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December 2020

Dec. 22, 2020

System Advisor Model Update Includes New Data, Improved Model Integration

Make informed decisions about renewable energy system design and project economics with the latest version of NREL's System Advisor Model.

Dec. 18, 2020

Quantum Wells Enable Record-Efficiency Two-Junction Solar Cell

Researchers from NREL and the University of New South Wales achieved a new world-record efficiency for two-junction solar cells, creating a cell with two light-absorbing layers that converts 32.9% of sunlight into electricity.

Dec. 18, 2020

News Release: I AM Hydro Prize Winners Leverage Advanced Manufacturing Expertise to Bolster Hydropower

Eleven winning teams claimed top honors with their concepts to leverage the rapid innovations enabled by advanced manufacturing to solve hydropower's critical challenges.

Dec. 18, 2020

Nuclear-Renewable Synergies for Clean Energy Solutions

For nearly a decade, JISEA has supported analysis and dialogue on the potential of nuclear-renewable hybrid energy systems to provide sustainable, cost-effective, and reliable power, heat, and other energy services.

Dec. 17, 2020

Solar District Cup Students Are Ready for the Finals

The U.S. Department of Energy Solar District Cup Collegiate Design Competition has announced that 35 teams from 34 schools are advancing as finalists in the Class of 2021 program.

Dec. 17, 2020

Swimming With the SHARKS: NREL Makes a Splash at 2020 ARPA-E Funding Round

NREL researchers are working to fast-track the development of tomorrow's cost-effective marine energy technologies, thanks to an ARPA-E SHARKS funding award.

Dec. 16, 2020

$10 Million Sparks Research To Reduce Risks of Promising Bioengineered Organisms

Two awards totaling nearly $10 million from the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science Biological and Environmental Research (BER) program will support two research projects at NREL and partner laboratories that aim to analyze and reduce biosecurity risks of promising bioengineered organisms.

Dec. 16, 2020

All in a Day's Work

In their new report, "Workforce and Economic Development Considerations from the Operations and Maintenance of Wind Power Plants," NREL researchers Matthew Kotarbinski, David Keyser, and Jeremy Stefek seek to expand our understanding of wind's economic impact by examining O&M worker integration in communities.

Dec. 14, 2020

At 30 Years Young, the Future Is Bright for NREL's High-Flux Solar Furnace

With the breakneck speed of innovation at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), the laboratory's High-Flux Solar Furnace (HFSF) is all the more remarkable for continuously facilitating envelope-pushing research since 1989.

Dec. 14, 2020

First Solar's Photovoltaic Technology Completes 25 Years of Testing at NREL

Determining how many years a solar panel will last can take, well, years. Intended to function for 25 years or more, solar panels must be made to withstand the elements. In some cases, panels continue working well after their planned operational lifetime. Nowhere is this more evident than on the sunny hillside where NREL operates the Outdoor Test Facility.


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Last Updated May 5, 2025