away from long-duration storage.

The NREL researchers considered solar and wind as the source of renewable energy, given that most plans for meeting the 100 pct renewables target take those into account. They also used the DOE EnergyPlus and OpenStudio building energy modeling tools to simulate energy demand, considering such factors as building size, age, and occupancy type. Data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration informed the scientists about the existing building stock characteristics and energy load used by the buildings. Further, the researchers separated the country into five climate zones, ranging from the hot and humid (Tampa, Florida) to the very cold (International Falls, Minnesota)along with New York City, El Paso, and Denver. Knowing the extremes of heating and cooling demands in each zone enabled the researchers to select the appropriate mix of renewable power sources to minimize any needed storage.

The researchers define long-duration storage as "energy storage systems that meet electricity demands for more than 48-hour durations." Therefore, long-duration energy storage provides power days or months after the electricity is generated. However, most long-duration storage technologies are either immature or not available everywhere. The NREL researchers calculated reaching the last 75 pct to 100 pct of renewable energy would result in significant increases in costs associated with long-duration energy storage. Instead of focusing on storage, the researchers emphasized the optimal mix of renewable resources, oversized generation capacities and investments in energy efficiency. The researchers note that multiple pathways exist to reach 100 pct renewable and, as the costs and performance of technologies change, new pathways will emerge, but they identified a key pathway that is achievable today.

The researchers also determined that over-sizing renewable capacities by a factor of 1.4 to 3.2 and aiming for 52 pct to 68 pct in energy savings through building energy efficiency measures lead to cost-optimal paths depending on region of the country. The report notes that making homes and offices more energy efficient reduces the amounts of renewable resources needed, decreases the amount of storage, and cuts transmission costs, ultimately supporting the implementation of a carbon-free energy system.

The NREL study was funded by the DOE Building Technologies Office (BETO). NREL is the U.S. DOE's primary national laboratory for renewable energy and energy efficiency research and development.

Download the NREL report HERE . (Source: US DOE, NREL, 2 Nov., 2021) Contact: NREL, Report Authors Sammy Houssainy, William Livingood, 303-384-7490, William.Livingood@nrel.gov, www.nrel.gov

More Low-Carbon Energy News NREL,  Energy Efficiency,  Energy Storage,  

National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Date: 2021-11-05
With more than $2 million in DOE Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) funding, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), North Carolina State University and IBM are studying how to best grow photosynthetic algae and efficiently sort municipal solid waste (MSW) for use as biofuel feedstocks.

NREL and its partner researchers will develop and demonstrate an open-source, freely available, and fully functional smart MSW management system. The use of photosynthetic microalgae to capture and store greenhouse gases, such as CO2 from the atmosphere is quickly getting scientists' attention. A team of researchers aims to improve the capture and storage efficiency of CO2 by coupling algae cultivation as photosynthetic and biocatalysis systems to a "mechanical tree" harboring a passive direct air capture unit. Researchers will also study mechanisms using biological, engineering, and analysis approaches to understand how algae might be engineered to better store CO2 as cell biomass, as well as develop novel CO2 delivery approaches in combination with the introduction of a highly effective carbonic anhydrase protein, according to the NREL release. (Source: NREL, Bio Market Insights, Nov., 2021) Contact: NREL. Zia Abdullah, Program Manager, (303) 275-4051, www.nrel.gov

More Low-Carbon Energy News National Renewable Energy Laboratory,  Biofuel,  Biofuel Feedstock,  

NREL
Date: 2021-09-08
The US DOE's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) reports it is in the late stages of prototype testing a new thermal energy storage technology that uses inexpensive silica sand as a storage medium. Economic Long-Duration Electricity Storage by Using Low-Cost Thermal Energy Storage and High-Efficiency Power Cycle (ENDURING) is a reliable, cost-effective, scalable and can be constructed using existing infrastructure such as retired coal- and gas-fired power plants.

ENDURING uses electricity from surplus solar or wind to heat silica sand as a thermal storage material. Particles are fed through an array of electric resistive heating elements to heat them to 1,200 degree C. The heated particles are then gravity-fed into insulated concrete silos for thermal energy storage. The baseline system is designed for economical storage of up to a 26,000 MWh of thermal energy. When energy is needed, the hot particles are gravity-fed through a heat exchanger, heating and pressurizing a working gas inside to drive turbines and spin generators that create electricity for the grid. Once discharged, the spent, cold particles are once again fed into insulated silos for storage for charging.

As a storage medium, abundant silica sand is stable and inexpensive at $30-$50/ton, and has a limited ecological impact both in extraction and end of life. Particle thermal energy storage is a less energy dense form of storage, but is very inexpensive ($2-$4 per kWh of thermal energy at a 900 degrees C charge-to-discharge temperature difference). The energy storage system is safe because inert silica sand is used as storage media, making it an ideal candidate for massive, long-duration energy storage. (Source: NREL, , Sept., 2021) Contact: NREL ENDURING Project, Zhiwen Ma, Principal Investigator, 303-275-3784 Zhiwen.Ma@nrel.gov, www.nrel.gov/research/staff/zhiwen-ma.html, www.nrel.gov

More Low-Carbon Energy News NREL,  Energy Storage,  Thermal Energy Storage,  

GE Renewable Energy, LM Wind Power
Date: 2021-07-30
GE Renewable Energy, LM Wind Power and GE Research, in partnership with the US DOE National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) are reporting completion of the 2020 Automated Blade Finishing programme aimed at improving wind turbine blade quality, manufacturing, advancing knowledge of composite processing together with sensing, robotics and automation to develop low-cost solutions for wind blade finishing with potential to increase throughput by 30 pct.

The programme is supported by the DOE Advanced Manufacturing Office (AMO) , Colorado’s Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT) . AMO, through the Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation awarded NREL $800 000 which was matched by $400 000 from OEDIT and $600 000 in company matching contributions. (Source: GE Renewable Energy, PR, July, 2021)

More Low-Carbon Energy News GE Renewable Energy news,  LM Wind Power news,  Wind Blade news,  Wind Energy news,  NREL news,  

GE Renewable Energy, LM Wind Power
Date: 2021-07-30
GE Renewable Energy, LM Wind Power and GE Research, in partnership with the US DOE National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) are reporting completion of the 2020 Automated Blade Finishing programme aimed at improving wind turbine blade manufacturing auomation, quality, and advancing knowledge of composite processing to develop low-cost solutions for wind blade finishing with potential to increase throughput by 30 pct.

