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December 2019
Modeling Tomorrow's Energy Infrastructure Today: Researchers model electricity systems for future resource and climate uncertainty
A new modeling approach takes future climate and water resource conditions into account for long-term electricity generation infrastructure planning.
Updated Standard Scenarios Outlook Models Possible Futures for U.S. Electricity Sector
A flagship NREL analysis project, the fifth annual Standard Scenarios Outlook models 36 possible projections for power sector evolution through the year 2050.
PVWatts at 20: Measuring Success in Megawatts and by the Millions
Expanding solar energy’s reach, one estimate at a time. Meet PVWatts.
Sunny with a Chance of Curtailment: NREL Simulates Possible Impacts of a Very-High-Solar Future
Analysts modeled how the future U.S. power system could operate with up to 55% solar energy penetration.
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.
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.
November 2019
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.
October 2019
R&D 100 Awards Honor Two NREL Innovations
The U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) today won two R&D 100 Awards from R&D World magazine.
A New Way to Measure Mobility Potential of Cities
The Mobility Energy Productivity (MEP) metric comprehensively quantifies the efficiency of transportation systems while taking time, affordability, and energy use into consideration.
Modeling Modernity: NREL Proposes Key Revisions to the IEEE Reliability Test System
Outlined in their article in IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, NREL researchers and colleagues proposed an update to the IEEE Reliability Test System (RTS) to bring it into the 21st century.
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Last Updated May 5, 2025