Group items tagged

: The overall objective of PERFORM is to develop innovative technologies and approaches to quantify and manage risk for electric power systems. Risk management includes: (i) asset-level assessment to reflect an asset's ability to deliver on its energy and ancillary services obligations and (ii) system-level risk-driven operations and planning to optimally manage the cost and the risk of serving electricity demand given a portfolio of grid assets. ARPA-E envisions the design of a risk score or measure that clearly communicates the physical delivery risk of an asset's offer, similar to the role a credit score plays in determining the creditworthiness of an individual. At the system level, ARPA-E envisions the design of grid management systems that endogenously capture uncertainty and evaluate and hedge the system risk position to meet or exceed a baseline system risk index. The anticipated outcome of PERFORM is a transformative and disruptive risk-driven grid management paradigm that optimally utilizes all assets (including emerging technologies) to reduce costs and improve reliability

The Electrochemical Systems program is part of the Chemical Process Systems cluster, which also includes: 1) the Catalysis program; 2) the Interfacial Engineering program; and 3) the Process Systems, Reaction Engineering, and Molecular Thermodynamics program. The goal of the Electrochemical Systems program is to support fundamental engineering research that will enable innovative processes involving electro- or photochemistry for the sustainable production of electricity, fuels, and chemicals. Processes for sustainable energy and chemical production must be scalable, environmentally benign, reduce greenhouse gas production, and utilize renewable resources. Research projects that stress fundamental understanding of phenomena that directly impact key barriers to improved system or component-level performance (for example, energy efficiency, product yield, process intensification) are encouraged. Processes for energy storage should address fundamental research barriers for the applications of renewable electricity storage or for transport propulsion. For projects concerning energy storage materials, proposals should involve hypotheses that involve device or component performance characteristics that are tied to fundamental understanding of transport, kinetics, or thermodynamics. Advanced chemistries are encouraged. Proposed research should be inspired by the need for economic and impactful conversion processes. All proposal project descriptions should address how the proposed work, if successful, will improve process realization and economic feasibility and compare the proposed work against current state of the art. Highly integrated multidisciplinary projects are encouraged.

1. Lithium-ion Battery Safety. Safety concerns continue to hamper full adoption of lithium-ion batteries for defense systems, despite significant research investments by the government and the private sector. This Defense initiative will advance promising lithium-ion battery safety technologies at university research laboratories into early laboratory prototypes and potentially minimum viable products for adoption by the defense and commercial sectors via early startups, small businesses and non-traditional defense contractors. Specific technical areas of interest include, but are not limited to, the following: improved electrolytes; stable high-energy anodes and cathodes; cell components and structures that enhance safety and reliability (e.g. use of electrode coatings and electrolyte additives); safety optimization through battery and battery module design and packaging; and battery management and state of health techniques that prevent and/or mitigate catastrophic failure. 2. Electrical Grid Reliability, Resiliency and Security. Both the defense and commercial sectors recognize the ever-growing criticality to enhance electrical grid reliability, resiliency and security through innovation at the component and system levels.

Nanomanufacturing is the production of useful nano-scale materials, structures, devices and systems in an economically viable manner. The NSF Nanomanufacturing Program supports fundamental research in novel methods and techniques for batch and continuous processes, top-down (addition/subtraction) and bottom-up (directed self-assembly) processes leading to the formation of complex heterogeneous nanosystems. The program supports basic research in nanostructure and process design principles, integration across length-scales, and system-level integration. The Program leverages advances in the understanding of nano-scale phenomena and processes (physical, chemical, electrical, thermal, mechanical and biological), nanomaterials discovery, novel nanostructure architectures, and new nanodevice and nanosystem concepts. It seeks to address quality, efficiency, scalability, reliability, safety and affordability issues that are relevant to manufacturing. To address these issues, the Program encourages research on processes and production systems based on computation, modeling and simulation, use of process metrology, sensing, monitoring, and control, and assessment of product (nanomaterial, nanostructure, nanodevice or nanosystem) quality and performance.

