Generation

Princeton University aims to find fusion configurations that could minimize radiation losses while maximizing fusion reactivity. In a vigorously rotating pB11 plasma, the heavier boron ions will be centrifugally confined far from the lighter protons. Then means are provided such that the very energetic protons, which are responsible for fusion, preferentially come into contact with the boron.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center and Idaho National Laboratory, with its Safety and Tritium Applied Research Facility, propose a critical-path tritium-breeding experiment for LIB technology. The technological development for LIBs requires high temperatures, hazardous material handling and access to D-T fusion neutron sources. The Liquid Immersion Blanket: Robust Accountancy (LIBRA) experiment will investigate tritium-breeding capabilities under these extreme conditions.

HydroMINE is a disruptive and elegantly simple modular system with a relatively small internal propeller driven by pressure from a stationary hydrofoil structure to a separate, internal flow stream. The internal propeller drives an ordinary electric direct drive generator. The size of the stationary HydroMINE hydrofoil structure is comparable to an equivalent ordinary rotor of the same swept area producing a similar amount of energy. The external floating structure is passive, only yawing slowly with the ocean tide or river flow direction.

Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory and Woodruff Scientific, Inc., will develop a costing capability to help ARPA-E fusion performers estimate both the projected overnight capital cost and levelized cost-of-electricity (LCOE) of a fusion power plant based on their fusion concepts. These estimates will underlie essential technology-to-market analysis and help guide R&D priorities by illuminating the costliest aspects of different concepts and need for further development.

Ocean Renewable Power Company, Inc. (ORPC) has led the development of crossflow turbine hydrokinetic technology worldwide. Multiple systems have demonstrated reliability over extended periods. The specific power of the present systems is low, however, leading to a high levelized cost of energy. ORPC proposes to develop an improved low-cost system using CCD and design for operation techniques. This novel hydrokinetic energy system will identify dynamic couplings between turbine subsystems and components to optimize system mass and performance. The new systems will be deployed in arrays.

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) will expand its open-source Wind Energy with Integrated Servo-control (WEIS) toolbox to include control co-design capabilities of tidal and riverine hydrokinetic turbines. This new toolbox will enable the conception, design, simulation, and optimization of control co-designed hydrokinetic systems. The toolbox will facilitate innovation in the hydrokinetic turbine industry, allowing for less expensive and more reliable turbines.

Underwater kite systems offer the promise of energy capture from tidal power with minimal structural costs. Current approaches are not scaled for small communities, however. SRI International will team with the University of California at Berkeley, which has facilities for hydrodynamic testing and experience with environmental issues and community engagement, to realize a system that is appropriate for small communities. SRI’s proposed Manta kite system is simple and based on the payout and reel-in pumping action of a kite.

Emrgy, Inc., and its partners are implementing “dynamic tuning” of the HKT system to optimize performance across variable water flow conditions and implement new control algorithms at the system level to optimize array performance. Successful implementation may deliver LCOE of $0.07-0.10/kWh depending on deployment location. Broad deployment of the technology platform in riverine, tidal, and manmade canal resources may displace 1-2 Quads/year of traditional carbon-based generation and 150-300 gigatons of carbon production.

The bottom, sides, and surface of rivers and tidal channels confine water flow, which significantly alters the operation of river and tidal turbines. As turbines harness the momentum of the moving water, they alter the flow around them—water passing through the blades of the turbine is slowed while water passing around the blades speeds up. When the area that a turbine array presents to the flow is an appreciable fraction of the channel cross-sectional area, changes to the flow increase array power output and efficiency.

To advance in-current marine and riverine hydrokinetic energy conversion through a step change in levelized cost of energy, Littoral Power Systems, Inc., and its partners propose to design, fabricate, and test a novel in-current hydrokinetic energy turbine device that imposes no net torque on the mooring. It is a submersed buoyant vehicle on a single flexible tether that flies a turbine up in the water column.