System Resource Allocation Requests

For system resource allocations, learn about the high-performance computing (HPC) annual call for requests, and out-of-cycle and pilot project requests.

Fiscal Year 2026 Annual Call for Allocation Requests

The deadline for Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 requests is July 24, 2025. 

NREL provides high-performance computing and related capabilities to support the mission of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE). EERE drives U.S. leadership in the research, development, validation and effective utilization of energy technologies and processes, ensuring an integrated energy system that is affordable, reliable, resilient, and secure. Research and development projects in buildings and industry, generation technologies, and transportation and fuels that are funded by EERE Offices or aligned with the EERE mission are eligible to utilize these resources, including mission-relevant computing projects that are supported by industry collaborators or university partnerships. HPC focus areas include energy systems integration, materials science, forecasting, manufacturing, and fluid dynamics as well as cross-cutting areas such as artificial intelligence and machine learning.

On behalf of EERE, NREL runs an annual open call for research and development projects to request use of a defined quantity, or allocation, of the compute resources at NREL. This notification serves as the announcement of this call for allocation requests. The allocation period of performance runs from Oct. 1, 2025, through Sept. 30, 2026.

Resources will be allocated on NREL's third generation supercomputer, Kestrel. Kestrel features a heterogeneous architecture consisting of standard compute nodes (CPU-only nodes) and accelerated nodes (GPU nodes) and represents a significant expansion in computing capability at 56 petaflops. Resources to be allocated on Kestrel for FY26 include 191 million "allocation units", or AUs, on standard compute nodes; 130 million AUs on accelerated nodes; 30 petabytes of shared data storage and up to 60 petabytes of long-term data storage. Standard compute nodes provide 10 AUs per node hour and accelerated compute nodes provide 100 AUs per node hour. Kestrel standard compute nodes have two Intel Sapphire Rapids 52-core processors. Kestrel accelerated nodes have four NVIDIA H100 Tensor core GPUs and two AMD Genoa 64-core processors.

Allocation requests must be completed and submitted by July 24, 2025. 

An NREL account is required to submit a request. Users are encouraged to request an NREL account as early as possible to expedite the submission process. Request a user account.

Allocations may be requested by completing the online allocation request form. 

Users are encouraged to submit requests for projects where a proposal has been submitted or is pending, as well as ongoing projects. Requesting an allocation will not affect the funding status of any submitted or pending proposals.

Users should request an NREL account by June 30, 2025, to expedite submission. Users experiencing difficulty accessing the online request form may contact [email protected] for alternate submission procedures.

Contact

If you have any questions, reach out to [email protected].

Learn more about the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. For additional information, see Kestrel System Configuration and System Resource Allocation Units.

 

Preparing an NREL System Resource Allocation Request

Students

For  student applications to use Kestrel, follow these steps to request an HPC account:

  1. Visit User Accounts.
  2. Click the green "Request Account" button. This will direct you to an online request form hosted at DocuSign.
  3. Fill in your name and email address as the signer.
  4. Follow the online instructions provided in the DocuSign form.
  5. Write "Need HPC User Account for FY25 Kestrel student allocation request” in the Additional Notes or Comments box.

To submit a student allocation request:

  1. Visit the HPC Allocation Request page.
  2. Log in with your HPC user account username and password.
  3. Use the ‘Pilot Request’ option on the request form.
  4. Select the Funding Area that best matches your research: EERE Technology Areas and Offices and DOE-Other for Project Category.
  5. Include an EERE Mission Impact Statement and detail how your research impacts one of the EERE Technology Areas and Offices.
  6. Have a detailed computing plan in the Computational Approach including a summary of the computational method or approach, the type of calculations, and a resource estimate illustrating how many node hours you will need.
  7. Click Submit when the request is complete and ready to submit.

Principal Investigators

Principal investigators must have an NREL HPC user account to utilize the online allocation request system. To request an HPC user account:

  1. Visit User Accounts.
  2. Click the green "Request Account" button. This will direct you to an online request form hosted at DocuSign.
  3. Fill in your name and email address as the signer.
  4. Follow the online instructions provided in the DocuSign form.
  5. Write "Need HPC User Account to use allocation request system" in the Additional Notes or Comments box.

To submit an allocation request online:

  1. Visit the HPC Allocation Request page.
  2. Log in with your HPC user account username and password.
  3. Click the blue "Create New HPC Allocation Request."
  4. Use the information provided below to help fill in the allocation request fields.
  5. Click Submit when the request is complete and ready to submit.
  6. Instructions can be found within the online form as well as how the information is utilized.

Reference Kestrel System Configuration.

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Last Updated June 12, 2025