Energy Storage News
Dec. 28, 2016
The 2015 Renewable Energy Data Book shows that U.S. renewable electricity grew to 16.7 percent of total installed capacity and 13.8 percent of total electricity generation during the past year.
Dec. 21, 2016
The Water Power Technologies Office (WPTO) under the Energy Department’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy announced a Request for Information (RFI) seeking input from stakeholders on a draft Marine and Hydrokinetic (MHK) Program strategy.
Dec. 19, 2016
The NWTC's dynamometer test facility recently welcomed one of the largest generators ever validated on its 5-megawatt dynamometer. Columbia Power Technologies is partnering with the NWTC to characterize a direct-drive wave energy generator.
Dec. 19, 2016
The NWTC at NREL teams in systems engineering and wind power plant controls have been selected to lead a novel field demonstration to improve wind energy production and help commercialize clean energy technologies.
Dec. 19, 2016
The NWTC is building a reputation as a research and validation resource for technology and software that will help detect and deter bird and bat interactions. Earlier this year, researchers and engineers from Oregon State University and the University of Washington's Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center used the NWTC to test an array of sensors designed to continuously monitor for interactions (including impacts) of birds and bats with offshore wind turbines--with similar applications for land-based turbines.
Dec. 16, 2016
When the NWTC at NREL commissioned a new 5-megawatt dynamometer facility and controllable grid interface capability in fall 2013, it created a unique opportunity for the Energy Department, industry, and other partners.
Dec. 16, 2016
The national energy landscape has changed significantly since the first national strategy for offshore wind was released in 2011. With the first operational offshore wind farm along the Atlantic Coast set to start generating electricity before the end of 2016, the United States is beginning a new era of wind energy production. This fact is highlighted in the National Offshore Wind Strategy: Facilitating the Development of the Offshore Wind Industry in the United States, which was coauthored by the Energy Department, the Interior Department's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, and NREL.
Dec. 16, 2016
Collaboration with industry and academic partners is often the key to success for research conducted by the NWTC at the NREL. Two recent projects exemplify the benefits of working closely with organizations that bring different strengths to the table.
Dec. 16, 2016
Researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Texas A&M University have developed advanced computational models to enhance scientific understanding of a battery electrode’s material recipe and how it controls battery performance.
Dec. 15, 2016
A strategy for producing stable and commercially available perovskite solar cells (PSCs) has been proposed by Kai Zhu and Keith Emery at the Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), in collaboration with Nam-Gyu Park (Korea), Michael Grätzel (Switzerland), and Tsutomu Miyasaka (Japan).
Dec. 15, 2016
Two thousand years ago, Roman legionnaires lugged 100-pound packs into battle. A lot has changed since then, but technology hasn't really reduced an infantryman's load. On the battlefield, mobility is critical--but a typical, modern Marine may shoulder an 80-pound backpack containing 20 pounds of back-up batteries for an array of electronics.
Dec. 14, 2016
The Water Power Technologies Office (WPTO) under the Energy Department's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy announced up to $12 million in available funding to support innovation in marine and hydrokinetic (MHK) technologies that harness power from waves and currents (ocean, river, and tidal).
Dec. 13, 2016
A joint study from the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Argonne National Laboratory, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory revealed the potential effects of connected and automated vehicle (CAV) technologies on fuel use and efficiency, vehicle miles traveled, and consumer costs.
Dec. 13, 2016
Maria Ghirardi, a scientist at the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), has been named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). AAAS cited Ghirardi for "distinguished contributions to our understanding of photobiological hydrogen production in photosynthetic organisms."
Dec. 2, 2016
NREL has published a new report showing that the average fuel economy of fuel cell electric buses from three fleets is approximately 6 miles per diesel gallon equivalent or DGE, 1.4 times higher than conventional diesel buses (about 4.2 miles per DGE) from one fleet and up to 1.9 times higher than compressed natural gas buses (about 3.3 miles per DGE) in another fleet.
Nov. 29, 2016
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Transportation recently adopted a second round of greenhouse gas and fuel efficiency standards for medium- and heavy-duty vehicles that are expected to cut carbon-based emissions by an estimated 1.1 billion metric tons, save approximately $170 billion in fuel costs, and reduce oil consumption by as much as 2 billion barrels. NREL data and analytic expertise provided information crucial to the development of these new standards.
Nov. 28, 2016
Solar panels at the Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) are ubiquitous to the point of practically being invisible, but new rows of photovoltaic (PV) modules installed on the southern edge of campus are intended to attract attention.
Nov. 16, 2016
The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy announced AquaHarmonics as the winner of the Wave Energy Prize—which comes with a $1.5 million grand prize.
Nov. 16, 2016
The Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has released the 2016 Standard Scenarios: A U.S. Electricity Sector Outlook. The outlook shows significant projected growth in natural gas and renewables through 2050 driven by abundant, low-cost natural gas and renewable energy cost declines and performance improvements.
