2009 Technology Innovation

Introduction

EPRI’s program for Technology Innovation (TI) creates a strategic research and development portfolio that:

• Pursues high-value, higher-risk concepts and applications
• Supports basic research in critical disciplines and emerging fields
• Advances promising ideas through early, pre-commercial development stages
• Encourages cross-fertilization among key technical specialties

TI identifies and funds collaborative research and development to infuse EPRI’s sector R&D programs with new science and technology. This fosters and incubates emerging technologies and ideas to help EPRI’s members meet growing demand for affordable, clean, reliable, and secure energy in a carbon-constrained future. TI spans the electricity enterprise, from generation, delivery, and utilization to health, safety, and the environment.

Access to all TI-sponsored activities and results is included in any EPRI membership purchase.

Strategic R&D Portfolio

EPRI's scenario-based R&D strategy has identified technical areas in which significant progress is required to help the electricity enterprise and society address long-term and complex challenges. For a number of years, TI has been developing and compiling knowledge, closing operational and technological gaps, overcoming technical barriers, and pursuing promising new concepts in high-priority areas identified through scenario strategy and planning. EPRI’s strategic investments have provided financial and scientific momentum and have helped create self-sustaining public-private collaborations to meet these key challenges.

The TI R&D portfolio focuses on Targets for Innovation, reflecting strategic priorities and rapidly evolving fields of immediate, long-term, and broad relevance for the industry. The portfolio is highlighted by showcase projects—multi-year initiatives addressing priority technologies and issues in which innovation promises significant near-term impact.

Targets for Innovation

The TI R&D portfolio pursues priority technologies and technical areas in which breakthroughs are occurring along multiple fronts. A majority of TI’s nearly 200 active projects address one or more of the following:

• Advanced Coal Generation
• Biotechnology and Environmental Science
• Carbon Capture and Sequestration
• Distributed Resources
• Electricity Use and Efficiency
• Emissions Reduction and Control
• Energy Storage
• Information Technology and Computational Science
• Materials Science and Technology
• Nanotechnology
• Nuclear Power
• Power Delivery and Grid Management
• Renewable Generation
• Sensors and Communications
• Workforce Development and Performance

Through focused investments in these crosscutting areas, TI fosters the development, demonstration, and application of advanced generation, transmission, distribution, and end-use technologies.

Showcase Projects and Recent Accomplishments

Each TI showcase project accounts for approximately 25% of its sponsoring sector’s annual TI allocation, a level sufficient to ensure substantial impact. Recent research and milestones include:

Environment

• Showcase Project: A Complete Framework for Component-Based Risk Assessment of Fine Particulate Matter
• Multimedia Nitrogen Trading: From Concept to Demonstration
• New Understanding of Air Quality–Climate Change Interactions

Generation

• Showcase Project: Development of CO2 Capture Solutions for Retrofit Applications and New Plants
• Nanocoatings for Steam and Gas Turbine Protection
• Solar Energy: Near-Term Deployment and Longer-Term Potential

Nuclear

• Showcase Project: Using New Nano-Scale Characterization Methods to Define Crack Initiation Mechanisms in Nickel-Base Alloys
• CoreVac: New Technology for Removing Reactor Corrosion Products and Debris
• Ultrasonic Testing for Dissimilar Metal Welds With Irregular Surfaces

Power Delivery and Utilization

• Showcase Project: Integration of Nanotechnology into Power Delivery and Energy Storage Applications
• Automated Monitoring of Overhead Transmission Lines
• Demand Response: Intelligent Agents for Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles

Cross-Sector Successes

• Advanced Cooling for Nuclear and Fossil Steam-Electric Plants
• Capturing and Transferring Expert Knowledge
• Biomass Power Generation in the Carbon-Constrained World