December 2019
NREL Partners With SolSmart to Bring Solar to More Than 300 U.S. Cities and Counties
NREL has partnered with the SolSmart program, which recognizes cities, counties, and regional organizations across the United States that have successfully adopted solar energy into their communities.
Spin on Perovskite Research Advances Potential for Quantum Computing
The next generation of information technology could take advantage of spintronics--electronics that use the minuscule magnetic fields emanating from spinning electrons as well as the electric charges of the electrons themselves--for faster, smaller electronic devices that use less energy.
Q&A with Julieta Giraldez-Miner: Providing Innovative Integration Options to Utilities and Power Systems
NREL Senior Research Engineer Julieta Giraldez-Miner assists utilities with managing distributed energy resources (DERs), while leading NREL projects in microgrids, smart grids, and grid integration.
REopt Lite Evolves To Address User Priorities
The latest REopt Lite upgrades address users' growing focus on providing backup power to sustain critical load during outages. Expanded resilience capabilities enable users to optimally size new diesel generation and better understand the benefits and trade-offs of resilience.
NREL Researchers Pursue the Biggest Possible Wind Plant Model
Paul Veers, the chief engineer at NREL's National Wind Technology Center, collaborated with technical experts from around the world to develop an end-to-end resource covering every aspect of wind energy design, modeling, and simulation. The resulting two-volume book, which includes NREL contributions to 10 of the 18 chapters, explains the principal elements behind multiple subsystem models that are needed to create a full-system optimization framework.
Energy Leadership Program at NREL Accepting Applications for 2020
The program, informally known as Energy Execs, is accepting applications through Jan. 13. Approximately 20 people are chosen each year.
Getting the Big Picture through Better Data: NREL Creates National Thermal Plant Performance Database for Grid Studies
New collection of historic U.S. power plant efficiency data can be used to more accurately model the integration of variable solar and wind energy on the grid.
Pushing the Boundaries of Land-Based Rotor Growth
Researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Sandia National Laboratories (Sandia) are searching for ways to maximize the advantages of large-scale rotors and their potential for increased energy generation. Their work as part of DOE's Big Adaptive Rotor (BAR) project aims to create the next generation of land-based wind turbines with 206-meter (m) rotors, which will increase capacity factors by 10% or more over a typical land-based turbine.
November 2019
Best of Both Worlds: NREL Optimizes the Control and Design of New Offshore Floating Turbines
NREL and its team of partners and external advisors will incorporate systems control co-design principles--designing and optimizing all system components, including the control system, simultaneously--in a revolutionary toolset to enable offshore floating system engineers to design radically new systems at greatly reduced cost.
NREL Awards Announced in Grid Modernization Lab Call
The projects expand the work started in 2016 under DOE’s Grid Modernization Laboratory Consortium and retain the vision of a secure and resilient modern grid.
Juliette Ugirumurera: Solving Real-World Computational Problems Between Two Worlds
NREL researcher Juliette Ugirumurera leads simulation efforts for several transportation projects, including Athena, a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)-funded, national-lab-led multiyear project aimed at improving the efficiency of transportation hubs through advanced high-performance computing. She was born in Rwanda and came to the United States on a scholarship. She enjoys dancing and hiking in her free time.
CyberForce Accelerates the Next Generation of Energy Security Defenders
The CyberForce Competition challenged teams to defend one of four realistic system scenarios while communicating with the other three infrastructures to monitor and maintain the integrity of the system as a whole.
Presidential Early Career Award Honors NREL Researcher Mike Wagner
Wagner had been nominated for the award by the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office in recognition of 10 years of leadership in concentrating solar power research.
Five NREL Scientists Included on List of Highly Cited Researchers
The list, compiled annually by Clarivate Analytics' Web of Science Group, this year ran to 6,216 names selected for "their exceptional influence and performance."
Analysis Team Awarded for Studies of NASA-Sited Solar Project
Thanks in part to analyses on how to structure the project for NASA, the Kennedy Space Center will now include a 500-acre solar photovoltaic plant on its western edge. The team received a NASA Group Achievement Award for the effort.
Q&A with Sherry Stout: Building Capacity and Collaboration for Energy Resilience
Sherry Stout is an engineer in the Integrated Decision Support group who specializes in addressing energy challenges in rural, remote, and developing communities. We talked with Stout about her work and the importance of coordinated, diverse stakeholder groups in energy planning.
NREL and HPE Team Up to Apply AI for Efficient Data Center Operations
Collaborative research effort will apply artificial intelligence and machine learning approaches to improve HPC data center operational efficiency.
Say Hello To Your 2020 Marine Energy Collegiate Competition Participants
The U.S. Department of Energy Water Power Technologies Office announced 15 intrepid collegiate teams to embark on the first-ever Marine Energy Collegiate Competition.
News Release: Waves to Water Prize Concept Winners Announced; Ocean Observing Prize Accepting Applications
NREL administers and executes both prizes on behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Water Power Technologies Office.
SpiderFLOAT Spins a Web of Offshore Innovation
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory's (NREL's) innovative SpiderFLOAT technology—named for its modular components that resemble spider legs—has the potential to reduce these costs by simplifying construction and maintenance logistics for deep-water wind systems in challenging offshore marine environments.
Last Updated May 28, 2025