Research fuels wind, solar technologies

Wind energy is the next big bet in the United States for the production of clean energy and, because of it, researchers across the state have invested much time and money into making wind turbines efficient, cost-effective and easy to hook up to the nation’s existing power grid system.

At last count, wind energy accounted for 4 percent of energy consumption in the United States. In Colorado, it makes up 11.3 percent of electricity production, according to the American Wind Energy Association. For renewable energies, that means it has arrived.

Solar also is making some headway. The price of solar energy is coming down and, with government subsidies, has become a fairly reasonable option.

Many researchers across the state point out that making more-traditional energy sources cleaner also counts as clean technology, and scientists are working to make oil and gas drilling and power plants cleaner.
Whether it is wind, solar, fuel cells, biofuels or energy efficiency, Colorado’s powerhouse research universities and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden are at the forefront of what’s going on nationwide. Here are some highlights:

National Renewable Energy Laboratory

NREL’s Energy Systems Integration department works to integrate new technologies with the nation’s power grid and energy system, particularly renewables, energy-efficiency technologies, large-scale wind and solar deployment, biofuels, geothermal and hydropower applications.
“One of the things we focus on is how these technologies work together and are interconnected with the rest of the electrical grid infrastructure; how we can tap into other technology; … how it all works together in a cohesive energy system and how to optimize how all the systems work together as a larger energy infrastructure,” said Ben Kroposki, director of Energy Systems Integration at NREL.

Another exciting development at NREL is its new dynamometer test facilities. This is the third such device at NREL, but it has a 5-megawatt capacity, which is double the capacity of the lab’s previous dynamometer.
A dynamometer is used to test the drive train of large wind turbines. It essentially is the machinery enclosed in a box at the top of the turbine. It converts the rotary motion of the blades into electricity, said Jim Green, senior project manager for NREL’s National Wind Technology Center.

“Hopefully we can produce extra power by being more efficient in the drive train,” Green said. “We can test them and prove them out and make necessary changes before you invest in a big wind farm somewhere. Any improvements you can make in the testing of the prototype, there is a huge economic benefit.”

The test facilities are all about partnerships, he added. The emphasis at the technology center is to partner with companies in the industry that want to make use of NREL’s expertise and test facilities.

Colorado School of Mines

CSM has some exciting projects going on, in particular the Center for Revolutionary Solar Photoconversion, which is housed within the Renewable Energy Materials Research Science and Engineering Center. It is taking a look at a variety of technologies related to photovoltaics, including panels and how to store the energy once it is generated, he said. Researchers in the Center also are looking at how to transport it and merge it with existing infrastructure.

The center was started in 2008 by the National Science Foundation to investigate emerging renewable energy materials and technologies.

CSM also houses the Colorado Fuel Cell Center, which is working with solid oxide and proton exchange membrane fuel cells. These are alternative ways to transport energy. The technology can be used to provide energy in field military operations and in transportation, Vaughn said. Larger fuel-cell stacks can power towns or parts of towns.

The university also wants to make traditional forms of energy cleaner.

It is a given that the United States needs to shift to cleaner sources of energy, said William Vaughn, director of technology transfer at CSM, but “while we are doing that, if we can make that dirty energy cleaner, it saves everyone heartache and doesn’t contribute [as much] to global warming.”

University of Colorado Boulder

Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder have developed a new technique that uses the power of sunlight to efficiently split water into components of hydrogen and oxygen, paving the way for the broad use of hydrogen as a clean, green fuel.

Professors Al Weimer and Charles Musgrave and their team devised a solar-thermal system in which sunlight is concentrated by mirrors onto a single point atop a tower that is several hundred feet tall. The tower gathers heat generated by the mirror system, up to 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit, and then delivers it into a reactor containing chemical compounds known as metal oxides.

As the metal oxide compound heats up, it releases oxygen atoms, changing its material composition and causing the newly formed compound to seek out new oxygen atoms. If steam is introduced into the system, it causes oxygen from the water molecules to adhere to the surface of the metal oxide, freeing up hydrogen molecules for collection as hydrogen gas.

“We have designed something here that is very different from other methods and frankly something that nobody thought was possible before. Splitting water with sunlight is the Holy Grail of a sustainable hydrogen economy,” Weimer said in a statement.

Colorado State University

CSU recently founded the CSU Energy Research Institute to foster multidisciplinary energy research, grants, education and strategic partnerships while helping to bring energy technology developed at the university to market.

The project brings all of CSU’s energy centers under one roof, including agricultural energy, photovoltaics, biofuels and electric power systems. By bringing all of the disciplines together, CSU is hoping to foster even more partnerships with industry and researchers on campus.

CERI also will house the Center for the New Energy Economy, headed up by former Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter. Its new 100,000-square-foot Powerhouse campus, which is scheduled to open in January 2014, will provide research and administrative space for various energy projects across campus.

University of Colorado Denver

The University of Colorado Denver Business School is contributing to Colorado’s energy economy in a different way. Its Global Energy Management program, which is a graduate degree program, is educating the energy industry’s next executives.

It all started in 2009, when Encana Corp., a large oil and gas company operating in the state, came to the university saying it couldn’t find employees with accounting backgrounds and an understanding of energy. Many of the students in the GEM program already work in the energy industry. They are just trying to hone their skills or specialize in one area or another.

The program also has taken advantage of cutting edge technology to offer its first open access energy business course on Coursera, a learning platform that partners with universities to offer free online courses globally.
The course gives the GEM program worldwide exposure to diverse audiences and raises the program’s visibility in the energy community.

on Facebook on LinkedIn