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 2021
April 5, 2021
Calling All Marine Tech Titans: The Third Marine Energy Collegiate Competition Is Now Open for Applications!
Ready to dive in? The 2022 Marine Energy Collegiate Competition is now open for applications!
April 2, 2021
What It Takes To Realize a Circular Economy for Solar Photovoltaic System Materials
In a series of three reports, NREL analysts examine options and opportunities to repair, reuse, or recycle solar photovoltaic system materials, moving toward a circular economy.
April 1, 2021
New NREL Tool Can Help Maximize Wind Farm Power Production and Reliability
FAST.Farm, a new mid-fidelity, physics-based engineering modeling tool from NREL, can be used to predict the power performance and structural loads of wind turbines within a wind farm. An extension of OpenFAST, NREL's open-source wind turbine engineering tool, FAST.Farm addresses the dynamics of, and interaction between, each individual turbine in a wind farm.
April 1, 2021
Scientists Studying Solar Try Solving a Dusty Problem
The accumulation of dust, soot, or other particulates causes a drop in the efficiency of solar panels, which translates to a decline in the amount of power produced and lost income for their operators.
March 2021
March 31, 2021
NREL Work Helps Visitors to National Parks Get Home Again
NREL has been consulting with the National Park Service on where to install electric vehicle charging stations at select sites in California. The last of the new charging stations is expected to begin operating by the end of this year.
March 31, 2021
NREL Clears Hurdle to Dynamic Stability for Renewables
To strengthen bulk grid stability for highly renewable grids, NREL has developed a breakthrough impedance measurement system for understanding how wind, solar, and other modern energy devices interact to affect the grid's moment-to-moment stability.
March 30, 2021
Q&A with Alexandra Aznar: USAID-NREL Partnership Readies for Rapid Expansion To Help Meet Needs of Global Community
In December of 2020, Alexandra Aznar took over leading the USAID-NREL portfolio, a partnership which currently comprises a mutli-year interagency agreement that spans multiple project to assist over 40 countries around the world.
March 29, 2021
How To Electrify the Entire Federal Vehicle Fleet: NREL Fuels Smart Management with Data-Driven Research
With the Biden administration announcing a push to electrify the entire federal fleet, NREL's work supporting energy-savvy fleet management is more critical and timely than ever.
March 26, 2021
Giving Kids the Building Blocks To Envision a Solar Future
As part of NREL's InSPIRE Project, NREL senior analyst Jordan Macknick helped dream up a LEGO solar farm design to educate about energy, water, and food.
March 22, 2021
Charting the Course: NREL Team To De-risk Desal Device Deployment
NREL researchers work to transform seawater into drinking water as we commemorate World Water Day 2021.
March 19, 2021
NREL-Developed Renewable Polyurethane Concept Takes Step Forward
A startup founded by Philip Pienkos, a retired NREL researcher, has moved closer to commercializing technology he helped develop at the U.S. Department of Energy facility. The company, Polaris Renewables, is the first business to directly spin off from NREL since 1992.
March 19, 2021
NREL, NASA, European Researchers Reveal Path to Safer Lithium-Ion Batteries
When a lithium-ion battery fails, it can become engulfed in flames in a matter of seconds.
March 17, 2021
Conjuring Cutting-Edge Conductivity: DOE and NREL Launch the CABLE Conductor Manufacturing Prize
The $4.5-million CABLE Conductor Manufacturing Prize will boost U.S. industries and upgrade materials and applications to meet electrification needs and combat the climate crisis.
March 17, 2021
MECC Competitors to Set Sail This Spring: 2022 Competition Opens for Applications April 5
Don’t be blue: the launch of the 2022 MECC is just around the corner. Learn more.
March 16, 2021
Samantha Reese: Connecting Science to Industry with Supply Chain Analysis
As a JISEA/NREL clean energy manufacturing analyst, Samantha Reese puts early-stage research problems in context of techno-economic tradeoffs and technology potential because "no matter how awesome a technology is, it won't be adopted if it's not cost competitive."
March 16, 2021
New Perovskite Design Shows Path to Higher Efficiency
The new architecture for the cells increases the area exposed to the sun by putting the metal contact layers side by side on the back of the cell.
March 16, 2021
NREL Researchers Pinpoint Potential That Lies Within the Waves
A new NREL report provides a snapshot of U.S. marine energy potential at the national, state, and regional levels.
March 15, 2021
From Wet Waste to Flight: Scientists Announce Fast-Track Solution for Net-Zero-Carbon Sustainable Aviation Fuel
A novel biorefining process using the untapped energy of food waste and other wet waste to produce a "drop-in" sustainable aviation fuel may lift net-zero flights off the runway sooner than you think.
March 12, 2021
News Release: New Perovskite LED Emits a Spin-Polarized Glow
The inclusion of a special new perovskite layer has enabled scientists to create a "spin-polarized LED" without needing a magnetic field or extremely low temperatures, potentially clearing the path to a raft of novel technologies.
March 10, 2021
Beyond Technical Potential: NREL Explores the Challenges of Siting Wind in a Low-Carbon Future
Achieving decarbonization goals—including the Biden administration's climate and energy plan—will require rapid and sustained deployment of wind and solar power.
March 9, 2021
CoMET Aids Researchers and Partners in Reaching the Stars—and the Market
Next-gen facilities produce next-gen technologies. Learn more about the collaborative CoMET workspace and innovations to come out of it.
March 8, 2021
NREL's New Solar TRACE Tool Adds Transparency to Permitting, Inspection, and Interconnection Nationwide
In partnership with the solar industry, NREL recently developed Solar TRACE, an online tool to increase transparency into PII processes, requirements, and overall adoption cycle times nationwide.
March 4, 2021
Cyber-Energy Emulation Platform Offers Insights into EV Fast-Charging Station Cybersecurity, Mitigation Strategies
Leveraging the newly developed Cyber-Energy Emulation Platform, NREL researchers evaluated a 50-kW fast-charge station in the ESIF to identify risks and challenges that fast-charge stations could potentially introduce to charging infrastructure.
March 4, 2021
News Release: NREL Industry Growth Forum Announces 2021 Presenting Start-Ups from Around the World
Forty companies have been selected to participate in the NREL Industry Growth Forum, which will be held virtually again this year. More than 150 companies applied for the chance to present their cleantech innovations to potential investors and engaged industry experts at the 26th annual event.
March 2, 2021
Science Bowl Encourages Next Generation of Scientists Through Competition and Education
A Fossil Ridge High School team has become the winners of the 31st annual Colorado Regional High School Science Bowl, unseating last year's champions, Cherry Creek High School.
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