Nanomanufacturing is the production of useful nano-scale materials, structures, devices and systems in an economically viable manner. The NSF Nanomanufacturing Program supports fundamental research in novel methods and techniques for batch and continuous processes, top-down (addition/subtraction) and bottom-up (directed self-assembly) processes leading to the formation of complex heterogeneous nanosystems. The program supports basic research in nanostructure and process design principles, integration across length-scales, and system-level integration. The Program leverages advances in the understanding of nano-scale phenomena and processes (physical, chemical, electrical, thermal, mechanical and biological), nanomaterials discovery, novel nanostructure architectures, and new nanodevice and nanosystem concepts. It seeks to address quality, efficiency, scalability, reliability, safety and affordability issues that are relevant to manufacturing. To address these issues, the Program encourages research on processes and production systems based on computation, modeling and simulation, use of process metrology, sensing, monitoring, and control, and assessment of product (nanomaterial, nanostructure, nanodevice or nanosystem) quality and performance.

The objective of the DARPA Biological Control program is to build new capabilities for the control of biological systems across scales - from nanometers to centimeters, seconds to weeks, and biomolecules to populations of organisms - using embedded controllers made of biological parts to program system-level behavior. This program will apply and advance existing control theory to design and implement generalizable biological control strategies analogous to conventional control engineering, for example, for mechanical and electrical systems. The resulting advances in fundamental understanding and capabilities will create new opportunities for engineering biology. Specifically, the Biological Control program will demonstrate tools to rationally design and implement multiscale, closed-loop control of biological systems, through the development of biological controllers, testbeds to evaluate control of system-level behavior, and theory and models to predict and design effective control strategies. The resulting capabilities will be inherently generalizable to a variety of biological systems. Successful teams will integrate and apply these capabilities to demonstrate a practical proof-of-principle biological solution to a proposer-defined application relevant to the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD).

The objective of the DARPA Biological Control program is to build new capabilities for the control of biological systems across scales - from nanometers to centimeters, seconds to weeks, and biomolecules to populations of organisms - using embedded controllers made of biological parts to program system-level behavior. This program will apply and advance existing control theory to design and implement generalizable biological control strategies analogous to conventional control engineering, for example, for mechanical and electrical systems. The resulting advances in fundamental understanding and capabilities will create new opportunities for engineering biology. Specifically, the Biological Control program will demonstrate tools to rationally design and implement multiscale, closed-loop control of biological systems, through the development of biological controllers, testbeds to evaluate control of system-level behavior, and theory and models to predict and design effective control strategies. The resulting capabilities will be inherently generalizable to a variety of biological systems. Successful teams will integrate and apply these capabilities to demonstrate a practical proof-of-principle biological solution to a proposer-defined application relevant to the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD).

The Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems (CBET) will consider proposals for collaborative funding with the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), the Water Environment & Reuse Foundation (WE&RF) [formerly the Water Environment Research Foundation], and/or the Water Research Foundation (WRF). For a proposal to be considered for collaborative funding, the proposal must be submitted to the appropriate NSF-CBET program as an unsolicited proposal during the CBET unsolicited submission window, which is October 1, 2016 - October 20, 2016. The same dates will apply in future years. Proposals will be reviewed as part of the unsolicited program(s). Proposals must follow guidelines for the CBET program to which they are submitted. Proposals will be evaluated according to the NSF criteria of intellectual merit and broader impacts.

The Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems (CBET) will consider proposals for collaborative funding with the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), the Water Environment & Reuse Foundation (WE&RF) [formerly the Water Environment Research Foundation], and/or the Water Research Foundation (WRF). For a proposal to be considered for collaborative funding, the proposal must be submitted to the appropriate NSF-CBET program as an unsolicited proposal during the CBET unsolicited submission window, which is October 1, 2016 - October 20, 2016. The same dates will apply in future years. Proposals will be reviewed as part of the unsolicited program(s). Proposals must follow guidelines for the CBET program to which they are submitted. Proposals will be evaluated according to the NSF criteria of intellectual merit and broader impacts.

Funding Opportunity Announcement DE-FOA-0001616 The Department of Energy (DOE), National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), on behalf of the Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability (OE), is seeking applications under this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA), herein referred to as Announcement, to conduct research, development and demonstrations (RD&D). This RD&D, in the areas of low cost sensors and improved modeling using sensor data input, will lead to enhanced observability and controllability of power systems to support increased hosting capacity for distributed energy resources (DERs), including energy storage. Capturing the benefits commonly attributed to DERs and/or microgrids, as well as establishing new value propositions that could be enabled by these RD&D efforts is the focus of this FOA. New value propositions could include, but are not limited to, mitigating ancillary resource requirements and meeting the growing demand for reliable and resilient grid operations against outages under all-hazards conditions.