Nov. 15, 2016
Zia Abdullah joined the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) October 31 as laboratory program manager for NREL’s Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) program. Abdullah is an engineer with extensive experience and accomplishments in thermochemically and biochemically converting biomass to fuels and chemicals.
Nov. 4, 2016
The Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) last night received three R&D 100 Awards, an honor presented by R&D Magazine and considered to be the Oscars of innovation.
Nov. 4, 2016
The forest was on fire, but Alicen Kandt didn't see what she had expected.
Nov. 1, 2016
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) was recently issued a patent for its R&D 100 Award-winning Isothermal Battery Calorimeters (IBCs). The multi-size IBCs were developed by energy storage engineers at NREL’s Transportation and Hydrogen Systems Center and licensed by NETZSCH North America for commercialization. NREL’s IBCs, developed with funding from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Vehicle Technologies Office, are distinguished for their ability to perform precise thermal measurements needed to make safer, longer-lasting, and more cost-effective lithium-ion batteries for vehicles.
Oct. 28, 2016
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) made the surprise discovery that a metabolic pathway to take up CO2 exists and functions in a microorganism capable of breaking down and fermenting cellulosic biomass to produce biofuels including hydrogen and hydrocarbons.
Oct. 26, 2016
Through several programs at numerous Department of Energy (DOE) National Labs, researchers are working with clean technology entrepreneurs on the innovative technologies that will shape our nation's clean energy future; but this type of big thinking extends far beyond the research lab.
Oct. 24, 2016
The Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has formed a new consortium with five other national labs intended to accelerate the development of commercially viable pathways for hydrogen production from renewable energy sources. The consortium, named HydroGEN Advanced Water Splitting Materials Consortium (HydroGEN), also includes Sandia National Laboratories, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Idaho National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and Savannah River National Laboratory.
Oct. 21, 2016
NREL’s Ben Kroposki writes about how smart solar inverters and a new technique called virtual oscillator control can help stabilize the power grid in a new article.
Oct. 19, 2016
The Energy Department’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory recently examined the carbon abatement potential of city actions in six policy areas as part of the DOE’s Cities Leading through Energy Analysis and Planning (Cities-LEAP) project. The analysis uses new data on energy use in more than 23,400 U.S. cities and estimates the aggregate impact of city actions related to: building energy codes, public transit, building energy incentives, rooftop photovoltaics, smart growth, and municipal actions. The results indicate that by 2035, these six common city-level policy approaches could reduce nationwide carbon emissions by 210–480 million metric tons of carbon emissions per year. That is a 7–19 percent reduction in carbon emissions for the average city relative to current city-level emissions.
Oct. 19, 2016
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory, in collaboration with partners, recently built a unique pilot-scale facility that can co-produce biomass-derived fuel intermediates with existing petroleum refinery infrastructure. The plant combines biomass pyrolysis with fluid catalytic cracking to demonstrate the potential to co-process biomass-derived streams with petroleum at an industrially relevant pilot scale.
Oct. 11, 2016
The NREL Pyrheliometer Comparisons help ensure that the devices scientists use for measuring solar irradiance are properly calibrated.
Oct. 11, 2016
NREL and the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (Fraunhofer ISE) in Germany have signed a Memorandum of Understanding for close collaboration on hydrogen and fuel cell technologies research. The official launch took place on Monday, Oct. 10, at the "f-cell / World of Energy Solutions" conference in Stuttgart.
Oct. 7, 2016
This week NREL joins others across the United States to celebrate National Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Day on Oct. 8—10.08—a date chosen to represent the atomic weight of hydrogen (1.008). One year ago NREL dedicated its new advanced hydrogen fueling station on the first National Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Day. Here we take a look back at the activities and accomplishments at the hydrogen fueling station in its first full year of use.
Oct. 6, 2016
Scientists with the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) for the first time discovered how to make perovskite solar cells out of quantum dots and used the new material to convert sunlight to electricity with 10.77 percent efficiency.
Sept. 30, 2016
National Public Radio (NPR) recently featured the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s (NREL’s) Chris Gearhart, director of NREL’s Transportation and Hydrogen Systems Center, in an interview on the affordability of low-emission vehicles.
Sept. 30, 2016
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), along with industry partner CLEAResult, has selected five finalists for the JUMP Smart Phone Call for Innovation.
Sept. 28, 2016
The modeled costs to install solar photovoltaic (PV) systems continued to decline in the first quarter of 2016 in the U.S. residential, commercial, and utility-scale sectors, according to updated benchmarks from the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Driving the cost reductions were lower module and inverter prices, increased competition, lower installer and developer overheads, improved labor productivity, and optimized system configurations.
Sept. 21, 2016
Two technologies developed by researchers at the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and a third developed through a collaboration between Wolfspeed, NREL, Toyota, and the University of Arkansas’ National Center for Reliable Electric Power Transmission, have been named finalists by R&D Magazine for the coveted 2016 R&D 100 Awards.
