In an effort to better understand the impacts of high penetrations of photovoltaic generators on distribution systems, Arizona Public Service and its partners have begun work on a multi-year project to develop the tools and knowledge base needed to safely and reliably integrate high penetrations of utility- and residential-scale photovoltaics (PV). Building upon the APS Community Power Project -- Flagstaff Pilot, this project will analyze the impact of PV on a representative feeder in northeast Flagstaff. To quantify and catalog the effects of the estimated 1.3 MW of PV that will be installed on the feeder (both smaller units at homes as well as large, centrally located systems), high-speed weather and electrical data acquisition systems and digital 'smart' meters are being designed and installed to facilitate monitoring and to build and validate comprehensive, high-resolution models of the distribution system. These models will be used to analyze the impacts of the PV on distribution circuit protection systems (including anti-islanding), predict voltage regulation and phase balance issues, and develop volt/var control schemes. This paper continues from a paper presented at the 2011 IEEE PVSC conference that introduces the project and describes some of the preliminary consideration, as well as project plans and …

A new test stand has been developed at the Idaho National Laboratory for multi-kW testing of solid oxide electrolysis stacks. This test stand will initially be operated at the 4 KW scale. The 4 kW tests will include two 60-cell stacks operating in parallel in a single hot zone. The stacks are internally manifolded with an inverted-U flow pattern and an active area of 100 cm2 per cell. Process gases to and from the two stacks are distributed from common inlet/outlet tubing using a custom base manifold unit that also serves as the bottom current collector plate. The solid oxide cells incorporate a negative-electrode-supported multi-layer design with nickel-zirconia cermet negative electrodes, thin-film yttria-stabilized zirconia electrolytes, and multi-layer lanthanum ferrite-based positive electrodes. Treated metallic interconnects with integral flow channels separate the cells and electrode gases. Sealing is accomplished with compliant mica-glass seals. A spring-loaded test fixture is used for mechanical stack compression. Due to the power level and the large number of cells in the hot zone, process gas flow rates are high and heat recuperation is required to preheat the cold inlet gases upstream of the furnace. Heat recuperation is achieved by means of two inconel tube-in-tube counter-flow heat exchangers. …

The goal of this project was to develop a near-zero emissions flue gas purification technology for existing PC (pulverized coal) power plants that are retrofitted with oxycombustion technology. The objective of Task 3 of this project was to evaluate an alternative method of SOx, NOx and Hg removal from flue gas produced by burning low sulfur coal in oxy-combustion power plants. The goal of the program was to conduct an experimental investigation and to develop a novel process for simultaneously removal of SOx and NOx from power plants that would operate on low sulfur coal without the need for wet-FGD & SCRs. A novel purification process operating at high pressures and ambient temperatures was developed. Activated carbon’s catalytic and adsorbent capabilities are used to oxidize the sulfur and nitrous oxides to SO{sub 3} and NO{sub 2} species, which are adsorbed on the activated carbon and removed from the gas phase. Activated carbon is regenerated by water wash followed by drying. The development effort commenced with the screening of commercially available activated carbon materials for their capability to remove SO{sub 2}. A bench-unit operating in batch mode was constructed to conduct an experimental investigation of simultaneous SOx and NOx removal from …

We report on the development of the new code for long-term simulation of beam-beam effects in particle colliders. The underlying physical model relies on a matrix-based arbitrary-order symplectic particle tracking for beam transport and the Bassetti-Erskine approximation for beam-beam interaction. The computations are accelerated through a parallel implementation on a hybrid GPU/CPU platform. With the new code, a previously computationally prohibitive long-term simulations become tractable. We use the new code to model the proposed medium-energy electron-ion collider (MEIC) at Jefferson Lab.

This report documents the calendar Year 2010 radionuclide air emissions and resulting effective dose equivalent to the maximally exposed individual member of the public from operations at the Department of Energy's Idaho National Laboratory Site. This report was prepared in accordance with the Code of Federal Regulations, Title 40, 'Protection of the Environment,' Part 61, 'National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants,' Subpart H, 'National Emission Standards for Emissions of Radionuclides Other than Radon from Department of Energy Facilities.'

In this paper, we propose a method to improve the data basis of human reliability analysis (HRA) by extending the data sources used to inform HRA methods. Currently, most HRA methods are based on limited empirical data, and efforts to enhance the empirical basis behind HRA methods have not yet yielded significant new data. Part of the reason behind this shortage of quality data is attributable to the data sources used. Data have been derived from unrelated industries, from infrequent risk-significant events, or from costly control room simulator studies. We propose a benchmark of four data sources: a simplified microworld simulator using unskilled student operators, a full-scope control room simulator using skilled student operators, a full-scope control room simulator using licensed commercial operators, and a human performance modeling and simulation system using virtual operators. The goal of this research is to compare findings across the data sources to determine to what extent data may be used and generalized from cost effective sources.

