We accelerate clean energy research through supercomputing and scientific collaboration.

Researchers Build Virtual Communities Using Simulation and Emulation for Advanced Systems Software

Six communities were selected for an in-depth analysis of clean energy solutions using Simulation and Emulation for Advanced Systems (SEAS) open-source software—a 2023 R&D 100 winner. SEAS, utilized to build virtual communities through modeling and ARIES hardware, was piloted in Fairbanks, Alaska.

Integrated Framework Targets Cyber Resilience of Power Systems Against Attacks

NREL researchers built a reinforcement learning framework for enabling cyber-physical controls to support the Cyber Resilient Distributed Autonomous Energy Grid project's efforts to prepare, defend, and adapt power and communications systems against cyberattacks.

Dynamic Modeling of Polyester Decrystallization to Affect Biofuel Production Efficiency

NREL researchers have successfully deployed a computational approach to tackle plastic waste using molecular dynamics simulations to study decrystallization in widely used synthetic polyesters, such as polyethylene terephthalate or PET.

Molecular Dynamic Simulations for Efficient, Stable, and High-Performing Inverted Perovskite Solar Cells

NREL's Eagle supercomputer supported molecular dynamic simulations, which enabled researchers to find a reactive surface engineering approach to make perovskite solar cells more efficient, stable, and higher performing.

Computational Fluid Dynamics Models Enabling Rapid Prototyping of High-Pressure, Low-Temperature Electrolysis Cells

For simulating the fluid flow through high-pressure, low-temperature electrolysis cells, researchers used NREL's Eagle supercomputer to create computational fluid dynamics models to assess key performance metrics, such as pressure drop and uniform velocity distribution.

Modeled Wave and Tidal Hindcasts Help Planning and Engineering

Researchers used the Eagle supercomputer along with cloud computing to simulate and process wave and tidal hindcasts by expanding publicly available high-resolution data sets using the wave models, WaveWatch3 and SWAN.

Scenarios Show Paths to Puerto Rico's Resilient, Equitable 100% Renewable Energy Goals

For the Puerto Rico Grid Resilience and Transitions to 100% Renewable Energy Study, analysts relied on NREL's HPC capabilities to develop 14-year, high-resolution historical and future projections of renewable energy resources, including a 20-year wind resource data set.

More Realistic Interpretation of Solar Potential Revealed Through Local Ordinance Models

NREL researchers collected more than 800 solar ordinances at the county level—and some at the municipal level—in the contiguous United States to understand their impacts on solar potential and illuminate possible land-use conflicts.

Model Shows Promising New Mechanism for Water Transport in Reverse Osmosis Membranes

NREL's Eagle supercomputer was used to develop in silico approaches for simulating transport in reverse osmosis membranes, revealing a pressure gradient within the membranes could drive water transport, not by a water concentration gradient as previously reported.

Simulations Seek Optimal Additive Manufacturing Component Grain Structure

HPC simulations indicated that while titanium-copper alloys show equiaxed grain formation under additive manufacturing conditions, the addition of niobium significantly increased the stability of the transitions over the processing conditions.

New Chemical Simulation Code for High-Fidelity Theory Attracts Experimental Groups Worldwide

For research on molecular systems and materials used in solar photochemistry, NREL is adapting Questaal—an electronic structure software package—to create a chemical code called Questchem, attracting worldwide attention for its application of NREL's unique high-fidelity theory.