Energy Analysis News
Explore our archive of Energy Analysis news stories.
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. 13, 2021
U.S. data storage technologies, like hard-disk drives (HDDs), contain imported rare-Earth elements in their magnets. As the demand for data storage increases, the supply of critical materials will become more limited.
Dec. 9, 2021
New research finds referral are pivotal to solar adoption in underserved California communities, opening the door to equity in the energy transition.
Dec. 7, 2021
Scientists at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory have laid out a cost-effective five-point plan to improve the reliability of solar panels in light of extreme weather, rapid innovation, and extremely competitive prices.
Dec. 7, 2021
After two decades working in finance, NREL analyst Riccardo Bracho pivoted to an energy career. Today he leads analysis of international power sector transformations.
Nov. 30, 2021
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory's 2021 Standard Scenarios Outlook is now available. The Standard Scenarios are a suite of annually released future scenarios for U.S. power sector evolution through 2050.
Nov. 29, 2021
In the first Q&A profile in a new series, Manufacturing Masterminds, Birdie Carpenter shares how she is working to reduce industrial energy use, carbon emissions, plastic waste, and more.
Nov. 10, 2021
NREL's partner, the Joint Institute for Strategic Energy Analysis, is accelerating research capabilities for sustainable communities through the Catalyzers program.
Nov. 8, 2021
A new thought piece by NREL analysts describes the challenges of defining long-duration energy storage to reflect both duration and application.
Oct. 21, 2021
R&D World magazine today presented NREL with two of its annual R&D 100 Awards for research innovations.
Oct. 20, 2021
As states reach higher toward 100% renewable operation, energy storage will be key to enabling a more variable power supply. But no single technology will be a silver bullet for all our energy storage needs.
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. 6, 2021
New study by the Joint Institute for Strategic Energy Analysis finds industrial manufacturing could profitably help stabilize the grid with large-scale batteries.
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. 16, 2021
The Joint Institute for Strategic Energy Analysis studied sustainable energy generation and consumption in Colorado farms and agricultural production facilities.
Sept. 15, 2021
By 2050, there could be 80 million metric tons globally of solar photovoltaics (PV) reaching the end of their lifetime, with 10 million metric tons in the United States alone—or the weight of 30 Empire State Buildings.
Aug. 30, 2021
NREL performed a first-of-its-kind assessment of opportunities for grid-scale energy storage in South Asia over the next three decades.
Aug. 26, 2021
One of the challenges of aggregating solar energy data from different sources into studies is knowing whether the data uses consistent assumptions. The Annual Technology Baseline (ATB) resolves this challenge by creating consistent assumptions for all electric generation technologies cost and performance data, including solar.
Aug. 12, 2021
While COVID-19 Travel Restrictions Prevent NREL Researchers From Hosting In-Person Trainings, Virtual Solutions Are Creating Opportunities To Build Partnerships at a Distance
Aug. 5, 2021
NREL's partner institution, the Joint Institute for Strategic Energy Analysis, and research partners developed a new approach to more accurately estimate emissions from oil and natural gas production.
July 29, 2021
JISEA program manager Liz Weber knew in 2010 she was ready to become an environmental leader. She did not know she would become a leading project manager within the U.S. Department of Energy complex.
July 27, 2021
There is economic potential for 490 gigawatts per hour of behind-the-meter battery storage in the United States by 2050, or 300 times today's installed capacity. But only a small fraction could be adopted by customers, according to the latest phase of NREL's Storage Futures Study.
July 20, 2021
The United States has 37 gigawatts (GW) of utility-scale solar capacity—enough to power over 4,070,000,000 LED lights—with an impressive additional 112 GW of capacity currently under development.
July 15, 2021
Researchers in the BOTTLE Consortium, including from NREL and the University of Portsmouth, have identified using enzymes as a more sustainable approach for recycling polyethylene terephthalate (PET), a common plastic in single-use beverage bottles, clothing, and food packaging.
July 12, 2021
The 2021 Annual Technology Baseline offers new and improved electricity-generation technology cost and performance data to inform high-impact U.S. electricity-sector analysis.
July 1, 2021
The expected decline in the number of landfills across the United States coupled with bans on disposing large amounts of organic waste in landfills that have been enacted in multiple states has prompted researchers at NREL to examine other ways to grapple with the issue of food waste disposal.
June 29, 2021
Partnership with Los Angeles Department of Water and Power continues with stakeholder-driven effort to ensure equitable transition to 100% renewable energy for Los Angeles.
June 28, 2021
Simulations show nonlinear relationship between renewable contribution and costs—and that the U.S. can get to 80+% renewables at the same cost as keeping the system at today’s 20%.
June 24, 2021
Multiyear analysis shows that increasing electricity trade between countries and expanding interregional transmission can support a reliable future power system.