This report describes efforts by IBACOS, a Department of Energy Building America research team, in the St. Bernard Project, a nonprofit, community-based organization whose mission is to assist Hurricane Katrina survivors return to their homes in the New Orleans area. The report focuses on energy modeling results of two plans that the St. Bernard Project put forth as 'typical' building types and on quality issues that were observed during the field walk and Best Practice recommendations that could improve the energy efficiency and durability of the renovated homes.

Mobile biometric devices (MBDs) capable of both enrolling individuals in databases and performing identification checks of subjects in the field are seen as an important capability for military, law enforcement, and homeland security operations. The technology is advancing rapidly. The Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate through an Interagency Agreement with Sandia sponsored a series of pilot projects to obtain information for the first responder law enforcement community on further identification of requirements for mobile biometric device technology. Working with 62 different jurisdictions, including components of the Department of Homeland Security, Sandia delivered a series of reports on user operation of state-of-the-art mobile biometric devices. These reports included feedback information on MBD usage in both operational and exercise scenarios. The findings and conclusions of the project address both the limitations and possibilities of MBD technology to improve operations. Evidence of these possibilities can be found in the adoption of this technology by many agencies today and the cooperation of several law enforcement agencies in both participating in the pilot efforts and sharing of information about their own experiences in efforts undertaken separately.

This presentation discusses models for battery reliability and lifetime and the Battery Ownership Model.

This report describes the status of the U.S. wind energy industry market in 2010; its trends, performance, market drivers and future outlook.

An overview is presented of the design of a 10 GeV laser plasma accelerator (LPA) that will be driven by a PW-class laser system and of the BELLA Project, which has as its primary goal to build and install the required Ti:sapphire laser system for the acceleration experiments. The basic design of the 10 GeV stage aims at operation in the quasi-linear regime, where the laser excited wakes are largely sinusoidal and offer the possibility of accelerating both electrons and positrons. Simulations show that a 10 GeV electron beam can be generated in a meter scale plasma channel guided LPA operating at a density of about 1017 cm-3 and powered by laser pulses containing 30-40 J of energy in a 50- 200 fs duration pulse, focused to a spotsize of 50-100 micron. The lay-out of the facility and laser system will be presented as well as the progress on building the facility.

We report on the recent progress at Jefferson Lab in developing ultra high gradient and high Q{sub 0} superconducting radio frequency (SRF) cavities for future SRF based machines. A new 1300 MHz 9-cell prototype cavity is being fabricated. This cavity has an optimized shape in terms of the ratio of the peak surface field (both magnetic and electric) to the acceleration gradient, hence the name low surface field (LSF) shape. The goal of the effort is to demonstrate an acceleration gradient of 50 MV/m with Q{sub 0} of 10{sup 10} at 2 K in a 9-cell SRF cavity. Fine-grain niobium material is used. Conventional forming, machining and electron beam welding method are used for cavity fabrication. New techniques are adopted to ensure repeatable, accurate and inexpensive fabrication of components and the full assembly. The completed cavity is to be first mechanically polished to a mirror-finish, a newly acquired in-house capability at JLab, followed by the proven ILC-style processing recipe established already at JLab. In parallel, new single-cell cavities made from large-grain niobium material are made to further advance the cavity treatment and processing procedures, aiming for the demonstration of an acceleration gradient of 50 MV/m with Q{sub 0} of 2�10{sup …

This report provides data and analysis of the land use associated with utility-scale ground-mounted solar facilities, defined as installations greater than 1 MW. We begin by discussing standard land-use metrics as established in the life-cycle assessment literature and then discuss their applicability to solar power plants. We present total and direct land-use results for various solar technologies and system configurations, on both a capacity and an electricity-generation basis. The total area corresponds to all land enclosed by the site boundary. The direct area comprises land directly occupied by solar arrays, access roads, substations, service buildings, and other infrastructure. As of the third quarter of 2012, the solar projects we analyze represent 72% of installed and under-construction utility-scale PV and CSP capacity in the United States.

This presentation covers the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's role in economic impact analysis for wind power Jobs and Economic Development Impacts (JEDI) models, JEDI results, small wind JEDI specifics, and a request for information to complete the model.