Sept. 15, 2016
The Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), in partnership with Sandia National Laboratories, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, will form a new consortium intended to accelerate the development of module materials for photovoltaics (PV) and lower the cost of electricity generated by solar power.
Sept. 14, 2016
Scientists at the Energy Department's (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) will lead an effort to model the complex and turbulent flow of wind through large wind plants as part of DOE's Exascale Computing Project (ECP), which is gearing up U.S. computational capabilities to prepare for the next generation of supercomputers. NREL will also provide support to three projects related to combustion science, urban systems, and power grid dynamics.
Sept. 13, 2016
The cost of producing electricity via wind power is expected to fall 24-30 percent by 2030 and 35-41 percent by 2050, according to a survey of the world’s foremost wind power experts. Cost reductions are anticipated as a function of continued advancements in wind energy technology.
Sept. 12, 2016
Attendees can get behind the wheel or ride along in one of NREL's hydrogen-fueled fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs). Representatives from NREL will be on hand to answer questions about the vehicles and provide information about alternative fuels and advanced vehicles.
Sept. 8, 2016
A new theoretical framework on defect formation in semiconductors-materials used in a multitude of NREL-developed technologies such as solar cells, light-emitting diodes (LEDs), and power electronics-indicates that shining light on them during growth can lead to improved crystalline quality and, ultimately, better device performance.
Sept. 1, 2016
The Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has released the 2016 Annual Technology Baseline. In addition to updated data for utility-scale renewable and conventional energy technologies, this year’s version includes cost and performance data for residential and commercial rooftop photovoltaics (PV) systems.
Sept. 1, 2016
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), and industry partners Air Liquide, Boyd Hydrogen, California Air Resources Board, and Toyota were selected as 2016 recipients of a Federal Laboratory Consortium (FLC) Far West Region Award for their outstanding partnership in designing, building, and deploying the Hydrogen Station Equipment Performance (HyStEP) Device.
Aug. 31, 2016
Scientists at the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) discovered a use for perovskites that runs counter to the intended usage of the hybrid organic-inorganic material.
Aug. 31, 2016
A new study from the United States Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) used high-performance computing capabilities and innovative visualization tools to model, in unprecedented detail, how the power grid of the eastern United States could operationally accommodate higher levels of wind and solar photovoltaic generation. The analysis considered scenarios of up to 30 percent annual penetration of wind and solar.
Aug. 29, 2016
NREL collaboration with industry partners brings wind energy that is more reliable, more affordable, and better for the environment.
Aug. 25, 2016
NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) were selected as 2016 recipients of a Federal Laboratory Consortium (FLC) Mid-Continent Regional Award, for their notable technology development of the patented Battery Internal Short-Circuit (ISC) Device.
Aug. 25, 2016
As the National Park Service (NPS) marks its centennial on August 25, NREL is helping the NPS enhance the park experience by providing cleaner air and contributing to a healthier environment.
Aug. 18, 2016
The Energy Department’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) will help 12 companies advance their technologies under the second round of DOE’s Small Business Vouchers (SBV) pilot.
Aug. 15, 2016
Companies can reduce the carbon footprint of their supply chains and improve customer satisfaction by giving consumers information and tools to make green choices, according to research conducted by the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Aug. 11, 2016
The Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has named Dr. Johney Green Jr. as Associate Laboratory Director for Mechanical and Thermal Systems Engineering. He will oversee the laboratory’s transportation, buildings, wind, water and geothermal research programs.
Aug. 8, 2016
The White House wants to cut U.S. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 80 percent by 2050, but the goal raises questions about one of the greatest sources of those pollutants, light-duty vehicles (LDVs). The Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has taken a close look at what specific combination of measures national experts have determined is needed to slash LDV emissions from 1,514 million metric tons (MMTs) to 303 MMTs of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year and meet this larger emissions-reduction goal.
Aug. 3, 2016
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has launched two new tools as part of its Cities Leading through Energy Analysis and Planning (Cities-LEAP) project. Created by DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), the tools are designed to help cities nationwide make more strategic energy decisions based on actual and estimated data and analysis.
Aug. 2, 2016
As part of the new Technology Commercialization Fund (TCF), the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded funding to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to lead a vehicle research and development (R&D) project in collaboration with John Deere Electronic Solutions (JDES).
Aug. 1, 2016
Scientists at the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), in collaboration with researchers at Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU), devised a method to improve perovskite solar cells, making them more efficient and reliable with higher reproducibility.
July 28, 2016
The U.S. Department of Energy's Fuel Cell Technologies Office and Department of Interior's National Park Service recently unveiled a modular demonstration hydrogen fueling station as part of a partnership to demonstrate hydrogen technologies in the Washington, D.C. area for up to four years. NREL helped with installation of the technology and will collect data on the station's performance.