The programme is supported by the DOE Advanced Manufacturing Office (AMO), Colorado's Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT) . AMO, through the Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation. (Source: GE Renewable Energy, PR, July, 2021) Contact: LM Wind Power, www.lmwindpower.com; GE Renewable Energy, www.ge.com/renewableenergy/home

More Low-Carbon Energy News GE Renewable Energy,  LM Wind Power ,  Wind Blade,  

US DOE EERE
Date: 2021-07-28
The U.S. Department of Energy's Building Technologies Office, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, in collaboration with Modelon and Objexx Engineering, have released the initial version of the Spawn of EnergyPlus (Spawn)

Spawn is not a replacement for EnergyPlus, at least not in the foreseeable future. Although it does perform whole-building energy simulation, it targets new use cases in advanced controls, district systems, and grid integration.

Spawn supports these new use cases by making fundamental use of coupled simulation via the Functional Mockup Interface standard. Spawn reuses the weather, envelope, lighting, and loads models from EnergyPlus and packages them as a single model. However, it replaces EnergyPlus' traditional, imperative, implicit, load-based HVAC and controls models with explicit declarative state-based models from the Modelica Buildings Library which are translated and automatically linked with the EnergyPlus model. By combining models in different configurations, Spawn is able to simulate either a single building or a collection of buildings linked by shared thermal, electrical, and control systems.

Spawn also fundamentally leverages the Modelica, a standard for equation-based modeling. The use of Modelica to model HVAC and control introduces capabilities that are not found in traditional energy simulation engines such as EnergyPlus. The most significant of these is the ability to simulate physically realistic control sequences using the same specification that is used in controller implementations. The ability to use a single control specification for both energy simulation and implementation aims to bridge these traditionally separate domains and promote the use of high-performance control sequences. Modelica also enables modeling of novel HVAC and district system components and configurations. Spawn HVAC and control models have been developed as part of a multi-year international effort led by IEA EBC Annex 60 and IBPSA-World Project 1 to develop Modelica models for building and community systems.

Spawn-of-EnergyPlus details HERE. (Source: US DOE, PR, 27 July, 2021) Contact: DOE, www.energy.gov/eere/buildings

More Low-Carbon Energy News US DOE EERE,  Building Energy Efficiency,  Energy Efficiency Software,  DOE Building Technologies ,  DOE EnergyPlus ,  

Babcock & Wilcox
Date: 2021-07-12
Akron, Ohio-headquartered Babcock & Wilcox (B&W) and the U.S. DOE National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) are reporting an Intellectual Property Option Agreement that gives B&W field-limited exclusive rights to negotiate a licensing agreement that would allow B&W to market an advanced, particle-based thermal energy storage technology currently in development.

B&W is part of NREL's "Duration Addition to electricitY Storage" (DAYS) Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) team, which is developing an innovative electric particle heater, pressurized fluidized-bed heat exchanger, a long-term thermal energy storage system that stores energy up to 100 hours, and other technologies to allow power producers to store solar or wind energy to generate grid-scale power..

"B&W's fluidized-bed heat exchanger will be able to generate up to 135 MW of power for up to 100 hours from stored clean thermal energy with zero CO2 emissions. By facilitating long-term storage of zero-carbon, renewable energy, this technology enables power producers to deliver power to the grid 24-hours a day, including during periods of peak demand, or when solar or wind are not optimal conditions," according to the B&W release.

B&W and NREL are also in discussions to develop a prototype heat exchanger that can be scaled-up for a pilot demonstration as part of NREL's Economic Long-Duration Electricity Storage Using Low-Cost Thermal Energy Storage and a High-Efficiency Power Cycle (ENDURING) project. (Source: Babcock & Wilcox, PR, 12 July, 2021) Contact: Babcock & Wilcox, Ken Young, CEO, www.babcock.com; NREL, (303) 275-4051,www.nrel.gov

More Low-Carbon Energy News Babcock & Wilcox,  NREL,  Renewable Energy,  Energy STorage,  

Colorado State University, Innosphere Ventures
Date: 2021-06-09
In Denver, the Colorado State University (CSU) Energy Institute reports it will receive $1 million in new funding from the U.S. DOE to support low-carbon energy innovation and commercialization in Colorado and the region.

The award is part of the DOE's $10 million Energy Program for Innovation Clusters (EPIC) and will provide resources to enable the CSU Energy Institute to launch the Rockies/Plains Energy Accelerator for Commercializing Hardtech (REACH) -- in collaboration with Innosphere Ventures, the Colorado Energy Research Collaboratory (CERC) and 22 other ecosystem partners. REACH is tailored to the specific needs of the Rocky Mountains Great Plains region which produces 25 pct of the nation's energy.

Innosphere and CSU will plan, develop, and execute a growth strategy for clean energy innovation clusters throughout the region in partnership with public, private, non-profit, and higher education partners, and with support from CERC -- Colorado's inter-institutional partnership between CSU, University of Colorado- Boulder, Colorado School of Mines and the DOE National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).

EPIC is a $10 million funding opportunity created by the DOE Office of Technology Transitions to underscore the importance of regional clusters which increase productivity of area companies, drive the direction and pace of innovation, and stimulate the formation of new businesses, further reinforcing the cluster itself.

CSU is one of 10 recipients of the EPIC funding award. (Source: Colorado State University, PR, Website, 3 June, 2021) Contact: Colorado State University Energy Institute, Bryan Willson, Exec, Dir., Allison Vitt, Allison.Vitt@colostate.edu, www.energy.colostate.edu; Innosphere Ventures, Mike Freeman, CEO, www.innosphereventures.org; Colorado Energy Research Collaboratory, www.coloradocollaboratory.org

More Low-Carbon Energy News Colorado State University ,  Clean Energy,  Renewable Energy,  Innosphere Ventures,  

National Renewable Energy Laboratory,nternational Marine Organization
Date: 2021-05-21
NREL reports it is investigating the use of marine biofuels to reduce sulfur and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from shipping in an effort to meet the International Marine Organization (IMO) allowed amount of sulfur oxides emissions from ships.

The IMO's newest upper limit, which took effect at the start of 2020, reduced the sulfur content of ships' fuel oil to 0.5 pct from 3.5 pct targeting at least a 50 pct reduction in GHG emissions from international shipping by 2050, relative to 2008 levels. To reach the IMO goal, ship owners can either install sulfur scrubbers to reduce emissions, or they can adopt a different, low-sulfur fuel. Both options carry an additional cost.

The NREL-directed research provides a starting point for establishing the feasibility of ships using biofuels, including the economics of marine "drop-in" biofuels weighed against the cost of burning heavy fuel oil (HFO), which presently accounts for roughly 75 pct of the fuel used.

The research concluded that, if shipping had no competition, the U.S. has sufficient bio-feedstocks for producing substantial amounts of marine biofuels to displace fossil fuels. With ships using 400 million metric tpy of fuel, a blend of 5 pt biofuels translates to about 5 billion gallons.