Funding Opportunity Announcement DE-FOA-0001616 The Department of Energy (DOE), National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), on behalf of the Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability (OE), is seeking applications under this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA), herein referred to as Announcement, to conduct research, development and demonstrations (RD&D). This RD&D, in the areas of low cost sensors and improved modeling using sensor data input, will lead to enhanced observability and controllability of power systems to support increased hosting capacity for distributed energy resources (DERs), including energy storage. Capturing the benefits commonly attributed to DERs and/or microgrids, as well as establishing new value propositions that could be enabled by these RD&D efforts is the focus of this FOA. New value propositions could include, but are not limited to, mitigating ancillary resource requirements and meeting the growing demand for reliable and resilient grid operations against outages under all-hazards conditions.

On installation of an electric utility pole with a transformer, a grounding electrode must be installed to meet the grounding criteria for safety reasons. In low-earth-resistance ground, e.g. clay, loam or sandy soil ground, a ground electrode can be installed with a simple driving method at low cost. In high-earth-resistance ground, e.g. gravel, cobble, or rock ground, however, special boring methods are required to drill to a depth from 4 m to 120 m to secure the earth resistance criteria. These methods are large-scale and expensive.

The Directorate of Engineering at the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) have established a collaboration to jointly address the critical problem of water usage and consumption in power plant cooling. The "water-for-energy" issue is an important piece of the Energy-Water nexus. The goal of this collaboration is to leverage the complementary missions of applied research and commercialization (EPRI) and fundamental research and education (NSF) to foster enabling research and technology development that will lead to significant reductions or elimination of the use of water for cooling power plants.

The Directorate of Engineering at the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) have established a collaboration to jointly address the critical problem of water usage and consumption in power plant cooling. The "water-for-energy" issue is an important piece of the Energy-Water nexus. The goal of this collaboration is to leverage the complementary missions of applied research and commercialization (EPRI) and fundamental research and education (NSF) to foster enabling research and technology development that will lead to significant reductions or elimination of the use of water for cooling power plants.Through this joint collaboration, NSF and EPRI jointly solicit proposals with transformative ideas that meet the detailed requirements in this solicitation.

This program supports fundamental research and education that will enable innovative processes for the sustainable production of electricity and transportation fuels.  Processes for sustainable energy production must be environmentally benign, reduce greenhouse gas production, and utilize renewable resources. 

Gasification is used to convert a solid feedstock?such as coal, petcoke or biomass?into a gaseous form, referred to as syngas, which is composed primarily of hydrogen and carbon monoxide (CO). With gasification-based technologies, pollutants can be easily captured and then disposed of or converted to useful products. In the Department of Energy?s vision for clean power using gasification, steam is added to syngas in a water-gas shift (WGS) reactor to convert the CO to carbon dioxide (CO2) and to produce additional hydrogen. The hydrogen and CO2 are separated?the hydrogen is combusted to make power and the CO2 is captured and sent to storage, converted to useful product, or used for enhanced oil recovery (EOR). The Gasification Systems Technology Area takes full advantage of the flexibility inherent in gasification. For instance, technologies designed to clean syngas to chemical production standards also clean syngas for power production (i.e., integrated gasification combined cycle [IGCC]), often with significantly lower contaminant levels than the Environmental Protection Agency?s (EPA) criteria for power plant emissions. Technologies that lower the cost of producing high-hydrogen syngas for fuels or chemical production will also reduce the carbon footprint of IGCC. Advanced technologies being developed under the Gasification Systems Technology Area will provide a more efficient and economical platform for the capture and utilization of CO2. In addition to efficiently producing electric power, a wide range of liquids and/or high-value chemicals and fuels (especially diesel and gasoline) can be produced from cleaned, high-hydrogen syngas, thereby providing flexibility capable of capitalizing on a ra

The goal of the Energy for Sustainability program is to support fundamental engineering research that will enable innovative processes and solutionsfor the sustainable production of electricity and fuels, and energy storage. Processes for sustainable energy production must be environmentally benign, reduce greenhouse gas production, and utilize renewable resources. Current topics of interest include: Biomass Conversion, Biofuels & Bioenergy: Fundamental research on innovative approaches that lead to the intensification of biofuel and bioenergy processes is an emphasis area of this program.