July 27, 2016
NREL's Jason Lustbader received an SAE award for his presentation on long-haul truck heating load reduction.
July 27, 2016
Sarah Kurtz's dream of being a university professor is on hold while she pursues her passion for solar energy at the National Center for Photovoltaics.
July 26, 2016
First known work using actual hardware to examine scenarios with multiple solar photovoltaic inverters connected to multiple different points on the grid.
July 25, 2016
NREL’s campus electric vehicle (EV) charging stations are now enhanced with integrative software that links drivers’ expectations with extensive renewables in the laboratory’s campus grid.
July 22, 2016
The U.S. Clean Energy Education & Empowerment (C3E) program has honored Sarah Kurtz and Suzanne Tegen of the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) for their leadership and achievement in the field of renewable energy.
July 20, 2016
In this DOE Fuel Cell Technologies Office webinar, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory will describe the role of hydrogen at the grid scale and the efforts of a large, national lab team assembled to evaluate the potential of hydrogen to play a critical role in our energy future.
July 20, 2016
The National Bioenergy Center at NREL, with its extensive bioenergy research expertise and capabilities, is working to reduce costs and overcome technical barriers—an effort that will bring more bio-derived fuels and chemicals into the marketplace. A recent and significant step toward that goal is the retrofitting of a reactor system in NREL's Thermochemical Process Development Unit (TCPDU): the recirculating regenerating riser reactor or "R-Cubed."
July 15, 2016
NREL Engineers Jason Fields, Heidi Tinnesand, and Ian Baring-Gould recently published a report titled Distributed Wind Resource Assessment: State of the Industry.
July 14, 2016
NREL is evaluating the drive-cycle characteristics of a fleet of propane-powered shuttle buses operating at Zion National Park. As the propane-powered fleet ages and associated maintenance costs rise, NPS is working with NREL to use this drive-cycle information to optimize the conversion of 14 of its propane buses to run on electricity.
July 7, 2016
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) will showcase several fuel cell electric vehicles at a ride and drive event at the Sustainable Smart Home Living Learning Center Grand Opening in Superior, Colorado, on July 9.
June 30, 2016
A recent workshop at the University of Maryland explored key principles and issues that states need to wrestle with in order to craft effective policies enabling the safe and efficient operation of advanced automated vehicles on their roadways.
June 27, 2016
Sheila Hayter, a group manager in the Integrated Applications Center at the Energy Department’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), has been officially installed as treasurer of ASHRAE (the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers) at its 2016 annual conference in St. Louis, Mo.
June 27, 2016
A new report, End-of-Life Management: Solar Photovoltaic Panels, highlights that recycling or repurposing solar PV panels at the end of their roughly 30-year lifetime can unlock a large stock of raw materials and other valuable components.
June 24, 2016
Dr. Mark Davis is the new director of the Biosciences Center at the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).
June 22, 2016
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced that the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) will be receiving $1.38 million from DOE to lead four projects for the Technology Commercialization Fund (TCF). The funds will be used to advance promising renewable energy-related technologies with commercial potential and help strengthen the partnerships between the national labs and private-sector companies. Total value for the four projects including industry and NREL cost share is $2.78 million.
June 21, 2016
NREL engineers Chuck Booten and Jon Winkler plan to make home air conditioners better and more energy efficient with a simple, split installation.
June 21, 2016
A new control strategy helps the grid run normally with lower percentages of spinning, synchronized power sources.
June 16, 2016
NREL's Kevin Bennion received a special recognition award from the U.S. Department of Energy's Vehicle Technologies Office for expertise and leadership in the thermal management of motor designs in electric drive technologies research.
June 14, 2016
The Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has selected 22 leaders to participate in its 2016 Executive Energy Leadership program (Energy Execs), which provides non-technical business, governmental, and community leaders throughout the country an opportunity to learn about renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies, analytical tools, and financing to guide their organizations and communities in energy-related decisions and planning.
June 10, 2016
A recent study by NREL research engineer Yuche Chen and researcher Alan Meier at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) examined the national impact of roof racks on fuel consumption. In this first-of-its-kind study, Chen and Meier determined that in 2015, the popular vehicle add-on accounted for national light-duty fuel consumption that amounts to roughly 100 million gallons of gasoline a year.
June 8, 2016
The U.S. Department of Energy recently honored eight NREL staff members for their outstanding achievements at the Annual Merit Review.
June 7, 2016
Researchers come from across the globe for opportunity to work at lab.
June 6, 2016
Long-haul Class 8 trucks use approximately 7% of their fuel for rest period idling, consuming more than 667 million gallons of fuel each year nationwide. NREL has identified a package of climate-control technologies that annually can save 774 gallons of fuel used per truck for rest period air conditioning.
