Design Teams Advance in Ocean Observing Prize
Seven teams win the U.S. Department of Energy's DESIGN Contest for wave-powered systems to monitor hurricanes—part of the Ocean Observing Prize. PNNL administers the prize with National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
Best Dam Job
About 100 researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory work in hydropower-related research.
Are Microgrids a Key to Grid Resiliency?
With an eye on renewable, accessible, and resilient power, PNNL researchers show hyper-local microgrids are a viable option, if designed with the right mix of sources.
Making the Blade Grade: Team Evaluates Steel against Composites for Turbines
A new paper found that hydropower turbines with composite blades generate about 20 percent more power than turbines with traditional stainless steel blades at the same flow rate.
Metis
Metis provides a framework allowing analysis of dynamics across multiple sectors including energy, water, land and socio-economics at variable spatial and temporal scales. It is designed to be a flexible tool which can take inputs from both global integrated assessment models (IAMs) which capture global dynamics as well as more detailed models which capture specific sub-regional and sectoral details at finer resolutions. Metis integrates across tools by sharing data in standardized formats. In most projects looking at multi-sector dynamics one of the key constraints is data availability and a key goal of Metis is to overcome this barrier by providing users with default data across sectors for their specific region. The default data is built from outputs of the open-source Global Change Assessment Model (GCAM) eco-system which provides downscaled gridded global data for water, energy and land. Metis aggregates gridded data to any spatial boundary and offers users a first look at the water-energy-land situation in their regions of interest. The idea is to use this as a starting point and then improve the data as and when it becomes available while working with local stakeholders. After aggregating data to relevant spatial and temporal scales, Metis finds relationships between the sectors using input/output methods to establish correlation matrices. The correlation matrices represent the inter-sectoral links throughout the system and are used to investigate impacts of changes in demands, efficiencies and capacity in one sector on others.
Connected Moments Expansions Allow for Efficient Quantum Computing
Using the connected moments mathematical technique decreases the time and computational power needed for performing quantum computing simulations.
HydroWIRES
HydroWIRES initiative helps water stakeholders reap the full benefit of hydropower’s superpower: versatility
HBET
The Hydropower Biological Evaluation Toolset (HBET) relates data collected by field-based sensors to biological response models for downstream fish passage at hydropower facilities.
Benefits of Research-Collaboration Workshops Focused for Women
Purvine shares how research-collaboration workshops focused for women in data science create a sense of inclusion, empowerment, and networking.
Salmon Summit Introduces Thousands of Students to Research at PNNL
PNNL STEM Ambassadors engage students about salmon migration, hydropower, cybersecurity, water quality, and more at the annual Salmon Summit.