The Geophysics Program supports basic research in the physics of the solid earth to explore its composition, structure, and processes from the Earth's surface to its' deepest interior. Laboratory, field, theoretical, and computational studies are supported. Topics include (but are not limited to) seismicity, seismic wave propagation, and the nature and occurrence of geophysical hazards; the Earth's magnetic, gravity, and electrical fields; the Earth's thermal structure; and geodynamics. Supported research also includes geophysical studies of active deformation, including geodesy, and theoretical and experimental studies of the properties and behavior of Earth materials.

The goal of the Energy for Sustainability program is to support fundamental engineering research that will enable innovative processes and solutions for the sustainable production of electricity and fuels, and energy storage. Processes for sustainable energy production must be environmentally benign, reduce greenhouse gas production, and utilize renewable resources. 

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as part of its Science to Achieve Results (STAR) program, is seeking applications proposing research that will contribute to an improved ability to understand and anticipate the public health and environmental impacts and behavioral drivers of significant changes in energy production and consumption in the United States, particularly those changes associated with advancing toward the deep decarbonization necessary to achieve national and international climate change mitigation objectives and avoid the most significant health, environmental, and economic impacts of climate change. The proposed research is intended to contribute to the development of new insights and predictive tools related to the multimedia, life-cycle impacts of the decarbonization of electricity generation; the electrification of end uses; the adoption of low-carbon emitting, renewable fuels; and the adoption of energy efficiency measures. The proposed research is also intended to contribute to an improved understanding of the drivers of individual, firm (i.e. business), and community decisions that affect energy consumption patterns, including decisions about the adoption of new technologies and energy efficiency measures.

The overarching goal of this FOA is to support the development of capabilities that will allow increased deployment of solar power generation at optimal cost. Better solar forecasting will allow the reduction of balancing, dispatch, and unit commitment costs associated with errors in the prediction of solar power generation. These costs scale with solar penetration, therefore it is important to keep them in check with advancements in the forecasting science, implementations of forecasting models with rapid execution, and seamless integration of forecasting tools in the electric system operations.

The Algorithms for Modern Power Systems (AMPS) program will support research projects to develop the next generation of mathematical and statistical algorithms for improvement of the security, reliability, and efficiency of the modern power grid. The program is a partnership between the Division of Mathematical Sciences (DMS) at the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Office of Electricity Delivery & Energy Reliability (OE) at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

The goal of the Energy for Sustainability program is to support fundamental engineering research that will enable innovative processes for the sustainable production of electricity and fuels, and for energy storage. Processes for sustainable energy production must be environmentally benign, reduce greenhouse gas production, and utilize renewable resources. Research projects that stress molecular level understanding of phenomena that directly impacts key barriers to improved system level performance (e.g. energy efficiency, product yield, process intensification) are encouraged. Proposed research should be inspired by the need for economic and impactful conversion processes. All proposals should include in the project description, how the proposed work, if successful, will improve process realization and economic feasibility and compare the proposed work against current state-of-the-art. Highly integrated multidisciplinary projects are encouraged.

The Geotechnical Engineering and Materials Program (GEM) supports fundamental research in soil and rock mechanics and dynamics in support of physical civil infrastructure systems. Also supported is research on improvement of the engineering properties of geologic materials for infrastructure use by mechanical, biological, thermal, chemical, and electrical processes. The Program supports the traditional areas of foundation engineering, earth structures, underground construction, tunneling, geoenvironmental engineering, and site characterization, as well as the emerging area of bio-geo engineering, for civil engineering applications, with emphasis on sustainable geosystems. Research related to the geotechnical engineering aspects of geothermal energy and geothermal heat pump systems is also supported. The GEM program encourages knowledge dissemination and technology transfer activities that can lead to broader societal benefit and implementation for provision of physical civil infrastructure. The Program also encourages research that explores and builds upon advanced computing techniques and tools to enable major advances in Geotechnical Engineering.