The research was funded by the U.S. DOE Bioenergy Technologies Office and by the U.S. Department of Transportation Maritime Administration.

Download Biofuel Options for Marine Applications: Techno-Economic and Life-Cycle Analyses report details HERE. (Source: NREL, May, 2021) Contact: NREL, Eric Tan, Snr. Research Engineer, www.nrel.gov

More Low-Carbon Energy News National Renewable Energy Laboratory,  Marine Biofuel,  Maritime Biofuel,  nternational Marine Organization,  

US DOE EERE
Date: 2021-05-14
In Washington, The U.S. DOE is reporting the selection of four projects totaling $1 million to conduct cutting-edge applied R&D concerning the interaction between promising biofuels and combustion engines. The projects will leverage a range of National Laboratory capabilities as part of the Co-Optimization of Fuels & Engines (Co-Optima) initiative, and aim to help bring these fuel-engine combinations closer to commercial adoption. The Co-Optima initiative provides American industry with the scientific knowledge needed to maximize vehicle performance and efficiency, leverage domestic fuel resources, and reduce life cycle emissions. DOE awarded funding to the following projects:

Aramco Services Company (Houston, Texas), Marathon Petroleum Company (Findlay, Ohio), and Caterpillar (Peoria, Illinois) will work with Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) to identify bio-blendstock characteristics that will provide the best 87 anti-knock index gasoline for heavy-duty gasoline compression ignition engines.

The Coordinating Research Council (Alpharetta, Georgia) will work with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) to develop an isotope ratio mass spectrometry method as a cost-effective means to identify renewable content in co-processed biomass- and fossil-derived fuels.

Cummins (Columbus, Indiana) will work with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to develop a deeper fundamental understanding of how physical and chemical fuel properties affect mixing-controlled compression ignition combustion in medium-duty engines through computational fluid dynamics simulations.

Shell (Houston, Texas) will work with ORNL and ANL to quantify how fuel volatility can be used to increase anti-knock performance, in order to increase engine efficiency and the use of biomass-derived fuels.

Each awardee will receive up to $250,000 in National Laboratory assistance for experimental or computational projects that leverage innovative capabilities in the areas of bioblendstock fuel property, production, and combustion performance research. The projects will also focus on the impacts of adoption of co-optimized fuel-engine combinations. Each of the awardees has committed to a 20 pct cost share contribution.

Sponsored by the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy's (EERE) Vehicle Technologies and Bioenergy Technologies Offices, Co-Optima partners include ANL, LANL, PNNL, ORNL, Idaho National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and Sandia National Laboratories, as well as more than 20 university and industry partners.

EERE is focused on decarbonizing the transportation sector, the single largest source of domestic greenhouse gas emissions.

Download Co-Optima Initiative details HERE. (Source: US DOE, PR, 10 May, 2021)

More Low-Carbon Energy News DOE EERE,  Biofuel,  

UL, NREL
Date: 2021-05-07
Northbrook, Illinois-based Underwriters Laboratories (UL) and the US DOE's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) are reporting a new memorandum of understanding (MOU) for the further development and commercialization of Solar Automated Permit Processing Plus (SolarAPP+) software that will automate the permitting process for residential solar systems.

The SolarAPP+ enables local governments to shorten the time required to grant a permit from a national average of five business days to zero. NREL released a US DOE-funded pilot version of the free SolarAPP+ software in 2020. (Source: UL, PR, 5 May., 2021) Contact: UL, Steven Brewster, (847) 664-8425, ulnews@ul.com, www.ul.com; NREL, Wayne Hicks, (303) 275-4051, wayne.hicks@nrel.gov, www.nrel.gov

More Low-Carbon Energy News UL,  NREL ,  Solar,  

NREL
Date: 2021-03-26
A just released National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) study commissioned by the city of Los Angeles has concluded L.A. can achieve 98 pct clean energy within the next decade and 100 pct by 2035.

To meet that goal, the NREL report recommends: building solar farms, wind turbines and batteries as fast as possible; install solar panels on rooftops, electric cars in garages and electric heat pumps in homes; and invest in energy efficiency and "demand response" programs that pay people to use electricity during off-peak periods.

The study says "the benefits would be immense: not only helping to counteract the climate crisis, but also slashing deadly air pollution from cars, trucks, power plants and gas furnaces, much of it concentrated in low-income neighborhoods and communities of color."

Download the LA100: The Los Angeles 100 pct Renewable Energy Study HERE. (Source: NREL, Mar., 2021) Contact: NREL, www.nrel.gov

More Low-Carbon Energy News National Renewable Energy Lab,  NREL,  Renewable Energy,  

NREL
Date: 2021-03-24
A just released National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) study commissioned by the city of Los Angeles has concluded L.A. can achieve 98 pct clean energy within the next decade and 100 pct by 2035.

To meet that goal, the NREL report recommends: building solar farms, wind turbines and batteries as fast as possible; install solar panels on rooftops, electric cars in garages and electric heat pumps in homes; and invest in energy efficiency and “demand response” programs that pay people to use electricity during off-peak periods when solar and wind power are plentiful.

The benefits would be immense: not only helping to counteract the climate crisis, but also slashing deadly air pollution from cars, trucks, power plants and gas furnaces, much of it concentrated in low-income neighborhoods and communities of color, the report notes.

Download the LA100: The Los Angeles 100 pct Renewable Energy Study HERE

More Low-Carbon Energy News NREL news,  Renewable Energy news,  

Oregon
Date: 2021-03-22
In Salem, the Oregon House of Representatives is considering bill HR 3375, legislation calling for establishment of a task force and strategic plan on floating offshore wind and targeting development of 3 GW of floating wind energy in federal waters off the Oregon coast by 2030.

According to a 2019 National Renewable Energy Laboratory study -- Oregon Offshore Wind Site Feasibility and Cost Study -- floating wind off Oregon was a “promising’ potential source of clean energy for the state” because 97 pct of the 62 GW of available technical offshore wind energy resource in Oregon is in water depths greater than 60 meters. (Source: Oregon Representative David Brock Smith (R) , riviera, 19 Mar., 2021) Contact: Oregon State Representative David Brock Smith, www.oregonlegislature.gov/smithd

More Low-Carbon Energy News Floating Wind news,  Offshore Wind news,  

BOEM
Date: 2020-11-11
In Baton Rouge, Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) is calling for the US DOI Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) to establish a task force that will coordinate commercial leasing proposals for wind energy in federal waters off Louisiana's coast thus creating a business path for the development of wind farms in the Gulf of Mexico.

