NREL's Campus Expansion

We're expanding our campuses with new facilities and initiatives to advance research in energy efficiency, sustainable transportation, renewable power technologies, and energy systems integration to create a clean energy future.

Our construction and renovation projects will enable more cross-disciplinary research and partnership opportunities and new ways to scale up global technologies for the marketplace.

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Construction Impacts

Modular building with landscaping and people walking in front.

Rendering of the Research and Innovation Laboratory

North-facing view of mountains and the NREL campus with an area marked 'Future site for the state of Colorado's Global Energy Park.

The future site of the state of Colorado's Global Energy Park, just south of NREL's Golden, Colorado, campus.

Drone view of a series of buildings with mountains in the background.

Buildings on the South Table Mountain Energy Park site.

Construction is nearly complete on the Research and Innovation Laboratory at NREL's South Table Mountain campus in Golden, Colorado. When substantially completed in early spring 2023, the Research and Innovation Laboratory will be a flexible, multipurpose lab space that supports cross-disciplinary research in energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies.

Traffic Impacts

Increased worker vehicle traffic via along Research Road with peak times of 6–7:30 a.m. and 3:30–4 p.m.
Heavy equipment and construction deliveries on Denver West Boulevard
Construction work hours of 7 a.m.–3:30 p.m. Monday–Friday*
No anticipated work on weekends or evenings*
No anticipated road closures throughout construction
No anticipated impacts to utilities (water, gas, electricity) in the surrounding neighborhoods.

*Although we do our best to keep to this schedule, there may be occasional work on evenings or weekends due to inclement weather or extenuating circumstances. If changes occur, we will make all efforts to minimize disruptive impacts to NREL's neighboring communities.

The Global Energy Park (Glo Park) is a 9-acre site the state of Colorado plans to develop into the epicenter of collaboration among industry, government, and academia to research and create global renewable energy and decarbonization technologies.

The state of Colorado envisions Glo Park as a global destination for energy collaboration with the added benefit of being just south of NREL's Golden, Colorado, campus. HATCHspaces and NexCore Companies will develop the state-of-the-art campus using smart, green technologies to yield a high-performance, sustainable, net-zero facility.

Stakeholders in the state-led public-private visioning team include representatives from federal, state, and local government, nongovernmental organizations, community groups, industry and business, higher education institutions, the U.S. Department of Energy, and NREL.

To learn more, watch the Glo Park video or read our Glo Park fact sheet.

In January 2023, the U.S. Department of Energy will take possession of Camp George West—a former military base just south of NREL's Golden, Colorado, campus—officially 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. Managed by NREL, building renovations and upgrades incorporating the latest technology and renewable energy practices will take place, all while preserving the area's historic origins.

In STEP's first 5 years, NREL's investments will include:

Renovating building interiors
Upgrading all utilities
Improving infrastructure
Renovating spaces for research readiness and environmental remediation.