NREL's Campus Construction Projects

NREL's Energy Materials and Processing at Scale facility—to be located on the east end of the laboratory's Golden, Colorado, campus—will be a 127,000-ft² signature facility that rapidly minimizes barriers to scaling up new energy, materials, devices, and processes. The laboratory design will facilitate a multidisciplinary approach to materials R&D by providing opportunities for engineers, scientists, and industry partners to work together in shared laboratory facilities to greatly accelerate process scale-up and market adoption of the advanced energy materials needed for a clean energy transition.

Construction began in September 2024 and is anticipated to be completed in 2027.

Here's what our neighbors can expect in the coming months:

• Construction will take place 7 a.m.–3:30 p.m. Monday–Friday. There may be occasional work on evenings or weekends due to inclement weather or extenuating circumstances.
• There are no anticipated road closures in the community.
• There are no anticipated impacts to utilities (water, gas, electricity) in the surrounding neighborhoods.
• Expect increased worker vehicle traffic via the east entrance along Denver West Parkway, with peak activity 6–7:30 a.m. and 3:30–4 p.m.

In January 2023, the U.S. Department of Energy took possession of a section of Camp George West—a former military base just south of NREL's Golden, Colorado, campus—making the space a new NREL-managed resource known as the South Table Mountain Energy Park (STEP).

STEP will be a hub for startups, entrepreneurs, and new innovations to help move the latest research and products closer to commercialization.

NREL is working closely with the Colorado State Historic Preservation Office on a forthcoming STEP campus master plan that will outline short-, mid-, and long-term developments.