A single 600-MW wind farm in the Gulf would produce an estimated 4,400 jobs and $445 million in economic output during the construction phase, based upon modeling the by U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Operations would contribute 150 new permanent jobs, along with an estimated $14 million in annual spending. By 2035, industry forecasts suggest U.S. offshore wind energy capacity could grow to 22 gigawatts through $70 billion of new capital investment in manufacturing and port infrastructure, as well as 45,000 new direct jobs, according to the Governor's release.

BOEM studies estimate the Gulf of Mexico could produce as much as 10 pct of U.S. wind energy. (Source: Office of Gov. John Bel Edwards, KATC News, 9 Nov., 2020) Contact: Office of Gov. John Bel Edwards Harry Vorhoff, Dir., Governor's Office of Coastal Activities. (225) 342-7015, (866)366-1121, gov.louisiana.gov; BOEM, Connie Gillette, Public Affairs, Walter Cruickshank, Acting Dir., (202) 208-6474, www.boem.gov

More Low-Carbon Energy News BOEM,  Offshore Wind,  

ORNL,NREL
Date: 2020-10-23
According to research by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), although tall, fast-growing trees are best for biomass/biofuel feedstock the amount of sugars contained within the cellulosic biomass that can be converted into fuels is equally important.

Feedstock growers typically look at how many trees they can plant per acre rather than the quality and volume of fuel those trees will produce. To address the issue, the researchers analyzed 900 samples of black cottonwood trees -- a type of fast-growing poplar -- grown in Oregon to determine how variations in their size and composition affect feedstock quality and biorefinery economics.

The researh found the amount of fuel produced per-acre per-year and the minimum fuel selling price(MFSP) are most strongly connected to the size of a tree. Since a farmer would only plant the biggest and fastest growing trees, the researchers examined those and found that the size and sugar content in those trees were of nearly identical importance to the MFSP.

Download Economic Impact of Yield and Composition Variation in Bioenergy Crops: Populus trichocarpa report details HERE. (Source: US DOE ORNL, Center for Bioenergy Innovation, 19 Oct., 2020) Contact: Center for Bioenergy Innovation, www. cbi.ornl.gov; ORNL, Kimberly A Askey, (865) 576-2841, askeyka@ornl.gov, www.ornl.gvo

More Low-Carbon Energy News Biofuel Feedstock,  Lignin,  ORNL,  NREL,  Cellulosic,  

Electrochaea
Date: 2020-10-21
Munich, Germany-headquartered renewable methane technology provider Electrochaea GmbH reports the opening of its U.S. subsidiary, Electrochaea Corporation, in Sacramento to develop commercial opportunities and partnerships in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Electrochaea offers a climate-friendly solution to store wind and solar generated electricity and recycle CO2 in the form of renewable methane -- a substitute for fossil fuels and major advancement in transitioning to a clean energy economy.

Over the past six years, Electrochaea developed renewable methane from the lab to industrial-scale pilot plants in Denmark and Switzerland, feeding the national gas grids. In 2019 the company opened a third pilot plant at the U.S. DOE National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado, with support from SoCalGas. The company also has renewable methane projects under development in the U.S. (Source: Electrochaea Corporation , PR, Oct., 2020) Contact: Electrochaea Corporation, Mich Hein, CEO, Beth Bray US Communications Director, (773) 241-4948, beth.bray@electrochaea.com, www.electrochaea.com

More Low-Carbon Energy News Electrochaea,  Methane,  

Iowa State University
Date: 2020-08-26
Iowa State University researchers are studying ways to increase farmer interest in and profits from anaerobic digestion (AD) and renewable natural gas (RNG) made from manure and other low-value biomass. The research team is aiming to help resolve technical, economic and social issues believed to be hindering the growth of AD technology in the US.

The researchers see abundant possibilities for RNG in Iowa and beyond to address greenhouse gas emissions and to diversify farm income and reduce pollution in the state's waterways.

The development of biofuels is a major recommendation in Iowa's 2016 energy plan and the state economic development authority's 2018 Biomass Conversion Action Plan which has been funding research into various anaerobic digestion techniques.

According to a 2013 National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) inventory, Iowa produces more manure than any other state but the sources are not sufficiently concentrated to make digestion feasible or economically profitable.

Researchers hope to enhance the efficiency, reduce the costs and create ancillary income streams that will persuade farmers in Iowa and beyond to add AD to their operations. To that end, the researchers will explore the use of mixed prairie grasses and winter cover crops, such as annual rye, for AD.

The project is funded with a $10 million grant from the USDA. (Source: Iowa State University, PR, Aug., 2020) Contact: Iowa State University, Prof. Lisa Schulte Moore, Natural Resource Ecology and Management, (515) 294-7339, , www.iastate.edu

More Low-Carbon Energy News Iowa State University ,  RNG,  Biogas,  Anaerobic Digestion,  

US Agency for International Development
Date: 2020-07-27
The US Agency for International Development (USAID) and India's Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) have announced a collaborative partnership between the SAID-supported South Asia Group for Energy (SAGE) and MNRE's national technical institutions.

The SAGE partnership will provide a formal platform for collaboration on clean energy development and provide advanced technical knowledge on clean energy development from the US DOE National Laboratories to MNRE's National Institute of Wind Energy, National Institute of Biomass Energy, and others.

The SAGE consortium includes USAID, the US Department of Energy and three of the Department of Energy's National Laboratories -- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. (Source: USAID, EconimicTimes India, July, 2020) Contact: USAID, www.usaid.gov

More Low-Carbon Energy News US Agency for International Development ,  Clean Energy,  Renewable Energy,  Bioenergy,  

National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Date: 2020-06-01
The US DOE National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) reports it is exploring the possibilities of using blockchain for renewable energy. To that end, NREL will work with energy utility, Exelon, and the Energy Web Foundation (EWF) to research blockchain for community-based energy markets.

The project will focus on enhancing coordination between utilities and consumers and finding ways to connect distributed energy resources (DERs) like solar panels to local distribution networks by using digital identity and hardware created by NREL's Energy Systems Integration Facility (ESIF).

NREL plans to leverage blockchain to create a scalable solution for electricity feeders, which can be customized as desired. Currently, they are running a virtual pilot that connects electric vehicles, smart appliances, batteries, and other components, to a blockchain.

NREL is a member of Blockchain for Optimized Security and Energy Management (BLOSEM), and provides expertise on accelerating blockchain adoption in the energy sector. The BLOSEM project is led by the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) and is funded by the Grid Modernization Laboratory Consortium. (Source: NREL, COINGEEK, 30 May, 2020) Contact: NREL, Dane Christensen, dane.christensen@nrel.gov, www.nrel.gov; Excelon, www.exeloncorp.com; Web Foundation, www.energyweb.org

More Low-Carbon Energy News National Renewable Energy Laboratory ,  NREL,  Renewable Energy,  Exelon,  ,  

BrainBox
Date: 2020-04-29
Montreal-based autonomous building technology specialist BrainBox AI reports raising $12 million to further deploy its ground-breaking AI technology for buildings across North America and abroad.

