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July 2021
Lower Battery Costs, High Value of Backup Power Drive Distributed Storage Deployment
There is economic potential for 490 gigawatts per hour of behind-the-meter battery storage in the United States by 2050, or 300 times today's installed capacity. But only a small fraction could be adopted by customers, according to the latest phase of NREL's Storage Futures Study.
NREL Open-Source Modeling Framework Cracks the Code of Simulating Low-Inertia Energy Systems
The United States has 37 gigawatts (GW) of utility-scale solar capacity—enough to power over 4,070,000,000 LED lights—with an impressive additional 112 GW of capacity currently under development.
News Release: Analysis Shows Enzyme-Based Plastics Recycling Is More Energy Efficient, Better for Environment
Researchers in the BOTTLE Consortium, including from NREL and the University of Portsmouth, have identified using enzymes as a more sustainable approach for recycling polyethylene terephthalate (PET), a common plastic in single-use beverage bottles, clothing, and food packaging.
2021 Annual Technology Baseline Adds Technologies, New Data Features To Support High-Impact Energy Analysis
The 2021 Annual Technology Baseline offers new and improved electricity-generation technology cost and performance data to inform high-impact U.S. electricity-sector analysis.
News Release: What To Do With Food Waste? Well, That Depends
The expected decline in the number of landfills across the United States coupled with bans on disposing large amounts of organic waste in landfills that have been enacted in multiple states has prompted researchers at NREL to examine other ways to grapple with the issue of food waste disposal.
June 2021
NREL Finds Keeping Renewables at Today's Levels—or Limiting Their Growth—Results in Higher U.S. Power System Costs
Simulations show nonlinear relationship between renewable contribution and costs—and that the U.S. can get to 80+% renewables at the same cost as keeping the system at today’s 20%.
North American Renewable Integration Study Highlights Opportunities for a Coordinated, Continental Low-Carbon Grid
Multiyear analysis shows that increasing electricity trade between countries and expanding interregional transmission can support a reliable future power system.
Are Hybrid Systems Truly the Future of the Grid? NREL's Magic 8-Ball Says: "Concentrate and Ask Again."
Recent analyses suggest a need for coordinated dialogue and consistent modeling to understand the value of hybrid renewable energy systems.
The Challenge of the Last Few Percent: Quantifying the Costs and Emissions Benefits of a 100% Renewable U.S. Electricity System
Large-scale simulations by NREL researchers show that the U.S. can get close to 100% renewable generation cost-effectively—but the final few percent drive a nonlinear increase in total system cost.
Grid-Scale U.S. Storage Capacity Could Grow Five-Fold by 2050
The latest report in NREL's multiyear Storage Futures Study finds reaching full market potential of diurnal grid-scale energy storage hinges on system flexibility and solar photovoltaics penetration.
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Last Updated May 5, 2025