June 6, 2016
NREL scientists have helped to establish research capabilities to address several important scientific and practical questions concerning perovskite solar cells. Perovskites are an important class of next-generation photovoltaic materials exhibiting impressive light absorption, high device efficiencies, and low-cost, industry-scalable processing.
June 6, 2016
The Energy Department's (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) recently made two key hires to lab leadership positions. NREL has named Peter Green as the new Deputy Laboratory Director for science and technology and Julie Baker as Associate Laboratory Director for facilities and operations.
June 3, 2016
NREL recently hosted the V2X Enabled Electric Vehicles expert workshop, one of several meetings organized under the International Energy Agency's Hybrid & Electric Vehicle "Task 28" portfolio, which encompasses research and collaboration for deployment of home grids and vehicle-to-everything (V2X) technologies -- exploring all issues related to the use of electric storage from plug-in electric vehicles beyond vehicle power.
June 1, 2016
The California Energy Commission has selected NREL to be part of a team that will complete a major applied research project to accelerate the deployment of Advanced Energy Communities (AEC).
May 31, 2016
The U.S. Department of Energy recently awarded Cummins Inc. a $4.5 million grant to develop a Class 6 commercial plug-in hybrid electric vehicle that can reduce fuel consumption by at least 50 percent over conventional Class 6 vehicles. NREL's fleet test and evaluation team will assist Cummins in analyzing the performance of its vehicle technology and by providing in-depth understanding of application-specific drive cycles.
May 31, 2016
The Nozik Fellowship is available to early-career researchers who earned their Ph.D. in the last two years.
May 27, 2016
Dreamers from 57 Colorado middle school teams gathered in a checkered-flag bedecked gym to race electric cars—and chase visions of the future.
May 25, 2016
This award reflects the growth and success of the PV industry as well as NREL's important role providing efficiency measurements for the community.
May 24, 2016
NREL’s state-of-the-art bioenergy research has once again reached award-winning levels. Each year NREL recognizes the professionals behind the lab’s greatest innovations and breakthrough technologies from the past year during its Innovation and Technology Transfer Awards ceremony. Among this year's recipients were many talented staff from the National Bioenergy Center and NREL’s Biosciences Center who were recognized for exceptional work in promoting the transfer of NREL-developed technologies into the private sector and partnering successes.
May 23, 2016
Idea behind meeting to expand relationships with industry.
May 20, 2016
The Energy Department's (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), along with industry partner CLEAResult, will launch a Call for Innovation as part of the DOE JUMP initiative during the Bay Area Maker Faire in San Mateo, Calif., on May 22.
May 19, 2016
A new study suggests reducing fossil fuel use in the electricity sector and encouraging workplace charging are two important factors in achieving the greatest electric vehicle emissions reduction.
May 18, 2016
NREL hosted leaders from the business, government, and research communities at the EERE National Lab Impact Summit to showcase the cutting-edge innovation, bottom-line benefits, and marketplace successes that result from collaboration between national labs and industry. Transportation projects were spotlighted as prime examples of these win-win partnerships, with major automakers, component manufacturers, and fuel producers touting the expertise gained through joining forces with the labs.
May 18, 2016
Analysts and researchers at the Energy Department's (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) played a significant role in a suite of studies released today by DOE’s SunShot Initiative that identify the progress made by the U.S. solar energy industry toward SunShot’s goal of achieving cost parity with traditional energy sources by 2020.
May 17, 2016
As a CSP expert, Craig has helped combine geothermal and other technologies with CSP, improving performance of geothermal plants.
May 17, 2016
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) announced their collaboration to accelerate research, demonstration, and deployment of innovative transportation and alternative fuel technologies.
May 16, 2016
Geothermal program boosted by greater access to data.
May 14, 2016
Fifty-seven teams from 15 Colorado middle schools gathered at Dakota Ridge High School in Littleton today for the 26th Annual Junior Solar Sprint and Lithium-Ion Battery car competitions. The day’s event drew nearly 200 students ready to compete and race the solar- and lithium-ion battery-powered vehicles they designed and built. Ken Caryl Middle School (Littleton) swept the top speed awards winning trophies for the fastest solar-powered model car and the fastest lithium-ion battery-powered model car.
May 13, 2016
The Energy Department’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is awarding four subcontracts under the fourth round of funding through DOE’s Distributed Wind Competitiveness Improvement Project (CIP).
May 11, 2016
The Solar Technical Assistance Team (STAT) Network launched its first program of technical assistance to electric utilities and announced three new efforts to provide direct support to utility partners. The activities range from providing interconnection training to conducting detailed techno-economic modeling to leveraging community solar finance tools.
May 5, 2016
Scientist Adele Tamboli of the Energy Department’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has been awarded additional funding as part of a select group of scientists in the early stage of their careers.
May 3, 2016
Today during its annual Innovation and Technology Transfer Awards ceremony, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) recognized researchers and staff for 169 new innovations, a record-breaking number of scientific and engineering inventions in fiscal year 2015 (FY15). This is a 33 percent increase from last year.
