- Show all
- Asset Management
- Buoy
- Canal
- Climate Change
- Controls
- Dam Safety
- Environmental Impact
- Fish and Aquatic Resources
- Future Grid
- Generator
- Governor
- Hydraulic Forecasting
- Hydraulic Optimization
- Hydrokinetic
- Intake Gates
- Markets
- Penstock
- Regulatory Process
- Renewable Integration
- Sediment Transport
- Shoreline and Riparian Resources
- Spillgates
- Tidal
- Transmission Services
- Turbine
- Water Management
- Water Resources
- Water Systems
- Wave
- Marine Energy
Numerical modeling of a two-body point absorber featuring variable geometry
Lead Companies
NREL
Lead Researcher (s)
- David Ogden
This work presents a novel wave energy converter (WEC) device concept that incorporates variable geometry modules into a two-body point absorber type WEC. The variable geometry modules consist of air inflatable bags in the surface float and a water inflatable ring in the reaction body. The variable geometry floats are able to provide greater control over the device hydrodynamics; they can be inflated or deflated to emphasize either power absorption or load shedding. The device geometry is controlled in a quasi-static fashion, while the power take-off (PTO) unit is controlled on a wave-to-wave timescale. The surface float is tethered directly to the submerged reaction body through PTO tether lines. A linear time-domain analysis, conducted using open-source Wave Energy Converter (WEC-Sim) software, was used to estimate the absorbed power of the WEC in sea states defined by the Wave Energy Prize. WEC power performance was weighted against the expected capital cost of building the load bearing structure of the device, providing an estimated ACE value. The inclusion of the variable geometry modules was shown to be effective in altering the device geometry to improve power capture with a near proportional increase in expected costs, providing a nearly constant power-to-cost ratio.
Technology Application
Marine Energy
Research Category
Research Sub-Category
Status
complete
Completion Date
2022
- Marine Energy
Ocean Observation Prize
Lead Companies
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Lead Researcher (s)
- Molly Grear
Water Power Technologies Office is developing a prize competition called the Powering the Blue Economy: Ocean Observing Prize (Ocean Obs Prize). This prize seeks new ideas and new technologies to reduce energy limitations for ocean observing, by extending range or duration of observations, reducing operational costs, or enabling entirely new data streams that will lead to better understanding of the ocean environment. The prize is a core element of the Powering the Blue Economy Initiative. PNNL will collaborate directly with NREL and WPTO to provide technical expertise to design, support, and execute the prize.
Technology Application
Marine Energy
Research Category
Technology
Research Sub-Category
Buoy
Status
ongoing
Completion Date
TBD
- Marine Energy
Opportunities and Challenges for Industrial Water Treatment and Reuse
Lead Companies
NREL
Lead Researcher (s)
- Kurban Sitterley
- David Greene
As the impact of water scarcity in the United States (U.S.) continues to grow through the 21st century, it is critical to develop strategies to reduce water use and improve the security of water resources. One such strategy is to diversify the sources from which water is supplied. Industrial withdrawals represent the fourth largest category of U.S. water use, the majority of which is sourced from fresh surface and groundwater. In this study, we critically explore the potential of industrial wastewater to serve as an alternative water resource through direct treatment and reuse. We begin by reviewing the state of the art of water use, treatment, and reuse across six representative industries: food and beverages, primary metals, pulp and paper, petroleum refining, chemicals, and data centers and campuses, highlighting key challenges and opportunities toward the expansion of reuse. We then employ a technoeconomic assessment of water treatment processes to analyze the capital investment, operating and maintenance costs, levelized cost of water, and electricity consumption of three specific industrial plants as case studies to better understand where research can promote impactful innovation. Finally, drawing together the results of our literature review and technoeconomic analyses, we provide a broad outlook on the future of industrial water reuse and discuss strategies for its expansion.
Technology Application
Marine Energy
Research Category
Research Sub-Category
Status
complete
Completion Date
2020
- Marine Energy
Optimizing power generation of a bottom-raised oscillaing surge wave energy converter using a theoretical model
Lead Companies
NREL
Lead Researcher (s)
- Nathan Tom
Preliminary sizing of an oscillating surge wave energy converter (OSWEC) is an iterative process that relies on knowledge of the relevant hydrodynamic coefficients for a given geometry. Often, the complex definition of the device geometry requires coefficients to be obtained through experiments or numerical boundary element solvers such as WAMIT. These techniques demand significant user and computational effort, therefore inhibiting the fine-scale parametrization of object dimensions. In this study, a theoretical model, originally presented in Michele et al. (2016), is developed and demonstrated to efficiently optimize the power production for an OSWEC device (subjected to certain environmental conditions) with variations in device widths, heights, and distances from the seabed.