In a laboratory environment, it is cost prohibitive to run automotive battery aging experiments across a wide range of possible ambient environment, drive cycle and charging scenarios. Since worst-case scenarios drive the conservative sizing of electric-drive vehicle batteries, it is useful to understand how and why those scenarios arise and what design or control actions might be taken to mitigate them. In an effort to explore this problem, this paper applies a semi-empirical life model of the graphite/nickel-cobalt-aluminum lithium-ion chemistry to investigate impacts of geographic environments under storage and simplified cycling conditions. The model is then applied to analyze complex cycling conditions, using battery charge/discharge profiles generated from simulations of PHEV10 and PHEV40 vehicles across 782 single-day driving cycles taken from Texas travel survey data.

A number of pure cement and cement-basalt interface samples were subjected to a range of compressive loads to form internal fractures. X-ray microtomography was used to visualize the formation and growth of internal fractures in three dimensions as a function of compressive loads. This laboratory data will be incorporated into a geomechanics model to predict the risk of CO2 leakage through wellbores during geologic carbon storage.

This guide regarding energy recovery is one in a series on best practices for laboratories. It was produced by Laboratories for the 21st Century ('Labs 21'), a joint program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy. Laboratories typically require 100% outside air for ventilation at higher rates than other commercial buildings. Minimum ventilation is typically provided at air change per hour (ACH) rates in accordance with codes and adopted design standards including Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Standard 1910.1450 (4 to 12 ACH - non-mandatory) or the 2011 American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) Applications Handbook, Chapter 16 - Laboratories (6 to 12 ACH). While OSHA states this minimum ventilation rate 'should not be relied on for protection from toxic substances released into the laboratory' it specifically indicates that it is intended to 'provide a source of air for breathing and for input to local ventilation devices (e.g., chemical fume hoods or exhausted bio-safety cabinets), to ensure that laboratory air is continually replaced preventing the increase of air concentrations of toxic substances during the working day, direct air flow into the laboratory from non-laboratory areas and out to the exterior …

This NREL technical report details a plan for the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) to minimize the economic damage caused by major petroleum price increases. The assumptions for this plan are that the USVI will have very little time and money to implement it and that the population will be highly motivated to follow it because of high fuel prices. The plan's success, therefore, is highly dependent on behavior change. This plan was derived largely from a review of the actions taken and behavior changes made by companies and commuters throughout the United States in response to the oil price spike of 2008. Many of these solutions were coordinated by or reported through the 88 local representatives of the U.S. Department of Energy's Clean Cities program. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory provides technical and communications support for the Clean Cities program and therefore serves as a de facto repository of these solutions. This plan is the first publication that has tapped this repository.

The reduction of bismuthate-produced AmVI by 60Co gamma-rays was measured using post-irradiation UV/Vis spectroscopy. The reduction of AmVI by radiolysis was rapid, producing AmV as the sole product. Relatively low absorbed doses in the ~0.3 kGy range quantitatively reduced a solution of 2.5 x 10-4 M AmVI. The addition of bismuthate to samples during irradiation did not appear to protect AmVI from radiolytic reduction during these experiments. It was also shown here that AmV is very stable toward radiation. The quantitative reduction of the AmVI concentration here corresponds to 1.4 hours of exposure to a process solution, however the actual americium concentrations will be higher and the expected contact times short when using centrifugal contactors. Thus, the reduction rate found in these initial experiments may not be excessive.

We present an overview of diagnostic techniques for measuring key parameters of electron bunches from Laser Plasma Accelerators (LPAs). The diagnostics presented here were chosen because they highlight the unique advantages (e.g., diverse forms of electromagnetic emission) and difficulties (e.g., shot-to-shot variability) associated with LPAs. Non destructiveness and high resolution (in space and time and energy) are key attributes that enable the formation of a comprehensive suite of simultaneous diagnostics which are necessary for the full characterization of the ultrashort, but highly-variable electron bunches from LPAs.

Advances in and physics of the acceleration of particles using underdense plasma structures driven by lasers were the topics of presentations and discussions in Working Group 1 of the 2010 Advanced Accelerator Concepts Workshop. Such accelerators have demonstrated gradients several orders beyond conventional machines, with quasi-monoenergetic beams at MeV-GeV energies, making them attractive candidates for next generation accelerators. Workshop discussions included advances in control over injection and laser propagation to further improve beam quality and stability, detailed diagnostics and physics models of the acceleration process, radiation generation as a source and diagnostic, and technological tools and upcoming facilities to extend the reach of laser-plasma accelerators.

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This poster will detail the augmentation of selected existing CEBAF wire scanners with commercially available hardware, PMTs, and self created software in order to improve the scanners both in function and utility.

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