September 2021
President Biden Makes Historic Visit to NREL's Flatirons Campus
President Joe Biden visited NREL's Flatirons Campus to speak with NREL leadership and to learn about the laboratory's research facilities, capabilities, and critical initiatives housed on the Flatirons Campus. During the visit, the president spoke to a livestream audience about his plans on infrastructure, environmental justice, and how to tackle the climate crisis.
The Wind Rises: Market Report Shows Electrifying Future for U.S. Offshore Wind Industry
According to the Offshore Wind Market Report: 2021 Edition, written by a team of researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy and NREL, the U.S. offshore wind pipeline made gale-force gains between 2019 and 2020.
The Future of Agriculture Combined With Renewable Energy Finds Success at Jack's Solar Garden
A 24-acre family farm purchased by Jack Stingerie in 1972 has now evolved into a model for how to produce energy and food in tandem. Multiple agrivoltaics activities including crop production, pollinator habitat, ecosystem services, and pasture grass for grazing are being researched across Jack's Solar Garden in Longmont, Colorado.
News Release: DRINKing It in: Five Teams and Their Desalination Designs Earn a Spot in Final Stage of Waves to Water Prize Competition
This month, DOE and NREL officially announced the five teams that earned a spot in the fifth and final Waves to Water Prize competition stage, DRINK. Now, these five have 180 days to prepare their devices for an open-ocean trial at the Coastal Studies Institute in North Carolina in April 2022.
New Master Roadmap Guides Industries To Invest in Low-Cost, Low-Energy Ways To Treat Salt Water and Recycle Wastewater
National Alliance for Water Innovation's new master roadmap guides industries to invest in low-cost, low-energy ways to treat salt water and recycle wastewater.
Billion Dollar Breakthrough: The Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator Reaches New Milestone
The Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator (IN2), managed by NREL, has reached a milestone: Its portfolio of startup companies has raised more than $1.1 billion in external funding since joining IN2. This translates to the companies raising $95 for every dollar invested in them by the Wells Fargo Foundation.
News Release: NREL Launches Nonprofit Foundation To Fund Research, Scholarships
The NREL Foundation will bring in funding that otherwise would be unavailable to the laboratory and enable access to new sources of nonfederal funding. As donors contribute to the foundation, money will be aggregated and earmarked to fund specific research projects at NREL.
New Data Sound Good for Wind Energy
NREL researchers listened to the wind for hours to determine how rotating wind turbines affected their sound output. To their surprise, the next generation of wind plants could both create more energy and less noise pollution.
Webinar Series Presents the Building Blocks of Cybersecurity
A new webinar series from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), in collaboration with the Caribbean Electric Utility Services Corporation (CARILEC) aims to raise awareness about all aspects of security and help utilities develop a well-rounded cybersecurity program.
NREL Researchers Study Synergistic Value Streams in Hybrid Power Plants
NREL is collaborating with Idaho National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories to develop FlexPower, a colocated, variable generation hybrid power plant enhanced with energy storage, stationed at the Flatirons Campus.
August 2021
NREL To Lead Grid-Forming Inverter Consortium, Streamlining Renewable Integration at All Scales
NREL will lead the Department of Energy's new Universal Interoperability for Grid-Forming Inverters Consortium to develop a universal set of guidelines enabling seamless integration of inverter-based resources like solar, wind, batteries, and electric vehicles.
Breakthrough Methods Help Integrate Renewable Hydrogen With Waste Carbon Dioxide To Produce Clean Fuels, Chemicals, and More
Wind, solar, and battery storage appear to be a winning combination for clean electricity systems, but to make the leap to a sustainable energy system, another ingredient is necessary—low-carbon fuels.
In Geothermal Collegiate Competition, Students Compete Using Heat Beneath Our Feet
The winners of the Spring 2021 Geothermal Collegiate Competition were announced.
NREL Options a Modular, Cost-Effective, Build-Anywhere Particle Thermal Energy Storage Technology
Researchers at NREL are in the late stages of prototype testing a game-changing new thermal energy storage technology that uses inexpensive silica sand as a storage medium—known as ENDURING—a reliable, cost-effective, and scalable solution that can be sited anywhere.
NREL Study Shows a Bright Future for Energy Storage in South Asia
NREL performed a first-of-its-kind assessment of opportunities for grid-scale energy storage in South Asia over the next three decades.
Industry Experts, Researchers Put Charging Systems for Electric Trucks to the Test
Electric vehicle industry experts and scientists at NREL are at work on a new high-power charging standard for medium- and heavy-duty vehicles called the Megawatt Charging System (MCS).
Ushering in the Future of Building Retrofits
The American-Made E-ROBOT Prize Phase 1 winners are transforming existing U.S. homes and buildings with a sweeping portfolio of advanced robotics innovations.
Space Mission Tests NREL Perovskite Solar Cells
The latest collaboration between NREL and NASA will evaluate the potential use of perovskite solar cells in space and assess the durability of materials used in those cells.
Annual Technology Baseline Provides Updated Foundational Solar Model Input Data for Electric Grid Studies
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.
NREL Develops FLASH Hydropower Framework for a Greener Grid
With support from the U.S. DOE Water Power Technologies Office, NREL researchers are developing the Framework for Linked Analysis of Streamflow and Hydropower (FLASH), a systems-engineering-based approach that will improve hydropower's representation in grid operations modeling.
Last Updated May 28, 2025