June 17, 2021
Recent analyses suggest a need for coordinated dialogue and consistent modeling to understand the value of hybrid renewable energy systems.
June 16, 2021
Large-scale simulations by NREL researchers show that the U.S. can get close to 100% renewable generation cost-effectively—but the final few percent drive a nonlinear increase in total system cost.
June 1, 2021
The latest report in NREL's multiyear Storage Futures Study finds reaching full market potential of diurnal grid-scale energy storage hinges on system flexibility and solar photovoltaics penetration.
May 25, 2021
The multiyear Electrification Futures Study concludes with first-of-its-kind national-scale modeling of power systems with widespread electrification, demand-side flexibility, and high renewable energy.
May 19, 2021
Published in the journal Joule, "The Challenges of Achieving a 100% Renewable Electricity System in the United States" offers important insights into the technical and economic challenges that would need to be overcome to achieve 100% renewable electric power across the United States.
May 13, 2021
The JISEA Catalyzers initiative will incubate research capabilities for 1–2 years before being launched into a new NREL-led program.
May 4, 2021
NREL today announced a new initial memorandum of understanding with the global company UL to work toward further developing and commercializing the Solar Automated Permit Processing Plus (SolarAPP+) software that will automate the permitting process for residential solar systems.
April 29, 2021
Prioritizing environmental justice was a crucial component of the recently released Los Angeles 100% Renewable Energy Study (LA100).
April 28, 2021
A new NREL study uncovers counterintuitive relationship between flexibility options and curtailment in power systems with high solar penetration.
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 21, 2021
Global effort announced by the U.S. secretary of energy, U.K. BEIS Department secretary of state, and CEOs of power system operators and organizations from around the world focuses on research, innovation, knowledge exchange, and technical assistance to achieve net-zero-emissions power systems.
April 2, 2021
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.
March 26, 2021
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 24, 2021
Results from the Los Angeles 100% Renewable Energy Study (LA100) show meeting LA's goal of reliable, 100% renewable electricity by 2045—or even 2035—is achievable and will entail rapid deployment of wind, solar, and storage technologies. The study paves the way for other jurisdictions to reach their own clean energy goals, equitably and economically.
March 24, 2021
Unprecedented in scale and the first of its kind—the Los Angeles 100% Renewable Energy Study (LA100) provides insights into how the city can meet its clean energy targets. LADWP, the largest municipal utility in the country, currently generates more than half of its electricity from renewable and zero-carbon resources.
March 16, 2021
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 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.
Feb. 25, 2021
Lithium-ion batteries are increasingly in demand for energy storage and use in electric vehicles—needs that are projected to grow further with expected technological innovations and declining costs.
Feb. 12, 2021
The latest Benchmarks of Global Clean Energy Manufacturing report assesses market characteristics, global trade flows, and manufacturing value added for four clean energy technologies to support deeper insights into balance of trade effects on upstream materials.
Feb. 11, 2021
NREL analysts tailor the Distributed Generation Market Demand model for Orlando energy planners, simulating individual household rooftop solar photovoltaic adoption potential through 2050—the highest-resolution projections for Orlando to date.
Feb. 10, 2021
NREL marks ongoing cost reductions for installed photovoltaic (PV) systems, while also establishing benchmark of PV-plus-storage systems.
Feb. 8, 2021
In its latest release, the REopt Lite team, which includes NREL and partners at Colorado School of Mines and Clean Energy Group, has added combined heat and power, expanding the model's scope beyond electric-only strategies to include a new universe of thermal energy opportunities.
Feb. 3, 2021
Researchers analyzed commercial electricity generator with high-temperature steam electrolysis technology, advancing H2@Scale initiative.
Jan. 29, 2021
As part of a multistate collaboration, NREL has modeled and assessed long-term reliability and integration impacts of solar PV growth in the western United States, with broader lessons for power grids and renewable policies.
Jan. 26, 2021
The first report in the study outlines four phases of utility-scale energy storage deployment, providing a potential roadmap to 100+ gigawatts of installed capacity in the United States.
Jan. 22, 2021
Today, natural gas and coal combustion supply most demand for industrial process heat (IPH), or the transfer of heat to a material within a production process. With the emergence of low-cost solar photovoltaic (PV) technologies, interest has grown in solar as an IPH option and decarbonization pathway for the industrial sector.
Jan. 21, 2021
Researchers developing renewable plastics and exploring new processes for plastics upcycling and recycling technologies will now be able to easily baseline their efforts to current manufacturing practices to understand if their efforts will save energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Jan. 12, 2021
The fifth report in the multiyear analysis reveals how widespread electrification could impact energy sector infrastructure investments, fuel use, system costs, and emissions.
