Recognizing how innovation and clean technologies at the very edge of the grid can work together to transition the electricity system, PNNL takes a multidisciplinary approach to advancing and integrating renewable energy solutions.
Two PNNL studies that describe the potential value of offshore wind off the Oregon Coast and distributed wind in Alaska were published in the journal Energies.
Developed at PNNL, Shear Assisted Processing and Extrusion, or ShAPE™, uses significantly less energy and can deliver components like wire, tubes and bars 10 times faster than conventional extrusion, with no sacrifice in quality.
PNNL has received 119 R&D 100 Awards since 1969, when the laboratory began submitting entries in the contest that recognizes top 100 inventions each year.
PNNL has paired one of its offshore wind research buoys with its ThermalTracker-3D technology to correlate avian activity with ocean and weather conditions off the California coast.
A special issue of the Marine Technology Society Journal, titled “Utilizing Offshore Resources for Renewable Energy Development,” focuses on research and development efforts including those at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL).
PNNL researchers say that offshore wind energy can add value to the electric grid, beyond just the power it can produce, if locations and strategies are optimized.
Researchers at PNNL have increased the conductivity of copper wire by about five percent via a process called Shear Assisted Processing and Extrusion. General Motors tested the wire for application in vehicle motor components.
PNNL deployed two research buoys in waters off the West Coast for the first time in deep water, supporting a DOE and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management effort to gather measurements that support offshore wind locations and technologies.
PNNL ocean engineer Alicia Gorton was invited to serve on the advisory board of the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Ocean Engineering at the Stevens Institute of Technology.
