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 2023 Annual Call for Allocation Requests

The National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) provides High Performance Computing and related capabilities to support the mission of the Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency, and Renewable Energy (EERE). Research and development projects that are funded by EERE Offices or aligned with the EERE mission are eligible to utilize these resources. ​

NREL runs an annual open call on behalf of EERE  for  research and development projects to request use of a defined quantity, or allocation, of the compute resources at NREL.  This email serves as the announcement of this call for allocation requests. The allocation period of performance runs from Oct. 1, 2022 through Sept. 30, 2023.

Fiscal year (FY) 2023 will be a transitional year, with resources allocated on two computers: NREL’s current 8 petaflop HPC system, Eagle, and Kestrel, a new 44 petaflop HPC system that will begin operation during  FY 2023.  Because Eagle is scheduled to be removed from service after Kestrel is fully operational, projects that expect to continue into FY 2024 will be asked to provide a plan for transitioning from Eagle to Kestrel.

Resources to be allocated on Eagle include 53 million allocation units, or AUs, 4 petabytes of shared data storage and up to 5 petabytes of long-term data storage.  Each AU corresponds to 1/3 of an Eagle Node-Hour.  Eagle nodes have 36 Intel Xeon Gold Skylake 6154 3.0 GHz cores. ​Eagle has 50 nodes with two NVIDIA V100 GPUs.

Resource to be allocated on Kestrel will include up to 100 million AUs available during the second half of FY 2023.   The available resources on Kestrel are expected to increase to more than 300 million AUs for FY 2024. This will be accompanied by more than 75 petabytes of shared data storage.   One AU is designed to provide approximately the same effective computational time on Eagle or Kestrel.  Standard Kestrel CPU nodes have 104 Intel Sapphire Rapids cores. There will also be 130 nodes with 4 NVIDIA H100 Tensor Core GPUs. Resources available in FY 2023 will be primarily standard Kestrel CPU nodes, with GPU nodes becoming available after standard nodes are operational. Since CPU nodes will make up most of the computing available on Kestrel in FY 2023, existing projects can expect a straightforward code transition from Eagle, allowing time for a transition in FY 2024 into the heterogeneous CPU/GPU environment.

For additional information about Eagle, see Eagle System Configuration.  For additional information about Kestrel, see Kestrel System Configuration.  Also, see additional information about Allocation Units.

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.

Allocation requests must be completed and submitted by June 8, 2022.

Fiscal Year 2023 Annual Call for Allocation Requests Webinar

NREL hosted a webinar providing information on the allocation request process on May 17, 2022. View the webinar's slides.

Preparing an NREL System Resource Allocation Request

Principal investigators must have an NREL HPC user account to utilize the online allocation request system. If you need an HPC user account, please request one online:

  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.
  7. Reference Eagle System Configuration for more information on the new system.
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