Application of Systems Readiness Level Methods in Advanced Fossil Energy Applications

Abstract

The Department of Energy's Fossil Energy Program (FE), through the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), has been tasked with developing fossil energy technologies to meet U.S. greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals for over a decade. NETL has adopted Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) for the last five years to estimate progress in technology development under its research portfolio. Advanced fossil energy systems need to be tested at full-scale in an integrated facility before they can be considered ready for commercial deployment. Commercial-scale demonstrations of energy technology present numerous challenges associated with first-of-a-kind facilities, one in particular being the need to integrate multiple emerging technologies that were previously demonstrated in pilot-scale applications into a design that can be constructed and operated under commercial plant operating conditions.Systems Readiness Level (SRL) methodology is an analysis approach developed by the Department of Defense (DoD) as a metric for assessing progress in developing major military systems. SRL methodology builds on Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) widely used in government agencies to assess the maturity of emerging technologies under development. To estimate the level of readiness of a system comprising multiple emerging technologies in their current state, SRL methodology unites the TRL for each technology with Integration Readiness Levels that express the need for each of these technologies to be integrated with other technologies in the system. A matrix algebra approach is then used to estimate an overall level of systems readiness for the intended system.NETL tested SRL methodology in a pilot application with the objective of developing better analysis tools to support major decisions regarding advanced fossil energy technologies. NETL applied SRL methodology to estimate the readiness of two advanced fossil energy technology projects using data that was available at the time they were initiated. This paper describes the successful pilot application, the lessons learned and the potential for SRL methodology to support technology development.