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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March 2023
March 15, 2023
Beneath the Surface: From Holes to Coal to Tides: Patrick O'Byrne's Journey to Clean Energy
Patrick O'Byrne is helping NREL hone tidal energy technologies—by working through complex underwater engineering challenges as a water power intern.
March 15, 2023
Clean Energy Solutions Center Returns To Support Clean Energy Policy Development Worldwide
After a short period of dormancy, the Clean Energy Solutions Center has revitalized its programming and recommitted to its three pillars of activities: ask-an-expert services, trainings and peer-to-peer learning, and management of a comprehensive resource library.
March 14, 2023
Howard University Joins NREL-Governing Alliance Board of Directors
Howard University has joined the Board of Directors of the Alliance for Sustainable Energy in a partnership that will facilitate the exchange of expertise in renewable energy, energy efficiency, environmental justice, and addressing the needs of historically underserved communities.
March 14, 2023
NREL Teams With Australia's Fortescue Future Industries on a Colorado Innovation Center
It is about 10,000 miles between the main NREL campus and Western Australia. But that distance shrank considerably when Fortescue Future Industries (FFI) announced a partnership with NREL for a U.S.-based FFI Worldwide Green Hydrogen research and development center in Colorado.
March 13, 2023
Unlocking Grid Potential Around the World with the Global Power System Transformation Consortium
In the latest installment of NREL's Tell Me Something Grid series, Amy Rose, a senior grid researcher, discusses how the Global Power System Transformation Consortium is supporting power system operators around the world with achieving reliable, low-carbon grids.
March 13, 2023
Direct Air Capture Prizes To Accelerate Just and Sustainable Carbon Management Solutions
Two new prizes from the U.S. Department of Energy's American-Made program aim to launch a promising carbon dioxide removal method—direct air capture—into the mainstream by offering over $7 million in prizes and technical support to those who can rise to the challenge.
March 10, 2023
Distributed Wind Energy Brings Value to Remote and Rural Communities
Four-year, multilab project analyzes the many benefits of distributed wind energy for communities across the United States.
March 10, 2023
Fossil Ridge Team Holds on to Science Bowl Crown
For the third year in a row, the Fossil Ridge High School team took home gold in the Colorado High School Science Bowl in the first in-person competition since 2019.
March 9, 2023
NREL-Led Team Explores Potential of Underground Geothermal Energy Storage for All Seasons
Renewable energy storage technologies with long-duration capabilities are essential as the U.S. power grid and wider energy economy move toward decarbonization.
March 8, 2023
New Prize Aims To Accelerate Microbattery Advances and Adoption
The new Microbattery Design Prize offers a total prize pool of $1.1 million in federal funding and performance and safety testing services with DOE national laboratories.
March 7, 2023
57 Teams Advance to Solar Decathlon 2023 Design Challenge Final
More than 300 collegiate students will visit the NREL campus in April 2023 for the Solar Decathlon Final Competition Event.
March 7, 2023
Full Steam Ahead: Unearthing the Power of Geothermal
While geothermal power plants have delivered renewable power for more than 100 years, recent research and advancements have shown that geothermal is more than a 24/7 clean power source.
March 6, 2023
News Release: Fossil Ridge Wins 33rd Colorado High School Science Bowl
Students from Fossil Ridge will represent the state of Colorado at the U.S. Department of Energy's National Science Bowl in Washington, D.C., to compete for the national title.
March 2, 2023
Why Frankfort Set a 2023 Clean Energy Goal
In 2021, the city of Frankfort, Kentucky, set a very accelerated and ambitious clean energy goal: to supply 100% clean, renewable electricity to city government operations by the end of 2023. NREL and Frankfort used the SLOPE tool together to explore real data so the community could customize its plan for its needs.
February 2023
Feb. 28, 2023
Climate Solutions Fuel NREL's Hari Sitaraman
Carrying on his father's influence, Hari Sitaraman collaborates with fellow computational scientists to model sustainable energy solutions for the creation of biofuels.
Feb. 27, 2023
Clean Energy for Healthy Communities: Q&A With Dana-Marie Thomas
NREL researcher Dana-Marie Thomas believes that all communities should have access to clean, affordable, and reliable energy and that energy resilience is essential for promoting health and well-being.
Feb. 27, 2023
Visualizing a Cyber-Secure Future
To strengthen their cyber defenses, six critical infrastructure companies convened for a two-day exercise hosted on Mastercard's cyber range. NREL provided a visualization to make the simulation easier to view for on-the-fly decision-making.
Feb. 23, 2023
Announcing the 2023 JUMP Into STEM Final Competition Winners
Students and professors from across the country, an esteemed panel of judges, and program supporters from the U.S. Department of Energy converged in Golden, Colorado, for the 2023 JUMP into STEM Final Competition.
Feb. 23, 2023
News Release: 2023 NREL Industry Growth Forum Presenters Set To Pitch to Interested Cleantech Investors
NREL announced the list of 40 presenters for the 2023 NREL Industry Growth Forum (IGF). The selected companies represent a wide range of clean and sustainable technology startups from around the world.
Feb. 22, 2023
A Path for Considering Equity in Early-Stage Research
NREL researchers developed a new tool, the Justice Underpinning Science and Technology Research (JUST-R) metrics framework, that aims to help researchers think more about the social impacts of technologies from the earliest stages of research and development.
Feb. 21, 2023
In Ultrathin Layers, NREL Researchers Find a Path to Better Materials
For three decades, researchers have known that the addition of a single chemical creates better-performing solar cells. But they have not understood exactly why—until now. The answer has implications that stretch well beyond solar cells.
Feb. 21, 2023
Powering Forward: NREL, Puerto Rican Universities Train Next Generation of Energy Scientists
A new NREL initiative will bring Puerto Rican university students to NREL for hands-on training in cutting-edge hydrogen research.
Feb. 21, 2023
New Study Breaks Materials Down—Literally
NREL researchers rapidly age more than 300 material specimens to learn which could survive longest in underwater marine energy technologies.
Feb. 20, 2023
NREL Study Shows Wind Energy Can Help Puerto Rico Achieve Its Clean Energy and Grid Reliability Goals
The Puerto Rico Energy Public Policy Act, passed in 2019, set a goal for the territory to meet its electricity needs with 100% renewable energy by 2050. To support that goal, experts from NREL evaluated Puerto Rico's wind energy costs and technical potential.
Feb. 20, 2023
Cambium Offers Forward-Looking, Publicly Available Data To Build Into Grid Planning Workflows
In the latest installment of NREL's Tell Me Something Grid series, energy systems researcher Pieter Gagnon describes the value of NREL's Cambium data sets for making decisions about the future grid.
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