BrainBox AI technology combines deep learning, cloud-based computing and autonomous decision making to support a 24/7 self-operating building. BrainBox AI's solution enables a building's HVAC system to operate autonomously, in real-time, to generate up to a 25 pct reduction in total energy costs and a 20-40 pct reduction in carbon footprint.

In the 11 months since its launch to market in May 2019, BrainBox AI has installed its self-learning technology in over 15 million square feet of commercial properties, across 15 cities on 3 continents. The company has gained significant traction in its home market of Canada, and the recent raise will enable rapid expansion in both existing and new markets.

BrainBox AI works in collaboration with research partners including the US DOE National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), the Institute for Data Valorization (IVADO), Montral's McGill University and others. (Source: BrainBox AI, PR , 28 April, 2020) Contact: BrainBox AI, Sean Neely, CEO and Co-Founder , 888 585 2630, www.brainboxai.com

More Low-Carbon Energy News Energy Efficiency,  Energy Monitoring,  

National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Date: 2020-04-20
Scientists at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) are touting an innovative "six-junction" solar cell using 140 layers of semiconductor materials to achieve a conversion rate of 47.1 pct -- breaking the previous record set by the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE and Soitec of 46 pct set back in 2014.

The NREL scientists produced a six-junction solar cell, combining sandwiching multiple layers of materials that were fine-tuned to convert different portions of the light spectrum into electricity. While the layered solar cell design will almost certainly be cost prohibitive to produce at commercial scale compared to conventional silicon cells, it may find use in more niche applications, the NREL team said. Generally, the super high-efficiency solar cells are limited for use in spacecraft and satellites, where performance, space and weight are a premium. However, the researchers highlight that cells with such high conversion efficiencies would be ideally used in concentrated solar plants.

The researchers trialled their nearly 50 pct efficient solar cells with concentrated sunlight, producing the equivalent of 143 suns of solar intensity. Using unconcentrated light, the six-junction solar cells were able to achieve a conversion efficiency of 39.2 pct, which was also a new world record. (Source: NREL,PR, 14 April, 2020) Contact: NREL, John Geisz, Research Scientist, 303-384-6474, John.Geisz@nrel.gov, www.enrel.gov

More Low-Carbon Energy News National Renewable Energy Laboratory,  NREL,  Solar,  Solar Scell Efficiency,  

ExxonMobil
Date: 2020-01-13
"As we wrap up 2019, it's useful to take stock of the past year and keep looking ahead to the future and what we need to do to accomplish our energy goals. We need to do a lot. We are at a crucial inflection point with climate change, as is all too clear from the regular stream of updates in our news feeds every day. ExxonMobil’s annual Energy Outlook, which came out recently, discusses how the world is still offtrack to meet certain climate goals without a lot of additional effort.

"That further work means continued technology innovation. We have to keep finding and inventing solutions to the myriad of individual problems posed by the dual challenge. These different efforts -- both within and outside of our own research labs -- are all essential to moving us forward. They include the important renewables work being done with wind, solar and geothermal by so many around the world; they also include research focused on carbon capture technology and biofuels -- and everything in between. On ExxonMobil’s end, we are proud of our portfolio of innovative emission-lowering projects that have led to more than 10,000 patents in the last decade. Since 2000, we've spent $16.5 billion on this kind of R&D.

"Moving into 2020, we need to stay focused on several key themes related to solving the dual challenge: scale, speed, collaboration and training the next generation of scientists, engineers and other problem solvers. Scale is everything in our efforts. Reducing carbon emissions to fight climate change as we simultaneously deliver more and more energy to a growing world is a big job. And it's not just one job. As I said earlier this year, 'Not only are the sizes we are talking about so big they are sometimes unfathomable, but we must deploy solutions globally AND across countless end uses. It's not one equation with one unknown, but multiple equations with multiple unknowns.'

"As we work to solve for these multiple unknowns, we are pursuing projects big and small. What they share in common is the strict requirement that they must lead to a scalable solution. Energy is gigantic, from the infrastructure that supports it to the markets that drive its supply and demand. Any solution we find in the lab, however brilliant, must be ready to immediately scale.

"And it needs to happen quickly. As we know, scientific discovery is an ongoing endeavor -- you can't put a deadline on invention. But we can accelerate innovation. First, we can follow the example of parallel processing from computer science. In our labs, we don't wait for the basic science to be definitively 'concluded' (if it even can be). We start the engineering while we're still doing the science and iterate between the two. That requires collaboration between different types of researchers and innovators – between our corporate lab and government and academic labs, for example -- and that's the other way we speed up scalable solutions: with partnerships. Partnerships are a force multiplier. They are absolutely key when it comes to solving the dual challenge. When I look back on the past year, I am proud of the scope and variety of partnerships we undertook as a company. To name just a few:

National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the National Energy Technology Laboratory (and other DOE-funded labs) -- in a 10-year, $100 million collaboration to bring advanced energy technologies to market at scale, focused on reducing carbon emissions.

IBM -- to collaborate on quantum computing that could help make energy exploration and extraction enormously efficient.

MIT Energy Initiative -- to extend our existing relationship supporting this project, which is committed to discovering new emission-reducing technology.

Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) locations in Madras and Bombay -- to continue our research with scientists and students working on the ground in India to address the energy needs and challenges on the subcontinent, including studying life cycle greenhouse gas emissions in India's power sector.

Clariant and Genomatica -- to convert residue left over from farming into biofuel that can power trucks, ships and more. Clariant has expert processes to extract sugars from agricultural leftovers like wheat straw, while Genomatica turns sugars into biofuels.

Global Thermostat -- to evaluate the scalability of their innovative carbon capture technology, which removes CO2 from the atmosphere and industrial sources.

Microsoft -- to digitally transform 1 million acres of unconventional oil and gas fields in the Permian Basin, making it the largest-ever oil and gas acreage to use cloud technology, and also making it more efficient. Energy efficiency is an often overlooked area when we think about the dual challenge.

(Source: ExxonMobil, PR, , 31 Dec., 2019) Contact: ExxonMobil, Dr. Vijay Swarup, VP Research and Development , www.linkedin.com › dr-vijay-swarup-120a95159, (972) 444-1107, www.exxonmobil.com

More Low-Carbon Energy News Climate Change,  ExxonMobil,  Vijay Swarup ,  

DOE SETO
Date: 2019-12-20
Cleveland-headquartered power management specialist Eaton Corp is reporting receipt of $3 million in grant funding from the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) to pursue research and development initiatives that enable more widespread adoption of solar power and energy storage.