May 3, 2016
On April 25-26, NREL and Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) hosted the 11th United States (U.S.)-China Electric Vehicle and Battery Technology Information Exchange to share insights on battery technology advancements and identify opportunities to collaborate on electric vehicle battery research. The meeting represents the 11th workshop designed to convene battery experts under the U.S.-China bilateral Electric Vehicles Initiative (EVI), which focuses on activities such as joint standards development, demonstration projects, technical road mapping for new research, information exchange, and public education.
April 29, 2016
Rachel Romero, a building systems engineer at the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), has been named a 2016 New Faces of Engineering recipient by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE).
April 28, 2016
New York-based Smarter Grid Solutions has employed its Active Network Management system at the Energy Systems Integration Facility to manage and maintain a modeled distribution grid within normal operating limits through the autonomous management, coordination, and control of distributed energy resources in real time.
April 25, 2016
Researchers at the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) discovered single-walled carbon nanotube semiconductors could be favorable for photovoltaic systems because they can potentially convert sunlight to electricity or fuels without losing much energy.
April 22, 2016
Researchers at the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have uncovered a way to overcome a principal obstacle in using two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors in electronic and optoelectronic devices.
April 21, 2016
A new process using light to reduce dinitrogen into ammonia, the main ingredient in chemical fertilizers could inspire development of new, more sustainable processes that eliminate the energy-intensive, lengthier processes now commonly in use. According to researchers at the Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), photochemical (photon) energy can serve as a substitute for the adenosine 5’-triphosphate (ATP)-dependent electron transfer mechanism typically used in biology to drive nitrogenase to reduce dinitrogen (N2) to ammonia (NH3).
April 21, 2016
Three organizations were selected to receive expertise from the Solar Technical Assistance Team (STAT) Network to address critical questions and challenges to making their states more solar friendly.
April 14, 2016
NREL research fellow and chief scientist Dave Ginley's passion for science began at an early age—and continues to burn.
April 13, 2016
Extreme wave-induced loads are often the key cost driver for wave energy converter (WEC) designs. Therefore, in an effort to better understand the effects that extreme wave conditions can have on wave energy applications, researchers at NREL have applied a technique called the most likely extreme response method to evaluate the maximum displacement and loads of a point absorber WEC experiencing anticipated 100-year waves.
April 6, 2016
New report highlights research and achievements for the ESIF in its second year of operation.
April 5, 2016
Twelve collegiate teams are gearing up for the biannual U.S. Department of Energy Collegiate Wind Competition 2016, to be held in New Orleans, Louisiana, May 23–25, 2016, in conjunction with the AWEA WINDPOWER 2016 Conference & Exhibition. Since the inaugural competition in 2014, the number of competing teams has increased—and so has the diversity—hailing from colleges and universities across the United States, including Alaska and Puerto Rico.
April 5, 2016
Jeroen van Dam is proving that a single person can have a global impact. A principal engineer at the National Wind Technology Center (NWTC) at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, van Dam recently received the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) 1906 award. This honor is bestowed on technical experts whose exceptional involvement in IEC activities has brought about significant advancements in international electrotechnical standardization. Since the award’s inception in 2004, three current NWTC experts have received it: Derek Berry, Arlinda Huskey, and Paul Veers.
April 4, 2016
A finely tuned carbon nanotube thin film has the potential to act as a thermoelectric power generator that captures and uses waste heat, according to researchers at the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).
April 4, 2016
A new report by NREL's Mark Singer highlights what consumers really think about plug-in electric vehicles and what is needed to overcome widespread barriers to adoption.
April 1, 2016
Scientists at the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have been able to pinpoint for the first time what happens during a key manufacturing process of silicon solar cells.
April 1, 2016
National Wind Technology Center researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory have entered the final phase of testing a next-generation drivetrain—the components of a wind turbine that convert the rotational energy of the rotor into electricity—that will be less expensive, more reliable, and more efficient. This project, funded by the Energy Department, combines innovations across the entire drivetrain system, including the gearbox, generator, and power converter.
April 1, 2016
Robert Thresher may be considered the wizard of wind at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, having worked in the field since 1973. At the laboratory since 1984, Thresher’s credited with the buildup of what is now the National Wind Technology Center and the startup of the Energy Department's Water Energy Program. His longtime efforts at turning wind and water into renewable energy has now yielded a record of invention titled “Wave Energy Conversion Devices with Actuated Geometry.”
April 1, 2016
Before the Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) released its Simulator fOr Wind Farm Applications (SOWFA) simulation tool in August 2013, there had not been an open-source, freely available tool of this capability that researchers all over the world could embrace. Now, the winds of change are blowing.