Technology Application
Marine Energy
Research Category
Research Sub-Category
Status
complete
Completion Date
2021
- Marine Energy
ORPC FOA Support 1663
Lead Companies
Sandia National Laboratories
Lead Researcher (s)
- Budi Gunawan
Marine and hydrokinetic (MHK) energy contributes to national energy objectives by providing clean energy to reduce oil dependency and lower carbon emission. The long-term water program goal is to significantly reduce the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) for marine and hydrokinetic devices and enable significant deployment of grid-scale cost-competitive MHK by 2030. In 2017, the Department of Energy (DOE) Water Power Technologies Office (WPTO) issued a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA), entitled Marine and Hydrokinetic Technology Development and Advancement, to support MHK research and development for current energy converters (CECs). This project will use model-scale tank testing and fluid-structure-interaction (FSI) simulations to investigate the behavior of hydrofoils with large deflections and the effect of the radial and rotational deflections on cross-flow turbine performance with the ultimate goal of determining the maximum allowable deflections consonant with efficiency and a robust, durable structure. Care will be given to developing a robust, validated modeling and simulation approach, which will be used in the design of ORPC’s full-scale turbines, and will be applicable to the design of other MHK devices.
Technology Application
Marine Energy
Research Category
Technology
Research Sub-Category
Tidal
Status
ongoing
Completion Date
TBD
- Marine Energy
Oscilla FOA 1663
Lead Companies
Sandia National Laboratories
Lead Researcher (s)
- Ryan Coe
The overarching goal of this project is to successfully improve, build, test and validate an improved, higher power density LHD at 1:10 scale with power dissipation and active control implemented.
Technology Application
Marine Energy
Research Category
Technology
Research Sub-Category
Wave
Status
ongoing
Completion Date
TBD
- Marine Energy
PacWave Grid Integration Study Transient and Dynamic Conditions Final Report
Lead Companies
NREL
Lead Researcher (s)
- Vaha Gevorgian
This report describes the results of Power System Computer-Aided Design (PSCAD) simulations that were performed in 2020 and 2021 to assess the impacts of PacWave South generation on the Central Lincoln People’s Utility District (CLPUD)’s 12.47- kV distribution and 69- kV subtransmission systems.
Technology Application
Marine Energy
Research Category
Research Sub-Category
Status
complete
Completion Date
2021
- Marine Energy
Performance of reverse osmosis membrane with large feed pressure fluctuations from simulated wave-driven desalination system
Lead Companies
NREL
Lead Researcher (s)
- Kurban Sitterley
- Scott Jenne
- Yi-Hsiang Yu
Wave-driven desalination systems are proposed water treatment systems that involve reverse osmosis of seawater powered directly by wave motion. Such a configuration would result in drastic feed pressure fluctuations. For a technology conventionally operated with a constant feed condition, the effect of these variable pressures on membrane integrity and performance is unknown. Experiments were conducted with spiral wound membranes coupled to a system capable of producing feed pressure fluctuations of more than 400 psi. Feed composition included 5, 20, and 35 g/L NaCl, and a synthetic seawater at normal and 1.5× concentration. The variable feed conditions included sine-like pressure waves swings of 200–500 and 500–900 psi with frequencies of 1.25, 7.5, and 12 waves/min, and a model-generated random waveform. Between each wave experiment we performed membrane integrity tests at 650 psi and 25 g/L NaCl feed, which showed a 7.4% drop in the membrane's water permeability coefficient, an 18.4% flux decline, and more than 99% salt rejection over 1770 h of cumulative experimental time. Analysis of permeate samples showed high salt rejection. In general, variable feed pressure had no significant deleterious effect on membrane integrity or performance.
Technology Application
Marine Energy
Research Category
Research Sub-Category
Status
complete
Completion Date
2020
Don’t see your waterpower research?
Have questions about WaRP?
Contact Marla Barnes at: marla@hydro.org