Eaton's research will focus on developing a real-time controller for behind-the-meter distributed energy resources and loads, such as solar generation and battery storage. The project will integrate data from smart meters to enable enhanced grid services that improve reliability in distribution systems with high solar penetration.

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Electric Power Research Institute, Pecan Street, Provo City Power and Commonwealth Edison will participate in Eaton's research. m will work with existing utility infrastructure.

SETO supports early-stage R&D to improve the affordability, reliability, and performance of solar technologies on the grid. (Source: Eaton, PR, BusinessWire, 19 Dec., 2019) Contact: Eaton, Cara Klaer, Media, (248) 226-1755, CaraLKlaer@eaton.com, www.eaton.com; DOE Solar Energy Technologies Office, www.energy.gov/eere/solar/solar-energy-technologies-office

More Low-Carbon Energy News Eaton Corp,  SETO,  U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies ,  

National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Date: 2019-12-18
Researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) are reporting discovery of a novel oxygenate molecule that can be produced from biomass to be used as a blend for diesel fuel. The initiative focuses on improving fuel economy and vehicle performance while reducing emissions.

The team used corn stover-derived molecules as the starting point for a range of potential fuel candidates. From here, the researchers relied on predictive models to determine which molecules would be best to blend with and improve traditional diesel. With the goal of developing drop-in biofuels that work with existing infrastructure. The intention is to blend the 4-butoxyheptane molecule into diesel fuel at a mixture of 20 - 30 pct Initial results suggest the potential to improve ignition quality, reduce sooting and improve fuel economy of the base diesel at these blend levels.

NREL is working with Yale University, Argonne National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory as part of the US DOE Co-Optimization of Fuels and Engines (Co-Optima) initiative which is funded by the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy's Bioenergy Technologies.

Performance-Advantaged Ether Diesel Bioblendstock Production by a Priori Design, the initiative's research paper was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. (Source: NREL,PR, Dec., 2019) Contact: NREL, Derek Vardon, Senior Research Engineer, (303) 384-7763, Derek.Vardon@nrel.gov, www.nrel.gov

More Low-Carbon Energy News National Renewable Energy Laboratory,  

Hewlett Packard ,NREL
Date: 2019-11-20
Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) reports they will collaborate with the US DOE National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) on the development of water and energy efficiency software for data centers.

HPE expects the three-year collaboration to train machine learning models to detect anomalies so that energy efficiency issues can be predicted and prevented. (Source: HPE, Storage Review, 18 Nov., 2019) Contact: HPE, www.hpe.com; NREL, www.nrel.gov

More Low-Carbon Energy News Hewlett Packard,  Energy Efficiency,  NREL ,  

RCAM Technologies
Date: 2019-11-20
US start-up RCAM Technologies reports it has been selected by and received funding from the National Offshore Wind Research and Development Consortium for contract negotiations as part of the consortium's second round of wind research and development projects. RCAM's award, which is one of two totaling $1.9 million, will go towards "proving the feasibility and advance the design" of the company's modular "3D Printing" concrete foundation.

The two-year project scope includes the conceptual design, preliminary design, and feasibility assessment of the fixed-bottom, suction-bucket support structure and heavy-lift-vessel alternative for the US DOE National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) 15MW reference turbine.

According to its website, RCAM Technologies was "founded to develop concrete additive manufacturing technologies initially for wind energy technologies -- RCAM's vision for wind energy is to develop land-based and offshore wind turbine towers and substructures up to 200-meter tall at half the cost of conventional tall tower technologies." (Source: RCAM Technologies, PR, 19 November, 2019) Contact: RCAM Technologies, Jason Cottrell, CEO, www.rcamtechnologies.com; National Offshore Wind Research and Development Consortium, www.energy.gov/eere/wind/national-offshore-wind-rd-consortium

More Low-Carbon Energy News Offshore Wind Foundation,  

Equinor,Aker Solutions,NREL
Date: 2019-10-07
A new Offshore Wind California coalition of renewable energy companies is calling for the Golden State to commit to a goal of at least 10 GW of primarily floating offshore wind power in California waters by 2040.

The group that counts Equinor and offshore engineering company Aker Solutions among its members notes that U.S. East Coast states have about 22 GW worth of offshore wind commitments and are projected to see an estimated $70 billion in related supply chain spending by 2030.

The US DOE National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) estimates California's potential for offshore wind at about 112 GW, including about 8.4 GW in three Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) designated study areas. NREL also notes that floating wind platforms are a basic requirement for most of the state's offshore waters, which are too deep to support monopile or multi-leg jackets. (Source: NREL, Maritime Executive, Oct., 2019) Contact: NREL, www.nrel.gov; Aker Solutions, Fredrik Berge, Inv. Relations, +47 22 94 62 19, fredrik.berge@akersolutions.com, www.akersolutions.com; Equinor, Pal Eitrheim, VP New Energy Solutions, www.equinor.com

More Low-Carbon Energy News Offshore Wind,  Floating Offshore Wind,  BOEM,  NREL,  Equinor,  Aker Solutions,  Offshore Wind,  

National Offshore Wind Research and Development Consortium
Date: 2019-09-13
The new federally-funded U.S. National Offshore Wind Research and Development Consortium reports awarding its first contract to the U.S. DOE's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The $300,000 award will support NREL's work on the economic feasibility of shared mooring lines to cut deep-water floating wind farm costs by connecting adjacent turbine platforms and distributing load, resulting in fewer anchors and considerable savings.

The DOE-created consortium is funded with $20 million to conduct research and development to address technological barriers and lower the costs and risks of offshore wind in the United States. To that end, DOE and Department of the Interior (DOI) identified the following research areas to facilitate the development of the U.S. offshore wind industry: wind plant technology advancement; wind resource and physical site characterization, and; installation, operations and maintenance, and supply chain technology solutions.

The Consortium is administered by the New York State Energy Research and Development Agency (NYSERDA). (Source: National Offshore Wind Research and Development Consortium, ENR, 11 Sept., 2019)Contact: National Offshore Wind Research and Development Consortium, www.energy.gov › eere › national-offshore-wind-rd-consortium; NYSERDA, Alicia Barton, Pres., CEO, (518) 862-1090, www.nyserda.ny.gov

More Low-Carbon Energy News Wind,  Wind R&D,  NYSERDA,  

DEWA,Stanford University
Date: 2019-08-07
In the UAE, the Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (DEWA) reports it's Research and Development Center will collaborate with California's Stanford University on radiation cooling to improve the efficiency and performance of solar panels. The research will include the utilization of autonomous robots in monitoring and maintaining solar power plants, and the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to forecast the performance and production of photovoltaic solar plants in the short term.

