Keynote presentation given at the 2013 NTEA Green Truck Summit titled Partnering with Industry to Shape the Future.

Concentrating solar power (CSP) deployed with thermal energy storage (TES) provides a dispatchable source of renewable energy. The value of CSP with TES, as with other potential generation resources, needs to be established using traditional utility planning tools. Production cost models, which simulate the operation of grid, are often used to estimate the operational value of different generation mixes. CSP with TES has historically had limited analysis in commercial production simulations. This document describes the implementation of CSP with TES in a commercial production cost model. It also describes the simulation of grid operations with CSP in a test system consisting of two balancing areas located primarily in Colorado.

This presentation describes the results of NREL technology assessments for two early market full cell applications, backup power and material handling equipment.

The U.S. Department of Energy is conducting an assessment of vulnerabilities of the U.S. energy sector to climate change and extreme weather. Emphasizing peer reviewed research, it seeks to quantify vulnerabilities and identify specific knowledge or technology gaps. It draws upon a July 2012 workshop, ?Climate Change and Extreme Weather Vulnerability Assessment of the US Energy Sector?, hosted by the Atlantic Council and sponsored by DOE to solicit industry input.

Temperature has a significant impact on life, performance, and safety of lithium-ion battery technology, which is expected to be the energy storage of choice for electric drive vehicles (xEVs). High temperatures degrade Li-ion cells faster while low temperatures reduce power and energy capabilities that could have cost, reliability, range, or drivability implications. Thermal management of battery packs in xEVs is essential to keep the cells in the desired temperature range and also reduce cell-to-cell temperature variations, both of which impact life and performance. The value that the battery thermal management system provides in reducing battery life and improving performance outweighs its additional cost and complexity. Tools that are essential for thermal management of batteries are infrared thermal imaging, isothermal calorimetry, thermal conductivity meter and computer-aided thermal analysis design software. This presentation provides details of these tools that NREL has used and we believe are needed to design right-sized battery thermal management systems.

This presentation explains how liquid desiccant based coupled with an indirect evaporative cooler can efficiently produce cool, dry air, and how a liquid desiccant membrane air conditioner can efficiently provide cooling and dehumidification without the carryover problems of previous generations of liquid desiccant systems. It provides an overview to a liquid desiccant DX air conditioner that can efficiently provide cooling and dehumidification to high latent loads without the need for reheat, explains how liquid desiccant cooling and dehumidification systems can outperform vapor compression based air conditioning systems in hot and humid climates, explains how liquid desiccant cooling and dehumidification systems work, and describes a refrigerant free liquid desiccant based cooling system.

This presentation covers modeling metal fatigue as a key step in photovoltaic (PV) module lifetime predictions. Described are time-dependent and time-independent case studies.

Requirements for a standard test to rate the durability of photovoltaic (PV) modules at system voltage are discussed.

This presentation is about the Wind-to-Hydrogen Project at NREL, part of the Renewable Electrolysis task and the examination of a grid-tied, co-located wind electrolysis hydrogen production facility.

This presentation summarizes project goals; vehicle and H2 station deployment status, critical performance compared to targets; highlights of latest vehicle and infrastructure analysis results and progress; learning demo next steps; highlights of partner activities and summary.

EERE's Solar Energy Technologies Program is charged with leading the Secretary's SunShot Initiative to reduce the cost of electricity from solar by 75% to be cost competitive with conventional energy sources without subsidy by the end of the decade. As part of this Initiative, the program has funded the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to develop module manufacturing and solar PV system installation cost models to ensure that the program's cost reduction targets are carefully aligned with current and near term industry costs. The NREL cost analysis team has leveraged the laboratories' extensive experience in the areas of project finance and deployment, as well as industry partnerships, to develop cost models that mirror the project cost analysis tools used by project managers at leading U.S. installers. The cost models are constructed through a "bottoms-up" assessment of each major cost element, beginning with the system's bill of materials, labor requirements (type and hours) by component, site-specific charges, and soft costs. In addition to the relevant engineering, procurement, and construction costs, the models also consider all relevant costs to an installer, including labor burdens and overhead rates, supply chain costs, and overhead and materials inventory costs, and assume market-specific profits.

