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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September 2014
Sept. 29, 2014
News Release: NREL Announces New Center Directors to lead R&D, Analysis Efforts
The Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory recently named leaders in the renewable energy field as center directors. Paul Basore has been named Director of the Materials Applications and Performance Center; Dave Mooney as Director of the Strategic Energy Analysis Center; Nancy Haegel as Director of NREL’s Materials Science Center; Jao van de Lagemaat as Director of Chemistry and Nanoscience; and Pete Sheldon was named Director of Research Operations within NREL’s Materials and Chemical Science and Technology Directorate.
Sept. 29, 2014
NREL Software Tool a Boon for Wind Industry
Simulator for Wind Farm Applications — SOWFA — can help developers boost capacity of wind farms.
Sept. 22, 2014
News Release: NREL to Test Inverters for the “Little Box Challenge” Presented by Google and IEEE
The Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) will test power inverters submitted to the Little Box Challenge presented by Google and the IEEE Power Electronics Society. The Challenge is an open competition to build smaller power inverters for use in solar power systems. The winner of the $1 million prize will have designed and built a kilowatt-scale inverter with the highest power density – at least 50 Watts per cubic inch.
Sept. 19, 2014
News Release: NREL Industry Growth Forum Attracts Clean Energy Entrepreneurs and Investors
Thirty clean energy companies will present their business cases to a panel of investors and industry experts Oct. 28 and 29 in Denver, as the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) hosts its annual Industry Growth Forum.
Sept. 19, 2014
NREL Interns Look Toward the Future
Forty-four interns spend summer at NREL researching topics from genetic engineering to technologies for hydrokinetic turbines.
Sept. 16, 2014
Special Notice: 2016 U.S. Department of Energy Collegiate Wind Competition
The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) National Renewable Energy Laboratory issues this Special Notice that it will release a request for proposals seeking teams of undergraduate students to participate in the 2016 DOE Collegiate Wind Competition.
Sept. 16, 2014
NREL Forges Foundation for Advanced Concentrating Solar Power Receivers
NREL's Thermal Systems Group is performing research and development on components for high-temperature concentrating solar power (CSP) receivers as part of DOE's SunShot effort. DOE supports R&D of CSP technologies in order to achieve SunShot Initiative cost targets with systems that can supply solar power on demand through the use of thermal energy storage. The thermal energy from the receiver can be stored and subsequently dispatched to produce electricity via a turbine driving a generator.
Sept. 9, 2014
Electric Vehicles Charge Up Local and National Events
NREL is sponsoring National Drive Electric Week events in Denver and Boulder this month.
Sept. 4, 2014
New Report Characterizes Existing Offshore Wind Grid Interconnection Capabilities
The Energy Department has released the National Offshore Wind Energy Grid Interconnection Study (NOWEGIS), which considers the availability and potential impacts of interconnecting large amounts of offshore wind energy into the transmission system of the lower 48 contiguous United States.
Sept. 3, 2014
NREL Assesses National Design Standards for Offshore Wind Energy Projects
NREL recently released the Assessment of Offshore Wind System Design, Safety, and Operation Standards report, which summarizes regulations, standards, and guidelines for the design and operation of offshore wind energy projects in the United States.
Sept. 3, 2014
News Release: NREL Updates Cetane Data Used for Development of Energy Efficient Fuels and Engines
The Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has released a long-anticipated update to the source-of-record for cetane number data. This information is vital to the development of new, energy-efficient, low-carbon fuels and compatible engines. Researchers, as well as members of the engine, vehicle, and fuel industries, rely on these numbers to target compounds for development of new fuels capable of greater energy efficiency, cleaner emissions, and maximum performance in diesel engines.
August 2014
Aug. 27, 2014
Crystal Solar and NREL Team Up to Cut Costs
"Gas to wafer" approach, 100 times faster than typical methods, wins R&D 100 award.
Aug. 20, 2014
News Release: New Process Helps Overcome Obstacles to Produce Renewable Fuels and Chemicals
There’s an old saying in the biofuels industry: “You can make anything from lignin except money.” But now, a new study may pave the way to challenging that adage. The study from the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) demonstrates a concept that provides opportunities for the successful conversion of lignin into a variety of renewable fuels, chemicals, and materials for a sustainable energy economy.
Aug. 15, 2014
Webinar August 19: Increasing Renewable Energy with Hydrogen Storage and Fuel Cell Technologies
This webinar will feature representatives from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and focus on how to integrate hydrogen and fuel cell technologies into the transportation, industrial, and other sectors.
Aug. 14, 2014
Transportation Leader Roots Career in True Grit
NREL's Wendy Dafoe works closely with the Energy Department to advance the Clean Cities sustainable transportation mission.
Aug. 6, 2014
News Release: Two NREL Scientists Named to Highly Cited Researcher List
Two scientists at the Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory have been included in Thomson Reuters' Highly Cited Research list for the thousands of citations of their work by fellow researchers over the past decade.
Aug. 1, 2014
Postdoctoral Fellows Bring Fresh Insights
The next generation of scientific superstars shines at NREL.
July 2014
July 30, 2014
New 100-Meter Map Keeps Pace with Growing Wind Technology
According to a wind resource assessment published by the U.S. Department of Energy in 2009, the United States has a land-based wind energy potential of 10,957 GW at an 80-m wind turbine hub height and 12,771 GW of capacity at 100-m hub heights, assuming a capacity factor of at least 30%.
July 30, 2014
WEC-Sim Aims to Bring New Wave Energy Devices to the Surface of an Emerging Industry
From a technology development standpoint, Mike Lawson likens today's wave energy industry to the wind industry in the 1970s or '80s. There are tens—maybe hundreds—of concepts for wave energy converters (WECs) in various stages of development, but no single solution has been established as commercially viable yet.
July 30, 2014
NREL Plays Founding, Developmental Role in Major Wind Journal
In the late 1990s, global wind capacity was just under 8,000 megawatts, compared to well over 100 gigawatts today. Back then, although the wind industry was growing, wind scientists and engineers were not well-connected with each other on a global basis. There was a need for an unbiased, scientific, peer-reviewed publication that offered wind professionals the opportunity to publish their work, learn about each other's research, and exchange ideas.
July 30, 2014
Boosting Wind Plant Power Output by 4%–5% through Coordinated Turbine Controls
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory's Simulator Of Wind Farm Applications is shedding new light on the causes of wind plant underperformance and how, with the use of coordinated wind turbine control, power output can be increased by as much as 4% or 5%
July 30, 2014
NREL Investigates the Logistics of Transporting and Installing Bigger, Taller Wind Turbines
To address wind turbine transportation and logistics challenges, the U.S. Department of Energy's Wind Program is supporting projects to develop cost-competitive solutions to better fabricate, transport, assemble, maintain, and decommission turbines with hub heights of at least 120 meters.
July 29, 2014
NREL Supports Innovative Offshore Wind Energy Projects
In December 2012, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced that it would fund seven offshore wind demonstration projects as part of an effort to launch an offshore wind industry in the United States
July 29, 2014
Pennsylvania State University Wins Big in Las Vegas
Ten college teams took up the challenge to create a wind turbine-based charging system for small electronic devices, develop a business plan, and then design, build, and test a small wind turbine as part of the U.S. Department of Energy Collegiate Wind Competition held concurrently with the American Wind Energy Association’s WINDPOWER Conference.
July 28, 2014
NREL Uses Industry Best Practices to Add Partners
NREL is accelerating the availability of next-generation technologies by making it easier for industry partners to work with the lab.
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