Water Research News
Stay up to date on the latest water energy research and development news at the National
Renewable Energy Laboratory.
Dec. 14, 2023
The U.S. Department of Energy is investing in a new kind of flexible wave energy technology that could convert ocean waves into clean electricity and help power coastal communities, marine research, and even a future clean energy grid.
Dec. 13, 2023
NREL built a new testing platform that blends virtual simulation and physical hardware to help wave energy technology developers quickly and inexpensively hone their designs.
Nov. 28, 2023
WaterPACT involves collecting samples of plastics in waterways, gathering data about the size and scope of the problem, and eventually coming up with a solution.
Nov. 16, 2023
New prize challenges competitors to propose innovative marine energy concepts to accelerate renewable offshore energy—enabling the future blue economy.
Nov. 10, 2023
The program provides funding to national laboratory researchers, empowering them to think outside the box when it comes to their water power research—and to fine-tune their ideas so they have real-world applications.
Nov. 8, 2023
National laboratory researchers are developing a guide for marine energy experts to support energy transitions in remote coastal and island communities.
Nov. 2, 2023
A new ion exchange model can help utilities and researchers simulate and study different system designs to remove forever chemicals from water.
Oct. 19, 2023
A new material could help make clean energy technologies, like tidal energy turbines, even more sustainable.
Oct. 12, 2023
Researchers have determined cost-effective ways to purchase moorings for a new wave energy test facility currently under construction off the coast of Oregon.
Sept. 20, 2023
Charles Candon and Rebecca Fao are part of NREL’s testing team, which helps test and hone water power technologies as they journey from model to market. We spoke to them about their career origins and their day-to-day work.
Sept. 18, 2023
Visit Renewable Energy Discovery (REDi) Island to virtually see cutting-edge marine energy technologies in action.
Sept. 13, 2023
Hydropower is an often overlooked and misunderstood form of clean energy, but the Spark Squad is here to change all that.
Sept. 8, 2023
Find out how researchers are helping four marine energy industry partners prepare their devices to face the waves at Oregon's PacWave South.
Aug. 30, 2023
In a recent study published in Renewable Energy, NREL and PNNL researchers presented a more comprehensive and accurate methodology to measure the wave energy available in ocean sites around the world.
Aug. 24, 2023
Hydropower systems will be vital to our transition to a clean-energy-powered grid. The new virtual Renewable Energy Discovery Island demonstrates hydropower's potential—a potential that NREL researchers are working hard to optimize.
Aug. 17, 2023
Closed-loop pumped storage hydropower systems rank as having the lowest potential to add to the problem of global warming for energy storage when accounting for the full impacts of materials and construction, according to analysis conducted at NREL.
Aug. 16, 2023
The Make a Splash Photo and Video Contest invites competitors to submit captivating photos and videos that showcase water power as a source renewable energy.
Aug. 9, 2023
A new capability installed at NREL's Flatirons Campus can mimic ocean motions, including waves up to 8 feet high, and supports devices weighing about as much as a small RV.
Aug. 4, 2023
Learn more about how recent changes to federal and state regulations are impacting the Hydropower Regulatory and Permitting Information Desktop (RAPID) Toolkit.
July 27, 2023
New funding awards from the National Alliance for Water Innovation will help NREL researchers improve the energy efficiency of U.S. desalination and water reuse technologies.
June 22, 2023
Today's hydropower plants could be even better—and more flexible—if researchers can find a better way to study these big, complex facilities. Learn how NREL researchers have designed a way to do exactly that.
June 15, 2023
Learn about the "spark squad" behind the Spark Squad comics, a series created to inspire today's kids to become tomorrow's clean energy champions.
June 12, 2023
Get a sneak peek into a virtual world where water power has huge potential.
June 8, 2023
To celebrate National Ocean Month, we spoke to three water power researchers whose lives and work revolve around the 70% of our planet that is covered in ocean.
June 7, 2023
College students showcased their work in water power and wind energy at the final events for three DOE collegiate competitions: the inaugural Hydropower Collegiate Competition, fourth annual Marine Energy Collegiate Competition, and 10th annual Collegiate Wind Competition.
May 23, 2023
NREL's newest building, the Research and Innovation Laboratory (RAIL), which will house multipurpose lab space, is the first laboratory building to open at NREL's Golden, Colorado, campus since the fall of 2013.
May 15, 2023
An emerging form of water treatment could be the most cost-effective way to produce clean drinking water from super salty wastewaters from agricultural runoff, groundwater, and more, according to a new study.
April 21, 2023
In celebration of Earth Day, NREL highlights its water power research areas and shares how those efforts are helping reduce, reuse, and recycle.
April 10, 2023
Athabascan Indians living in the remote Alaskan village of Igiugig are building an energy-sustainable community despite years of oil field development.
March 30, 2023
The Innovating Distributed Embedded Energy Prize encourages participants within and beyond the marine energy industry to support the development of wave energy technologies that could help power the nation.
March 28, 2023
In Fiscal Year 2022, NREL played a critical role in computing advancements for 300-plus clean energy research projects through high-performance computing (HPC), efficient data center operation, and state-of-the-art data visualization.
March 22, 2023
In honor of World Water Day, take a closer look at the NREL-administered prize charting a new course for wave-powered desalination.
March 21, 2023
NREL's marine energy team recently gave assistance to four different projects that are improving four different wave energy converter designs.
March 17, 2023
NREL's Tessa Greco presented twice at New Zealand's inaugural clean energy conference, where technology experts and government and community leaders strategized how to reach global clean energy goals.
March 15, 2023
Patrick O'Byrne is helping NREL hone tidal energy technologies—by working through complex underwater engineering challenges as a water power intern.
Feb. 28, 2023
Carrying on his father's influence, Hari Sitaraman collaborates with fellow computational scientists to model sustainable energy solutions for the creation of biofuels.
Feb. 21, 2023
NREL researchers rapidly age more than 300 material specimens to learn which could survive longest in underwater marine energy technologies.
Feb. 16, 2023
In August 2022, researchers journeyed to North Carolina’s Outer Banks to deploy NREL's first wave-powered desalination for a second in-water test. The wave energy converter produced desalinated water for the first time.
Feb. 14, 2023
This Valentine's Day, dive into all the reasons to love water power. NREL researchers share their top reasons to adore one of the oldest forms of renewable energy.
Feb. 2, 2023
NREL files an average of about 170 patent applications annually and releases roughly 48 open-source software titles.
Jan. 17, 2023
The winners of the Hydropower Operations Optimization Prize, which launched in early 2022, used complex strategies, models, analytics, and machine learning to help hydropower meet challenges like demand, environmental requirements, flood management, and integration with solar power.
Jan. 17, 2023
In the coming decades, water scarcity and insecurity is likely to intensify across much of the United States, which is why NREL researcher Hari Sitaraman is working to improve reverse osmosis systems.
Jan. 10, 2023
NREL Materials Scientists Mou Paul and Abhishek Roy won the 2023 Polymer Science and Engineering (PMSE) Cooperative Research Award for their work in global water sustainability.
Jan. 9, 2023
Marine energy has huge potential to deliver clean, renewable energy to communities around the world. But these budding technologies are still up and coming and need people—like students, researchers, industry partners, and more—to help them succeed.