April 1, 2016
When the Energy DEpartment commissioned a 1.5-megawatt (MW) wind turbine in 2009, it became a key player in improving the performance and lowering the costs of wind energy systems. In 2015, researchers at the National Wind Technology Center at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado, connected the 300-foot-tall turbine to the controllable grid interface test facility, which simulates the real-time conditions of a utility-scale power grid. This began an ongoing, Energy Department-funded research effort to test how wind turbines can remain connected to the grid during short periods of grid failure.
April 1, 2016
Researchers at the Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory are working to make the “brains” of a wind farm smarter and more efficient.
March 30, 2016
From the subzero tundra in Alaska to the Southwest, NREL is partnering with Native American tribes and Alaska Native villages to advance clean energy goals.
March 30, 2016
Scientists from the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), along with their counterparts from solar energy research institutes in Germany and Japan, gathered recently to discuss the future of photovoltaics (PV) and assess its contributions to increasing global prosperity, energy security and mitigation of climate change.
March 28, 2016
Two recently published papers show the results of photoemission spectroscopy and time-resolved optical spectroscopy, which quantify the energetics and carrier dynamics that occur at interfaces between the perovskite absorber and transport layers.
March 28, 2016
If you are considering ways to adopt HPXML, a good first stop is the HPXML implementation guide to get you started.
March 24, 2016
Analysts at the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have used detailed light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data for 128 cities nationwide, along with improved data analysis methods and simulation tools, to update its estimate of total U.S. technical potential for rooftop photovoltaic (PV) systems. The analysis reveals a technical potential of 1,118 gigawatts (GW) of capacity and 1,432 terawatt-hours (TWh) of annual energy generation, equivalent to 39 percent of the nation’s electricity sales.
March 21, 2016
Funding source provides scientists with method to propel progress forward.
March 18, 2016
The biological production of fuels and chemicals from methane represents a means of decreasing greenhouse gas emissions and, at the same time, utilizing an abundant-yet-underutilized, high-energy gas, making the process the subject of a promising new NREL study, published in Nature's Scientific Reports.
March 17, 2016
A bald eagle named Spirit and a golden eagle named Nova recently helped a team of researchers at the National Wind Technology Center collect terabytes of data for a project aimed at helping researchers make wind energy safer for birds.
March 17, 2016
The Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) will play key roles in a variety of projects recently funded by the Department's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E). NREL's innovative approaches have received five awards across three different ARPA-E programs for advancing transformational technologies to generate, store, and use energy more efficiently, at lower costs and with reduced emissions.
March 16, 2016
On March 8, NREL hosted the first review meeting of the Advanced Computer-Aided Battery Engineering Consortium, initiating phase three of the collaborative Computer Aided Engineering for Electric Drive Batteries activity funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Vehicle Technologies Office.
March 10, 2016
NREL geothermal experts attend the 41st Annual Stanford Geothermal Workshop--one of the world's longest-running technical meetings on the topic of geothermal energy.
March 10, 2016
The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) will help the first group of small clean energy businesses advance their products under the Small Business Vouchers (SBV) pilot launched last July by DOE.
March 9, 2016
This webinar will provide information about DetecTape, a color-changing, self-fusing silicone tape developed by Element One and Midsun Specialty Products and designed to detect hydrogen leaks in fuel cell, transmission, storage, and generation facilities. NREL has performed lab testing of DetecTape over the past 13 months and reports are available upon request.
March 8, 2016
Ridgeview Classical Charter School scores convincing victory at Colorado Science Bowl to secure trip to national competition.
March 2, 2016
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has entered into an interagency agreement with the U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to provide technical support and assistance in the development of renewable energy from geothermal resources on public lands.
March 1, 2016
Nearly 200 researchers from more than 100 companies and representing 16 countries attended the 7th annual PV Module Reliability Workshop, Feb. 23–25, 2016, in Golden, Colo.
Feb. 29, 2016
A critical milestone has been reached in cadmium telluride (CdTe) solar cell technology, helping pave the way for solar energy to directly compete with electricity generated by conventional energy sources.
Feb. 29, 2016
Google and IEEE announced today that Belgium's Red Electrical Devils, a team from CE+T Power, has won the Little Box Challenge, a competition to invent a much smaller inverter for interconnecting solar power systems to the power grid. The success earned the team a $1 million prize while proving that inverters can be the size of a tablet or smaller rather than the size of a picnic cooler, more than a factor of 10 reduction in size. The Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) provided critical analysis of the 18 finalists teams’ inverters to help determine the winner.
Feb. 23, 2016
The Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is now accepting applications for its 2016 Executive Energy Leadership Program.
Feb. 22, 2016
NREL energy systems integration researchers are collaborating with one of the nation’s largest electric utilities to deploy a unique solar and battery storage solution at a microgrid demonstration site.
Feb. 22, 2016
Students from Ridgeview Classical Charter Schools won the Colorado High School Science Bowl. They will represent the state of Colorado at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) National Science Bowl in Washington D.C., April 28– May 2, where they will compete against more than 400 students from 70 high schools for the national title.
