News and Feature Stories
The following news stories take an in-depth, behind-the-scenes look at how NREL is advancing energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies.
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February 2021
Feb. 3, 2021
How To Solve the Mounting Problem of Plastic Waste? Focus on Its Chemical Roots
DOE funding pairs NREL with academic, nonprofit, and industry scientists to transform how we create and recycle plastic.
Feb. 1, 2021
Offshore Wind Plugs Energy Into Homes and Businesses Back on Shore
NREL has launched plans to develop the technologies and strategies needed to integrate the coming wave of offshore wind installations into the grid. The laboratory's success with integration—from its world-renowned work on utility-scale renewable energy systems to its comprehensive vision for offshore wind development and collaboration with industry partners—is steering efforts to deliver power efficiently and affordably from offshore plants.
Feb. 1, 2021
Better Cost Estimates Build Better Systems: NREL Updates SAM Wave and Tidal Tools
Techno-economic analysis just got a bit easier for the marine renewable energy industry. Learn more about the updates to the wave and tidal SAM tool.
January 2021
Jan. 29, 2021
Centrica Partnership Shows Optimal Strategies for Hybrid Storage Systems
NREL and project partner Centrica have looked beyond single battery energy storage system (BESS) types to hybrid solutions, discovering that untapped potential exists when battery types are combined and optimally controlled.
Jan. 29, 2021
"It Was a Grand Experiment, and It Worked"
A Q&A with David Narang and Richard DeBlasio, two of the pioneers of IEEE Standard 1547 and its 2018 revision that have become the definitive technical standards for interconnecting distributed energy resources into the grid.
Jan. 29, 2021
Reliability Analysis of the U.S. West Reviews Barriers to a Renewable Future
As part of a multistate collaboration, NREL has modeled and assessed long-term reliability and integration impacts of solar PV growth in the western United States, with broader lessons for power grids and renewable policies.
Jan. 26, 2021
NREL Launches Storage Futures Study with Visionary Framework for Dramatic Increase in Deployment
The first report in the study outlines four phases of utility-scale energy storage deployment, providing a potential roadmap to 100+ gigawatts of installed capacity in the United States.
Jan. 25, 2021
Multi-Lab Collaboration Releases Groundbreaking High-Resolution, Long-Term Wave Resource Dataset
In collaboration with PNNL and Sandia, NREL has released a high spatial resolution, publicly-accessible ocean surface wave hindcast dataset.
Jan. 25, 2021
Water Security Warriors Gear Up for Waves to Water CREATE Stage
In the upcoming Waves to Water Prize CREATE Stage, competitors will transform their wave-powered desalination system ideas from concept to reality, vying for a shared prize pool of $500,000 and the chance to move on to the final stage of the prize: DRINK.
Jan. 25, 2021
Moving Beyond Conventional WISDEM: Open-Source Software Upgrades User Experience
Recently upgraded, user-friendly WISDEM takes a systems engineering approach to wind energy project design.
Jan. 22, 2021
U.S. Department of Energy and NREL Launch Spring 2021 Geothermal Collegiate Competition
The U.S. Department of Energy's Geothermal Technologies Office today announced the launch of the Spring 2021 Geothermal Collegiate Competition, managed by NREL.
Jan. 22, 2021
Zeroing in on the Potential of Solar Energy To Meet Industrial Process Heat Demand
Today, natural gas and coal combustion supply most demand for industrial process heat (IPH), or the transfer of heat to a material within a production process. With the emergence of low-cost solar photovoltaic (PV) technologies, interest has grown in solar as an IPH option and decarbonization pathway for the industrial sector.
Jan. 22, 2021
NREL Partnerships Transform Energy in Response to Global Needs
More than 12 years ago, at the start of NREL's current management contract with the Alliance for Sustainable Energy LLC, NREL's partnership outreach accelerated. During that period, the laboratory has generated partnership projects totaling more than $1 billion in research-and-development contract value. In FY 2020, NREL delivered a single-year milestone, booking $102 million in new partnership agreements, and that activity continues to grow.
Jan. 21, 2021
News Release: NREL Reports Sustainability Benchmarks for Plastics Recycling and Redesign
Researchers developing renewable plastics and exploring new processes for plastics upcycling and recycling technologies will now be able to easily baseline their efforts to current manufacturing practices to understand if their efforts will save energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Jan. 20, 2021
NREL Invites U.S. Manufacturers To Partner on Distributed Wind Technology Innovation
NREL has issued a request for proposals (RFP) for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Competitiveness Improvement Project (CIP) for distributed wind. The application deadline is Feb. 26, 2021.
Jan. 14, 2021
Saying Yes to Water Power Success: NREL Project Standouts in WPTO Accomplishments Report
Take a bird's-eye view of WPTO's 2019–2020 hydropower and marine energy accomplishments, and learn about the NREL projects highlighted within this comprehensive publication.
Jan. 13, 2021
Shoring Up Wave Energy's Bottom Line Through Variable-Generation WEC Designs
Could the secret to unlocking wave energy's potential be found in shape-shifting control? NREL researcher Nathan Tom and his team think so.
Jan. 12, 2021
Latest Electrification Futures Study Report Explores How U.S. Power System Could Evolve With Widespread Electrification
The fifth report in the multiyear analysis reveals how widespread electrification could impact energy sector infrastructure investments, fuel use, system costs, and emissions.
Jan. 12, 2021
After Four Decades of Photovoltaic Research, NREL Is Just Getting Started
In the 43 years since, the Solar Energy Research Institute—now known as NREL—has been a driving force in the development of solar photovoltaic (PV) energy. A new video shows why NREL researchers envision a future where PV is everywhere.
Jan. 12, 2021
Strength in Numbers: I AM Hydro Prize Partnerships
Learn about the I AM Hydro Prize and the advanced-manufacturing partners supporting it.
Jan. 11, 2021
NREL Positions for Growth in Cybersecurity for Renewables, Launches New Program Office
NREL recently announced the launch of the new Cybersecurity Program Office, established to accelerate NREL's leadership in securing renewable energy technologies and distributed energy systems.
Jan. 8, 2021
Solar Prize Marks Milestone with Round 3 Winner and Round 4 Semifinalist Announcements
The sun has set on another round of the American-Made Solar Prize, awarding two new solar startups for their innovations.
Jan. 5, 2021
A Float Through the Past: CCHRC Founder Revisits His Iglu on the River
It had been almost 30 years since Jack Hébert visited his old home site in Northern Alaska's Brooks Range. In that time, Jack had become an award-winning home builder and founded the Cold Climate Housing Research Center to come up with more sustainable ways to build. Today, he is a senior advisor at NREL.
Jan. 5, 2021
NREL and Project Partners Team-Up To Advance Species Conservation and Wind Energy Deployment
NREL and Defenders of Wildlife launched Wildlife and Wind Energy: Considerations for Monitoring and Managing Impacts, a nine-part webinar series to help familiarize stakeholders with the nuances of land-based wind energy development in the context of species conservation.
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