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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April 2016
April 1, 2016
Winds of Change Blowing for Wind Farm Research with NREL’s SOWFA Tool
Before the Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) released its Simulator fOr Wind Farm Applications (SOWFA) simulation tool in August 2013, there had not been an open-source, freely available tool of this capability that researchers all over the world could embrace. Now, the winds of change are blowing.
April 1, 2016
NREL Research Proves Wind Can Provide Ancillary Grid Fault Response
When the Energy DEpartment commissioned a 1.5-megawatt (MW) wind turbine in 2009, it became a key player in improving the performance and lowering the costs of wind energy systems. In 2015, researchers at the National Wind Technology Center at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado, connected the 300-foot-tall turbine to the controllable grid interface test facility, which simulates the real-time conditions of a utility-scale power grid. This began an ongoing, Energy Department-funded research effort to test how wind turbines can remain connected to the grid during short periods of grid failure.
April 1, 2016
NWTC Researchers Develop Wave Energy Conversion Technology
Robert Thresher may be considered the wizard of wind at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, having worked in the field since 1973. At the laboratory since 1984, Thresher’s credited with the buildup of what is now the National Wind Technology Center and the startup of the Energy Department's Water Energy Program. His longtime efforts at turning wind and water into renewable energy has now yielded a record of invention titled “Wave Energy Conversion Devices with Actuated Geometry.”
April 1, 2016
One Step Closer to the Marketplace for State-of-the-Art Wind Turbine Drivetrain
National Wind Technology Center researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory have entered the final phase of testing a next-generation drivetrain—the components of a wind turbine that convert the rotational energy of the rotor into electricity—that will be less expensive, more reliable, and more efficient. This project, funded by the Energy Department, combines innovations across the entire drivetrain system, including the gearbox, generator, and power converter.
April 1, 2016
News Release: NREL, SLAC Scientists Pinpoint Solar Cell Manufacturing Process
Scientists at the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have been able to pinpoint for the first time what happens during a key manufacturing process of silicon solar cells.
April 1, 2016
NREL and Sandia National Laboratories to Sharpen Wind Farm Turbine Controls
Researchers at the Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory are working to make the “brains” of a wind farm smarter and more efficient.
March 2016
March 30, 2016
News Release: Global Gathering Addresses PV Role in Energy Prosperity and Climate Change Mitigation
Scientists from the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), along with their counterparts from solar energy research institutes in Germany and Japan, gathered recently to discuss the future of photovoltaics (PV) and assess its contributions to increasing global prosperity, energy security and mitigation of climate change.
March 30, 2016
NREL Supports Native American Tribes in Clean Energy Transformational Leadership
From the subzero tundra in Alaska to the Southwest, NREL is partnering with Native American tribes and Alaska Native villages to advance clean energy goals.
March 28, 2016
NREL Research into Perovskites Yields New Findings
Two recently published papers show the results of photoemission spectroscopy and time-resolved optical spectroscopy, which quantify the energetics and carrier dynamics that occur at interfaces between the perovskite absorber and transport layers.
March 28, 2016
NREL Launches HPXML Toolbox for Buildings Industry
If you are considering ways to adopt HPXML, a good first stop is the HPXML implementation guide to get you started.
March 24, 2016
News Release: NREL Raises Rooftop Photovoltaic Technical Potential Estimate
Analysts at the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have used detailed light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data for 128 cities nationwide, along with improved data analysis methods and simulation tools, to update its estimate of total U.S. technical potential for rooftop photovoltaic (PV) systems. The analysis reveals a technical potential of 1,118 gigawatts (GW) of capacity and 1,432 terawatt-hours (TWh) of annual energy generation, equivalent to 39 percent of the nation’s electricity sales.
March 21, 2016
LDRD Program Gives NREL Researchers Path Toward Innovation
Funding source provides scientists with method to propel progress forward.
March 18, 2016
NREL Research Helps Convert Overabundant Methane into Useful Products
The biological production of fuels and chemicals from methane represents a means of decreasing greenhouse gas emissions and, at the same time, utilizing an abundant-yet-underutilized, high-energy gas, making the process the subject of a promising new NREL study, published in Nature's Scientific Reports.
March 17, 2016
Eagles are Making Wind Turbines Safer for Birds
A bald eagle named Spirit and a golden eagle named Nova recently helped a team of researchers at the National Wind Technology Center collect terabytes of data for a project aimed at helping researchers make wind energy safer for birds.
March 17, 2016
News Release: NREL's Capabilities Boost a Wide Range of Innovative ARPA-E Research
The Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) will play key roles in a variety of projects recently funded by the Department's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E). NREL's innovative approaches have received five awards across three different ARPA-E programs for advancing transformational technologies to generate, store, and use energy more efficiently, at lower costs and with reduced emissions.
March 16, 2016
NREL Kicks Off Next Phase of Advanced Computer-Aided Battery Engineering
On March 8, NREL hosted the first review meeting of the Advanced Computer-Aided Battery Engineering Consortium, initiating phase three of the collaborative Computer Aided Engineering for Electric Drive Batteries activity funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Vehicle Technologies Office.
March 10, 2016
NREL's Geothermal Experts Present at the 41st Annual Stanford Geothermal Workshop
NREL geothermal experts attend the 41st Annual Stanford Geothermal Workshop--one of the world's longest-running technical meetings on the topic of geothermal energy.
March 10, 2016
News Release: NREL to Collaborate with Small Clean Energy Businesses as Part of DOE Pilot Program
The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) will help the first group of small clean energy businesses advance their products under the Small Business Vouchers (SBV) pilot launched last July by DOE.
March 9, 2016
DOE Webinar March 14: DetecTape – A Localized Visual Detector for Hydrogen Leaks
This webinar will provide information about DetecTape, a color-changing, self-fusing silicone tape developed by Element One and Midsun Specialty Products and designed to detect hydrogen leaks in fuel cell, transmission, storage, and generation facilities. NREL has performed lab testing of DetecTape over the past 13 months and reports are available upon request.
March 8, 2016
Colorado School Earns Return Trip to National Science Bowl
Ridgeview Classical Charter School scores convincing victory at Colorado Science Bowl to secure trip to national competition.
March 2, 2016
U.S. Bureau of Land Management Looks to NREL for Geothermal Technical Support
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has entered into an interagency agreement with the U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to provide technical support and assistance in the development of renewable energy from geothermal resources on public lands.
March 1, 2016
NREL Hosts PV Module Reliability Workshop for Industry
Nearly 200 researchers from more than 100 companies and representing 16 countries attended the 7th annual PV Module Reliability Workshop, Feb. 23–25, 2016, in Golden, Colo.
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