Wind Energy News
Stay up to date on the latest wind energy research and development news at the National
Renewable Energy Laboratory.
Dec. 28, 2021
NREL researchers and staff reached countless goals and achieved numerous successes in science, partnerships, and technology commercialization in 2021. Here are just a few of the highlights.
Dec. 20, 2021
From advancing wind energy science, technologies, and materials to demonstrating thought leadership on a worldwide scale, NREL's Wind Energy Program played a powerful role in maximizing the impact of wind energy during 2021.
Nov. 1, 2021
Wind turbine blades might look elegant, even ballet-like, as they glide through the air. But, much like ballet, achieving that simple grace requires complex, advanced engineering. NREL researchers are revolutionizing wind turbine blade manufacturing by combining recyclable thermoplastics and additive manufacturing.
Oct. 18, 2021
A novel multi-model analysis led by NREL explores the benefits and costs of uniting two of the world’s largest power systems.
Oct. 1, 2021
The Composites Manufacturing Education and Technology Facility can help partners build better materials for wind and marine energy, transportation, and energy-efficient buildings.
Sept. 29, 2021
In March 2022, the Collegiate Wind Competition organizers will implement a new application process and timeline for the 2023 competition. This new process is intended to broaden the reach and impact of the CWC.
Sept. 29, 2021
Researchers at NREL have determined how to transport massive wind turbine blades to parts of the country at a lower cost than segmented blades, but the solution will require some flexibility on the part of industry.
Sept. 27, 2021
The NREL star thought he had no potential growing up. Today, he is leading research on how land use constraints factor into realizing wind energy's full potential.
Sept. 15, 2021
President Joe Biden visited NREL's Flatirons Campus to speak with NREL leadership and to learn about the laboratory's research facilities, capabilities, and critical initiatives housed on the Flatirons Campus. During the visit, the president spoke to a livestream audience about his plans on infrastructure, environmental justice, and how to tackle the climate crisis.
Sept. 14, 2021
According to the Offshore Wind Market Report: 2021 Edition, written by a team of researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy and NREL, the U.S. offshore wind pipeline made gale-force gains between 2019 and 2020.
Sept. 7, 2021
NREL researchers listened to the wind for hours to determine how rotating wind turbines affected their sound output. To their surprise, the next generation of wind plants could both create more energy and less noise pollution.
Sept. 1, 2021
NREL is collaborating with Idaho National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories to develop FlexPower, a colocated, variable generation hybrid power plant enhanced with energy storage, stationed at the Flatirons Campus.
Aug. 2, 2021
NREL develops lightning protection system for wind turbine blades made of thermoplastic resins and bonded together with NREL's patent-pending thermal welding process.
July 30, 2021
NREL researchers are charting the course to better quality, lower-cost wind turbine blades through automation.
July 12, 2021
The CWC aims to prepare students from multiple disciplines to enter the wind energy workforce by providing real-world technology experience. This year's contest met that goal with 173 students from a range of disciplines, including engineering, economics, and architecture
June 24, 2021
Multiyear analysis shows that increasing electricity trade between countries and expanding interregional transmission can support a reliable future power system.
June 9, 2021
With support from the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, NREL’s 150 wind energy researchers are teaming up with over 45 organizations to make offshore wind energy a reality.
April 29, 2021
NREL and six leading industry organizations have joined forces in developing a national Wind Cybersecurity Consortium. The consortium aims to improve the cybersecurity of the U.S. wind fleet through collaborative analysis, development, and information sharing.
April 22, 2021
NREL scientists in partnership with the U.S. Geological Survey and Western EcoSystems Inc. are developing a state-of-the-art computational framework for modeling golden eagle behavior near wind farms.
April 21, 2021
NREL will bring cross-cutting technical assistance to remote and island communities seeking resilient energy solutions as part of the DOE-funded, multi-lab, multi-partner Energy Transitions Initiative Partnership Project (ETIPP).
April 20, 2021
One of the three key pillars of NREL's vision for the next decade is developing a circular economy for energy materials. This critical objective focuses on reducing waste and preserving resources through the design and manufacture of materials and products with reuse, recycling, and upcycling in mind from the start.
April 19, 2021
NREL's Advanced Manufacturing team is applying what they have learned from 3D-printing of wind blade molds to create additively manufactured tidal turbine prototypes.
April 7, 2021
Using state-of-the-art modeling tools and sophisticated resource assessment technologies, the Wind Resource Characterization team at NREL makes available new offshore wind data sets through Wind Prospector—a geospatial tool using data from the WIND Toolkit that visualizes data, analyzes the potential for wind energy, and provides wind developers, consultants, and researchers access to updated wind data sets.
April 1, 2021
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.
March 10, 2021
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
Next-gen facilities produce next-gen technologies. Learn more about the collaborative CoMET workspace and innovations to come out of it.
Feb. 24, 2021
Keeping wind gearboxes in operating condition is essential to efficient and cost-effective wind power plant operation. New tools from NREL are making it possible to predict individual component reliability for the entire wind plant, reduce operations and maintenance costs through early design decisions, and take maintenance measures to extend gearbox life spans.
Feb. 23, 2021
Recipient of one prime award and playing a supporting role on eight other winning proposals, NREL had a strong showing in the recently announced 2020 DOE Advanced Manufacturing Office Multi-Topic FOA awards.
Feb. 16, 2021
Researchers at NREL are addressing critical challenges when it comes to achieving a circular economy for wind turbine components. The motivations for pursuing this research are outlined in a new journal article, "Wind turbine blade material in the United States: Quantities, costs, and end-of-life options."
Feb. 16, 2021
At its fourth annual Partner Forum, NREL showcased its stable of leading experts and opened its virtual doors to partners, extending invitations to companies from around the world to engage in a collaborative effort to design a future replete with renewable energy solutions to the energy challenges of today.
Feb. 1, 2021
NREL has launched plans to develop the technologies and strategies needed to integrate the coming wave of offshore wind installations into the grid. The laboratory's success with integration—from its world-renowned work on utility-scale renewable energy systems to its comprehensive vision for offshore wind development and collaboration with industry partners—is steering efforts to deliver power efficiently and affordably from offshore plants.
Jan. 25, 2021
Recently upgraded, user-friendly WISDEM takes a systems engineering approach to wind energy project design.
Jan. 20, 2021
NREL has issued a request for proposals (RFP) for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Competitiveness Improvement Project (CIP) for distributed wind. The application deadline is Feb. 26, 2021.
Jan. 5, 2021
NREL and Defenders of Wildlife launched Wildlife and Wind Energy: Considerations for Monitoring and Managing Impacts, a nine-part webinar series to help familiarize stakeholders with the nuances of land-based wind energy development in the context of species conservation.
