National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Photovoltaic Research
PV News
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory Photovoltaic (PV) Research Program highlights latest research and news accomplishments from the laboratory on this page.
July 30, 2009
NREL Names Director for National Center for Photovoltaics 
Dr. Ryne P. Raffaelle has been named director of the National Center for Photovoltaics at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Raffaelle most recently has been Academic Director for the Golisano Institute for Sustainability and Director of the NanoPower Research Laboratory at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) in New York.
July 27, 2009
CRSP and Colorado School of Mines REMRSEC Form Relationship
The Center for Revolutionary Solar Photoconversion (CRSP) and the Renewable Energy Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (REMRSEC) have announced an important affiliation that will add value to both centers and enhance their work on solar energy research.
July 22, 2009
NREL Research Garners Three Prestigious R&D 100 Awards
An ultra-accelerated weathering system, a parabolic trough solar concentrating collector, and a microbattery -- all developed in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) -- were honored today as top 100 innovations for 2009 by R&D Magazine.
July 13, 2009
Unique Research Tool Aims to Reduce PV Cost
NREL has installed its first Atmospheric Processing Platform to prototype lower-cost thin film solar cells from inks and other solutions.
July 7, 2009
NREL Collaborating with Spire to Develop Solar Cells with 42% Efficiency
Through a Photovoltaic Technology Incubator Award, Spire Semiconductor will receive more than $3.7 million under an 18-month contract with NREL.
June 11, 2009
Nozik wins UN science and technology prize for solar research
Senior Research Fellow Arthur J. Nozik of the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory has won the 2009 Intergovernmental Renewable Energy Organization (IREO) Award for Science and Technology. IREO is a new international organization related to the United Nations.
June 9, 2009
NREL Seeks Proposals, Announces Awards for Photovoltaic Technology Incubator Program
The U. S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is seeking project proposals as part of recently announced DOE funding to accelerate commercialization of solar energy technologies. NREL also is announced partnerships with 13 U.S. small solar businesses, which have the capability to enter the market by 2012.
June 4, 2009
CRSP Named to DOE Funded Energy Frontier Research Center
The Center for Revolutionary Solar Photoconversion (CRSP) will play an integral role in a new federally-funded effort to develop revolutionary solar cell designs at the nanoscale. The U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is the lead organization of CRSP, and will partner with Los Alamos National Laboratory
May 28, 2009
NREL teams with Dutch Energy Research Center
The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has signed a research collaboration agreement with the Energy research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN). NREL and ECN will join forces on areas such as policy studies, energy analysis, wind energy and solar photovoltaic energy.
May 27, 2009
DOE to establish Energy Frontier Research Center at NREL
The U. S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) will be home to a new multi-million-dollar Energy Frontier Research Center (EFRC) established by the DOE Office of Science. NREL’s Center for Inverse Design will pursue advanced scientific research on material discovery for energy.
May 16, 2009
Seventy-eight Teams Race Innovative Solar and Hydrogen Model Cars
Seventy-eight teams from 29 Colorado middle schools participated in today’s Junior Solar Sprint and Hydrogen Fuel Cell car competitions hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory. The student teams raced solar or hydrogen powered vehicles that they designed and built themselves.
May 7, 2009
NREL Solar Cell Wins Federal Technology Transfer Prize
A new class of ultra-light, high-efficiency solar cells developed by the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory has been awarded a national prize for the commercialization of federally funded research.
April 28, 2009
NREL Helps Greensburg, KS Launch GreenHome Partnership
The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), in collaboration with the City Council of Greensburg, Kansas, and the Kansas Building Industry Association (KBIA), announce the launch of Greensburg GreenHome Residential Green Building Program.
April 13, 2009
World's Second-Largest Solar Thermal Power Plant to Be Built in Florida
By mid 2010, Florida Power and Light (FPL) will construct the Martin Next Generation Solar Energy Center, a 75-megawatt plant that will sit on 500 acres near Indiantown, Florida, adjacent to FPL’s existing combined-cycle power plant. It will be the world's second largest concentrating solar power plant.
April 13, 2009
NREL’s JEDI Model Demonstrates Benefits for Nevada’s Energy Development
Vote Solar released “The Sun Rises on Nevada,” its in-depth analysis of employment, economic, tax, and environmental benefits, which demonstrated the potential gains for Nevada to develop solar energy. Vote Solar used the Job and Economic Development Impact (JEDI) model developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) for concentrating solar power plants.
March 31, 2009
NREL Partnering with GreenVolts to Commercialize IMM Solar Cell
Through a cooperative research and development agreement, NREL will provide assistance with the optimization of the solar cell's design and transfer of the technology into the marketplace.
February 18, 2009
NREL wins first Governor's Award for Research Impact in Renewable Energy
A non-profit coalition advocating for federal research in Colorado has honored the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory with one of its first Governor's Awards for Research Impact.