The DEWA R&D Centre, situated at the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, also has renewable and alternative energy co-operation agreements with the U.S. DOE National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), the Spanish National Renewable Energy Centre, as well as the United Arab Emirates University and Khalifa University.

The UAE National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence 2031 aims to position the UAE as a global leader in AI by 2031; the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050 aims to diversify the country's energy mix and provide 75 pct of Dubai's total power output from clean sources by 2050. (Source: DEWA, MEP Middle East, Stanford, DEWA, Aug., 2019) Contact: DEWA, Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD and CEO, www.dewa.gov.ae; Stanford, www.stanford.edu

More Low-Carbon Energy News DEWA,  Solar,  Stanford,  PV,  

DOE EERE
Date: 2019-07-29
In Washington, the U.S. DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) reports it has awarded $2 million in funding for seven new high performance computing projects, as part of the High Performance Computing for Energy Innovation (HPC4EI) Initiative.

The initiative is a DOE-wide effort comprising EERE, the Office of Fossil Energy (FE), the Office of Science, and the National Laboratories. The initiative helps to leverage the National Laboratories' high performance computing capabilities to address challenges in manufacturing and materials through state-of-the-art modeling, simulation, and data analysis. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) leads the HPC4EI program along with partner laboratories Argonne, Lawrence Berkeley, Los Alamos, Oak Ridge, Pacific Northwest and Sandia National Laboratories, as well as the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and National Energy Technology Laboratory. Funded projects include:

NYC-based Ferric, Inc. will partner with LLNL to develop analytical tools that will combine traditional electromagnetic finite-element analysis with micromagnetic simulation.

Applied Materials in Sunnyvale, Calif. will continue to work with LLNL on Phase II of developing predictive modeling capabilities for the advanced film deposition technique, High Power Impulse Magnetron Sputtering.

Gas Technology Institute in Des Plaines, Ill., Gopher Resource, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) will partner to use high performance computing to increase the productivity of secondary lead furnaces.

Kingsport, Tenn.-based Eastman Chemical will collaborate with Argonne National Laboratory on developing open-source software-based models of a gas atomizer based on ongoing work being performed at Eastman.

Praxair Surface Technologies Inc. in Indianapolis will work with Ames National Laboratory to enhance the efficiency of metal powder production for additive manufacturing applications.

Within the High Performance Computing for Materials (HPC4Mtls) Program, EERE's Vehicle Technologies Office has selected two projects:

PPG Industries will collaborate with LLNL and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to apply classical molecular dynamics simulations and density functional tight-binding calculations.

AK Steel in Middletown, Ohio will collaborate with ORNL on thermo-mechanical forming process development to produce tailored strength automotive structural components. The Office of Fossil Energy selected two additional HPC4Mtls projects to support. Industry partners provide at least 20 pct of the funding for new projects. (Source:DOE EERE, PR, EIN,July, 2019) Contact: US DOE, www.energy.gov/eere/office-energy-efficiency-renewable-energy

More Low-Carbon Energy News DOE EERE,  Energy Efficiency,  

National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Date: 2019-07-12
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) reports it is one of nine organizations to receive US DOE funding to explore and develop technologies to reduce the environmental impacts of wind energy.

NREL will investigate and improve the effectiveness of ultrasonic acoustic deterrents that emit frequencies perceptible to bats to discourage them from approaching wind turbines.

Other technological innovations include thermal imaging cameras and specially developed radar technologies that detect and deter bats and other wildlife from approaching wind-turbine blades.

Identifying the best wind-wildlife mitigation technologies will enable more efficient and cost-effective wind energy projects. (Source: NREL,WindPower, 10 July, 2019) Contact: NREL, www.nrel.gov

More Low-Carbon Energy News National Renewable Energy Laboratory,  Wind,  

ExxonMobil
Date: 2019-07-03
Irving, Texas-headquartered U.S. energy giant ExxonMobil is reporting an agreement with NYC-based Global Thermostat to advance carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology that can capture and concentrate CO2 emissions from the atmosphere and industrial sources with the goal of slowing climate change.

Should the technical readiness and scalability of the technology be determined, pilot projects at ExxonMobil facilities could follow, according to a MobilExxon press release.

As previously reported, ExxonMobil recently committed to spending as much as $100 million over 10 years with the U.S. DOE National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) on research to bring lower-emission tech to commercial scale. (Source: ExxonMobil, PR, 1 July, 2019) Contact: ExxonMobil, Vijay Swarup, VP ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Co., William M. Colton, VP Strategic Planning, www.exxonmobil.com; Global Thermostat, Dr. Graciela Chichilnisky, CEO, 646-798-6217, www.globalthermostat.com

More Low-Carbon Energy News ExxonMobil,  CCS,  CO2 Emissions,  Carbon Capture,  

Centrica,NREL
Date: 2019-06-24
Centrica Business Solutions -- Centrica's distributed energy and power business -- reports it has joined forces with the US DOE National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to study the integration of energy storage technologies.

Research will be conducted at NREL's Energy Systems Integration Facility (ESIF) where the focus is on developing and demonstrating innovative energy systems and "second life" battery storage technologies. Second life batteries include batteries previously used in electric vehicles as a single unit for disparate applications. (Source: Centrica, NREL, newKerala, 23 June, 2019) Contact: Centrica Business Solutions, Fabio Mantovani, Director of Technology Strategy and Innovation, www.centrica.com; NREL, Martha Symko-Davies, Laboratory Program Manager, ESIF, www.nrel.gov

More Low-Carbon Energy News Centrica,  NREL,  Energy Storage,  Battery,  

ExxonMobil
Date: 2019-05-10
Irving, Texas-headquartered oil industry juggernaut ExxonMobil reports it will invest as much as $100 million over 10 years to research and to develop advanced lower-emissions technologies in collaboration with the US DOE National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL).

The research aims to advance potential scalable technologies that improve energy efficiency, minimize greenhouse gas emissions, and reduce emissions from the production of fossil fuels and petrochemicals, according to ExxonMobil. Initial collaborative efforts will explore ways to bring biofuels and carbon capture and storage (CCS) to commercial scale across the power generation, transportation, and manufacturing sectors. (Source: ExxonMobil, GreenCar Congress, 9 May, 2019)Contact: Exxon Mobil, William M. Colton, VP Strategic Planning, www.exxonmobil.com

More Low-Carbon Energy News ExxonMobil,  Climate Change,  Carbon Emissions,  Biouels,  CCS,  

US DOE Wind Energy Technologies Office
Date: 2019-03-15
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Wind Energy Technologies Office reports the allocation of $6.2 million for nine early-stage research projects expected to reduce environmental compliance costs and environmental impacts of offshore and onshore wind energy. With cost sharing, the projects are expected to total $9.5 million.