Feb. 22, 2016
The Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) today released new analysis exploring the potential impact of recently extended federal tax credits on the deployment of renewable generation technologies and related U.S. electric sector carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.
Feb. 18, 2016
NREL's Power Systems Engineering Center published 33 journal and magazine articles in the past year highlighting recent research in integrating renewable energy into power systems.
Feb. 11, 2016
In an interview published in Solar Today, Dr. Jao van de Lagemaat, director of the Chemistry and Nanoscience Center at the National Renewable Laboratory (NREL), highlighted various aspects of perovskites, which have received considerable attention by solar cell researchers at NREL and other institutions.
Feb. 9, 2016
A new biorefinery process developed by scientists at the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has proven to be significantly more effective at producing ethanol from algae than previous research.
Feb. 8, 2016
Working with partners around the world, researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have completed five years of work toward helping establish an international quality standard for manufacturing photovoltaic (PV) modules.
Feb. 5, 2016
Researchers at the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the BioEnergy Science Center (BESC) say better understanding of a bacterium could lead to cheaper production of cellulosic ethanol and other advanced biofuels.
Feb. 4, 2016
The Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) was recently issued a patent for a novel method that rapidly characterizes specialized materials during the manufacturing process. This approach significantly improves on standard quality control techniques by allowing for complete monitoring of materials without interrupting workflow.
Feb. 4, 2016
Record numbers carefully vetted by scientists to assure accuracy.
Jan. 28, 2016
Demonstration project shows utility-scale photovoltaic plants that incorporate “grid-friendly” controls can contribute to grid stability and reliability.
Jan. 27, 2016
A new resource sponsored by the Energy Department’s SunShot Initiative helps distribution engineers understand the challenges of high-penetration PV integration—giving them the information they need to ramp up their solar energy integration and deliver more clean, renewable power to consumers.
Jan. 26, 2016
On Thursday, January 12, 2016, NREL’s Transportation and Hydrogen Systems Center Director Chris Gearhart provided a testimony on new technologies in the automobile industry before the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
Jan. 25, 2016
The Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) recently received a 2015 Tucson Fuel Cell vehicle on loan from Hyundai and a B-Class F-CELL on loan from Mercedes-Benz. NREL is partnering with Mercedes-Benz and Hyundai to evaluate the interaction of the vehicles' high-pressure hydrogen storage systems with NREL's hydrogen fueling system equipment and to test the user experience by refueling fuel cell electric vehicles at the lab's new state-of-the-art hydrogen fueling station.
Jan. 25, 2016
The potential to slow pollution through deployment of automated vehicles is gaining more and more traction in the news. In a recent Scientific American article, reporter Camille von Kaenel asked NREL’s Jeff Gonder for a transportation researcher’s thoughts on both the sustainability benefits and uncertainties that will accompany an increase in driverless cars.
Jan. 22, 2016
NREL initiative approaches sustainable transportation as an integrated system, where travelers and transportation resources are viewed as a dynamic network.
Jan. 21, 2016
With emerging technologies, travel behavior may shift from personal vehicles to automated transit systems. An NREL study shows that a campus-sized-ranging from four to 10 square miles-automated mobility district has the potential to reduce fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions by 4% to 14% depending on various operating and ridership factors.
Jan. 19, 2016
Katherine Dykes and Rick Damiani completed the six-week training as part of the U.S. Department of Energy's pilot Lab-Corps program. Lab-Corps seeks to "help move innovative technologies from national labs into the marketplace."
Jan. 14, 2016
Today, U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz announced up to $220 million in new funding for a consortium of DOE national laboratories and partners to support critical research and development over the next three years to help modernize our nation’s electrical power grid. The secretary also announced the release of DOE’s comprehensive new Grid Modernization Multi-Year Program Plan (MYPP), a blueprint for the Department’s research, development, and demonstration agenda to enable a modernized grid. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) will be strongly supporting this effort, bringing its unique array of experts and resources together to participate in 48 of the 88 awarded projects announced today.
Jan. 12, 2016
Scientists at the Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) are studying what may seem paradoxical - certain defects in silicon solar cells may actually improve their performance.
Jan. 6, 2016
A new study by researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) estimates that $2.2 billion in benefits came from reduced greenhouse gas emissions and $5.2 billion from reductions in other air pollution, in mid-range estimates, for state renewable portfolio standard (RPS) policies operating in 2013. RPS policies require utilities or other electricity providers to meet a minimum portion of their load with eligible forms of renewable electricity.
Jan. 5, 2016
Scientists at the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and at the Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology (CSEM) have jointly set a new world record for converting non-concentrated (1-sun) sunlight into electricity using a dual-junction III-V/Si solar cell.
Jan. 4, 2016
NREL is working with two-way power grid communications technologies, which can act like an independent "electricity-only Internet."
