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March 13, 2024, 11:30 a.m.–1 p.m. ET
FEMP IACET: 0.2 CEU
Level: Intermediate
This training program is designed to educate agencies on geothermal heat pumps (GHP) and equip them with the skills to model and evaluate these systems for their specific site(s) using the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's (NREL) REopt tool.
The REopt tool, available for free, offers a user-friendly web interface and open-source code, enabling users to assess the techno-economic feasibility of distributed energy resources, including solar photovoltaics, wind turbines, battery storage, geothermal heat pumps, combined heat and power, and thermal energy storage.
Participants in this training will gain insights into GHP technology, receive an introduction to the comprehensive REopt tool, delve into the specifics of REopt's GHP model, and learn how to effectively utilize it for site-specific evaluations.
Learning Objectives
Upon completion of this course, attendees will be able to:
- Identify how GHPs operate.
- Describe what types of questions REopt can answer and how to access the REopt web tool.
- Prepare a basic GHP evaluation in the REopt web tool.
- Describe key factors and considerations impacting GHP feasibility at sites.
Instructors
Dan Olis is a research engineer at NREL. He is a mechanical engineer with experience in mechanical and systems design, plant operations, testing and commissioning, and project management. Currently Dan's focus is techno-economic analyses of distributed energy resources, renewable energy systems integration, and project development.
Dan has supported work for private industry, utilities, remote communities, the U.S. Department of Energy, Department of Defense, Department of the Interior, and the Federal Energy Management Agency in the U.S., Caribbean, and Pacific regions.
In addition, he is a key contributor to NREL's REopt software tool, a techno-economic decision support platform used by researchers, developers, utilities, and energy managers for identifying distributed energy resources to meet their energy savings, emissions, and resilience goals.
Otto Van Geet is a principal engineer at NREL. He has been involved in the design, construction, and operation of energy-efficient research facilities such as laboratories and data centers, office and general use facilities, and low-energy-use campus and communities.
Otto was one of the founding members of the Labs21 (Smart Labs) program and his experience also includes renewables screening and assessment, PV system design for on- and off-grid applications, energy audits, and minimizing energy use.
Otto has authored many technical reports and conference papers and been recognized with many awards from professional associations, including the 2007 Presidential Award for Leadership in Federal Energy Management and the 2011 GreenGov Green Innovation Presidential Award for the NREL Research Support Facility data center.
An Pham is a research engineer in the Modeling and Analysis group in the Accelerated Deployment and Decision Support Center and the Capacity Expansion and Electricity Markets Group in the Grid Planning and Analysis Center. Her work uses macro- and micro-scale energy systems models to inform planning for energy systems transition.
Prior to joining NREL, Pham was a postdoctoral research fellow at University of Michigan, where her research focused on grid-scale deployment of negative emissions technologies and techno-economic analysis of emerging distributed energy resource technologies, including thermal energy storage in residential households and small modular reactors in the transportation sector.
About FEMP Training
The Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) provides live and on-demand training to foster and maintain a high-performance workforce that constructs, operates, and maintains energy-efficient and cost-effective federal facilities. Choose from over 120 free courses spanning topics like project financing, facility and fleet optimization, fleet management, resilience, sustainable product procurement, and more.
FEMP is accredited by the International Association for Continuing Education and Training (IACET) and awards IACET continuing education units (CEUs) upon the successful completion of select courses. FEMP training is provided through the National Institute of Building Sciences' Whole Building Design Guide (WBDG) learning management system.