Engineering robust adhesion of the junction-box (j-box) is a hurdle typically encountered by photovoltaic (PV) module manufacturers during product development. Furthermore, there are historical incidences of adverse effects (e.g., fires) caused when the j-box/adhesive/module system has failed in the field. The addition of a weight to the j-box during the 'damp heat' IEC qualification test is proposed to verify the basic robustness of the j-box adhesion system. The details of the proposed test are described, in addition to the preliminary results conducted using representative materials and components.

Description and history of the IEC 61215 qualification test, what it accomplishes, and what it does not accomplish that would be useful to the community. The commercial success of PV is based on long term reliability of the PV modules. Today's modules are typically qualified/certified to: (1) IEC 61215 for Crystalline Silicon Modules; (2) IEC 61646 for Thin Film Modules; and (3) IEC 62108 for CPV Modules. These qualification tests do an excellent job of identifying design, materials and process flaws that could lead to premature field failures. This talk will provide a summary of how IEC 61215 was developed, how well it works and what its limitations are.

Degradation modes in photovoltaic modules under system bias voltage stress are described and classified.

Tests to make quantitative predictions about photovoltaic (PV) modules are needed. This presentation proposes the creation of international quality assurance standards for PV modules.

This presentation outlines an analysis of alternate methods to obtain stabilized power performance of CdTe and CIGS PV modules.

The ability to accurately predict power delivery over the course of time is of vital importance to the growth of the photovoltaic (PV) industry. Two key cost drivers are the efficiency with which sunlight is converted to power and secondly how this relationship develops over time. The accurate knowledge of power decline over time, also known as degradation rates, is essential and important to all stakeholders--utility companies, integrators, investors, and scientists alike. Different methods to determine degradation rates and discrete versus continuous data are presented, and some general best practice methods are outlined. In addition, historical degradation rates and some preliminary analysis with respect to climate are given.

This presentation outlines the modeling of thermal fatigue in concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) assemblies.

This PowerPoint presentation summarizes a proposed methodology for LEED baseline refrigeration modeling. The presentation discusses why refrigeration modeling is important, the inputs of energy models, resources, reference building model cases, baseline model highlights, example savings calculations and results.

Module data from NREL's CPV test bed is used to examine methods for calculating outdoor CPV power ratings. IEC 62670 and ASTM E2527 are used as a starting point for determining a module power rating on a monthly basis. Monthly power ratings vary by more than desired using existing methods. The presentation examines modifications to existing methods as well as spectral corrections to reduce variation in monthly module power ratings.

The presentation describes the value of adding DC converters and other power electronics to modules to improve their output even when shading or bad cells would otherwise decrease the module output. The presentation was part of a workshop sponsored by ARPA-E exploring the opportunities for power electronics to support PV applications.

One would hope that PV modules are designed for survival in the outdoors. However, it appears that some module types are really designed to pass the qualification (IEC 61216/61646) and safety (IEC 61730 and UL 1703) tests. While this has resulted in an overall increase in module reliability and a reduction in infant mortality, it may not result in the most cost-effective solution for long-term reliability and minimum power degradation. This paper will provide several examples of module types and even solar cells designed to pass the tests that do not result in good cost-effective long-term solutions for outdoor performance. This presentation is meant to stimulate a discussion about how to remedy this situation and improve the overall PV industry.

Description of how to make PV modules so that they are less likely to turn into safety hazards. Making modules inherently safer with minimum additional cost is the preferred approach for PV. Safety starts with module design to ensure redundancy within the electrical circuitry to minimize open circuits and proper mounting instructions to prevent installation related ground faults. Module manufacturers must control the raw materials and processes to ensure that that every module is built like those qualified through the safety tests. This is the reason behind the QA task force effort to develop a 'Guideline for PV Module Manufacturing QA'. Periodic accelerated stress testing of production products is critical to validate the safety of the product. Combining safer PV modules with better systems designs is the ultimate goal. This should be especially true for PV arrays on buildings. Use of lower voltage dc circuits - AC modules, DC-DC converters. Use of arc detectors and interrupters to detect arcs and open the circuits to extinguish the arcs.

This presentation summarizes the approach used to update the U.S. geothermal supply curve.