According to DOE, the projects will develop technology solutions to environmental siting and operational challenges to reduce project permitting time and costs, increase the certainty of project development outcomes and provide more deployment options at reduced costs. Three projects by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), American Wind Wildlife Institute of Washington and Stantec Consulting Services of Topsham will receive $2.3 million to further the advancement of smart curtailment strategies to minimize energy loss from curtailment and wind farm environmental impacts to bats. $1.4 million will be awarded to National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) of Golden, General Electric Renewable Energy of Greenville and the Iowa State University of Ame for projects dedicated to advancing the commercial readiness of bat deterrent technologies to minimize the need for curtailment.

The remaining $2.5 million will be allocated to SMRU Consulting of Friday Harbor, Oregon State University of Corvallis and Western EcoSystems Technology of Cheyenne to develop and validate pre- and post-construction monitoring and mitigation solutions for the offshore wind environment to ease regulatory barriers to deployment. (Source: US DOE Wind Energy Technologies Office, offshoreWIND .biz, 14 Mar., 2019) Contact: US DOE Wind Energy Technologies Office, Phone: (202) 586-5348, www.energy.gov/eere/wind/wind-energy-technologies-office

More Low-Carbon Energy News US DOE,  Wind,  EPRI,  

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Date: 2019-02-20
The U.S. DOE's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) reports it is seeking algae industry partners and academic researchers to help find the best algae strains for biofuels and bioproducts to reduce the cost of producing bioenergy from algae feedstocks.

PNNL leads the Development of Integrated Screening, Cultivar Optimization and Verification (DISCOVR) project that employs the unique complementary capabilities of the four participating national laboratories -- Los Alamos National Laboratory, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and Sandia National Laboratorie -- sand the outdoor testbed at the Arizona Center for Algal Technology and Innovation to identify and test high productivity microalgae strains for year-round outdoor cultivation. The goal is to provide a framework to accelerate meeting DOE's advanced biofuel goals with microalgae.

"A key cost driver for algae biofuels is productivity, which is directly tied to which algae strain is chosen and how it's cultivated," said Taraka Dale, a scientist at LANL. "By collaborating with industry and academia, we aim to bring together the best of the best strains and cultivation strategies to rapidly boost productivity and reduce costs."

"So far, we have tested more than 40 new microalgae strains and identified strains with up to 34 percent greater biomass productivity than benchmark strains," said Huesemann. "The success of the DISCOVR strain down selection and testing pipeline was demonstrated in 2018 by achieving more than 13 pct improvement in outdoor pond productivity relative to 2017, reducing the biomass selling price by about 10 pct."

The goal of the call for collaboration is to solicit algae strains, tools and techniques from the algae community to further boost algae productivity. This call gives industry and academia an opportunity to partner with the four national laboratories in DISCOVR, as well as AzCATI. (Source: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, PR, Feb., 2019) Contact: PNNL, Michael Huesemann, DISCOVR Consortium leader, discovr.algae@lanl.gov, https://discovr.labworks.org

More Low-Carbon Energy News Algae,  Algae Biofuel,  Pacific Northwest National Laboratory ,  

NREL
Date: 2019-01-07
According to Floating PV: Assessing the Technical Potential of Photovoltaic Systems on Man-Made Water Bodies in the Continental U.S., a recent study from the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), floating pv solar (FPV) projects across more than 24,000 man-made US reservoirs could generate approximately 10 pct of the nation's annual electricity production and, at the same time, reduce the land requirements for conventional ground mount PV power plants by at least 2.1 million hectares. (Source: NREL, PV Tech, Jan., 2018) Contact: NREL, Jordan Macknick, Research Team Leader, www.nrel.gov

More Low-Carbon Energy News NREL,  Solar,  Floating Solar,  

US DOE, Energy STorage
Date: 2018-12-05
In Washington, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced selections for its Notice of Opportunity for Technical Assistance (NOTA) to perform techno-economic studies to evaluate the long-term value of two selected pumped-storage hydropower (PSH) projects. While PSH projects were initially built to balance the electricity system between period of high demand during the day and low demand at night, increases in variable renewable generation have changed how plants are operated and the value they provide to the grid. For example, instead of generating during the day and pumping at night, many plants now change operational modes multiple times per day and are relied on to provide quick ramping or frequency response.

Determining the value of PSH under these changing grid conditions is a significant challenge that requires new modeling tools and analysis. These studies will provide PSH developers with improved capabilities to estimate the value of a proposed PSH project and compare financial revenue streams under current market structures relative to the economic value of PSH projects to the grid.

The techno-economic studies for the two selected projects will be carried out by a Technical Assistance team comprising subject matter experts from the following DOE national laboratories: Argonne National Laboratory, Idaho National Laboratory, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

The studies will support a larger multi-year research strategy to define the capabilities and estimate the value that hydropower and PSH resources contribute to electric grid resilience and reliability and how those contributions could be optimized for a rapidly evolving grid.

The Technical Assistance team has developed draft guidance -- a step-by-step methodology that can be used by PSH developers, plant owners and operators, and other stakeholders to assess the economic value of existing or planned PSH projects. The methodology will be applied at the two sites below to evaluate and demonstrate the potential economic and financial value of the proposed projects. Through these studies, the team will test and refine the valuation guidance, after which the guidance and valuation tools will be made publicly available for use by the hydropower industry.

GridAmerica Holdings' proposed Goldendale project would be located on the border of Oregon and Washington at the northern terminus of the Pacific AC and DC intertie transmission lines. This project, if constructed, could facilitate the storage and export of the growing amount of wind energy available in the Northwest to nearby states.

Absaroka Energy's proposed Banner Mountain project in central Wyoming along the proposed route of the Energy Gateway West 500-kilovolt (kV) transmission line, which would enable it to serve additional areas in the western and southwestern U.S.. Banner Mountain would be a closed-loop facility that would include three ternary units -- a PSH technology that enables rapid switching between generating and pumping modes -- for a total capacity of 400 MW.

The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy supports research and development of energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies to strengthen U.S. economic growth, energy security, and environmental quality. (Source: US DOE, Dec., 2018) Contact: EERE Water Power Technology Office, www.energy.gov/eere/water/articles/notice-opportunity-technical-assistance-techno-economic-studies-pumped-storage; OEERE, www.energy.gov/eere/office-energy-efficiency-renewable-energy

More Low-Carbon Energy News Energy STorage,  Pumped Energy STorage,