Case Studies
With a mix of technical know-how, business experience, and creative thinking, ADEPT produces real world bottom-line solutions. The firm specializes in projects at the intersection of energy, environment, and economics. Below are a few projects ADEPT has undertaken for its clients.
This project transforms an underutilized Port of Los Angeles berth into a sustainable energy hub. It revitalizes ~6 acres of contaminated land at Berth 71 via a microgrid system that facilitates energy independence and Zero-Emission port operations. The microgrid includes a 2.5 MW solar PV plant, a hybrid-electric tugboat charging station, a hydrogen electrolyzer with storage to minimize power curtailment, and a hydrogen fuel cell.
The e-Lagoon at POLA will produce green hydrogen to support fuel cell powered cargo handling equipment in nearby terminals. Water piped from an adjacent wastewater treatment plant is electrolyzed using power from a ~20 MW floating solar installation. This microgrid checks all the boxes of ideal hydrogen deployment: it reduces edge-of-grid power demand, collocates hydrogen source and sinks, uses newly developed clean energy, and doesn’t need water supply from a utility.
The new UCLA South Bay campus in Rancho Palos Verdes and Villas in San Pedro are situated close to the Pacific Ocean and near the largest port complexes in the world, and the academic focus of the new campus will appropriately be sustainability, climate change and environmental justice. The microgrid project at The Villas will put these ideas into action by adding renewable generation and local storage to reduce emissions and improve grid resilience. The project applies cutting edge load modeling and energy planning to increase efficiency and promote further research with real-world impacts.
Although public awareness of hydrogen has grown, a practical understanding of its role in the fuel and energy ecosystem, as well as its impact in local communities, is lagging. Key among the stakeholders in this process are public entities and civil servants who evaluate the safety of, and issue permits for, hydrogen installations. This education initiative intends to eliminate hydrogen deployment roadblocks while also ensuring the permitting process appropriately protects impacted communities via listening sessions, workshops, a UCLA Extension certificate, and an app to assist permitting agencies.
Technology Transfer | Strategy Consulting | Project Management
ADEPT worked with a client to establish their high altitude wind power technologies in North America to be utilized in both electrical power generation and direct propulsion of ocean-going vessels. ADEPT engaged to assist in demonstration projects, and to further develop and commercialize the technologies for the North American market.
Technology Transfer | Technical Consulting | Strategy Consulting
ADEPT is engaged with European clients to integrate their drone-based technologies for various platforms to be used in applications such as high-accuracy rapid assessment of operational and equipment deficiencies in utility scale PV and wind turbines; and measurement of stack emissions for air quality regulatory enforcement, particularly in ocean-going vessels. (Ongoing)
Technical Project Management | R&D
Measurement of liquid levels inside pressure vessels generally requires measurement devices to be exposed to the potentially hazardous interior of the vessel and/or relies on the release of pressurized product to the environment.
ADEPT worked with its client to license existing technologies and managed R&D of novel, related methods in ultrasonic sensing to develop commercial devices that accurately and non-invasively measure the level of propane within tanks, resulting in minimized operational impact, improved safety, and the elimination of GHG emissions.
Strategy Consulting | Technical Consulting | Technology Development
A water-in-diesel emulsified fuel was developed by our client, a multinational oil company, to mitigate the emissions of specific pollutants from heavy duty diesel-powered vehicles.
ADEPT worked with our client to bring the product to the US, including technical assistance in the comprehensive testing and certification process by state regulators, R&D work on methods to measure fuel quality, and strategy consulting to become established and commercialize the product North America.
Strategy Consulting
Our client sought to bring their commercial gas sensor technologies to the North American market.
ADEPT understood the client’s technological advantages, assessed the competitive market, and helped to best position the client for entry into the market, where it has since become established and commercially successful.
Technology Transfer
Gas utility clients in Canada and the US were struggling with pipeline corrosion as a result of sub-optimal application of outdated cathodic protection methods.
ADEPT understood technologies being applied overseas, and worked with a European utility to license and bring these technologies and optimized methods to their North American gas utility counterparts, resulting in safer and more cost effective operations for its clients.
