News and Feature Stories
The following news stories take an in-depth, behind-the-scenes look at how NREL is advancing energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies.
Subscribe
Stay connected with the latest news and research breakthroughs from NREL.
April 2023
April 13, 2023
Power System Operator Staff From Vietnam, Colombia, and Ukraine Visit NREL
The Global Power System Transformation (G-PST) Consortium hosted international partners for a study tour across Colorado and Arizona.
April 11, 2023
Q&A With Danish Saleem: A 'Bottomless Cyber Enthusiast' Works To Secure U.S. Power Grid Against Hackers
Like a blizzard, a hacker could cut off power to millions of Americans—but not if Danish Saleem can help it. In our latest Q&A profile, Saleem explains how he is working to build security into distributed clean energy technologies to protect the country's power grid from the rising threat of cyberattacks.
April 10, 2023
An Alaskan Village's Journey Back to the Future
Athabascan Indians living in the remote Alaskan village of Igiugig are building an energy-sustainable community despite years of oil field development.
April 6, 2023
LIBRA Model Guides Development of Sustainable Battery Supply Chain
LIBRA uses powerful system dynamics modeling to analyze the supply chain and evaluate the economic viability of Li-ion battery manufacturing, reuse, and recycling.
April 6, 2023
News Release: Next Decade Decisive for PV Growth on the Path to 2050
Global experts on solar power strongly urge a commitment to the continued growth of photovoltaic manufacturing and deployment to power the planet, arguing that lowballing projections for PV growth while waiting for a consensus on other energy pathways or the emergence of technological last-minute miracles "is no longer an option."
April 5, 2023
Newly Named Solar Prize Round 6 Finalists Bring Innovation to Light
The latest round of finalists in the American-Made Solar Prize have been announced. The U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office selected 10 teams from across the country to move on to the Go! Contest and awarded each team $100,000 in cash prizes and $75,000 in technical support vouchers.
March 2023
March 30, 2023
Powering Coastal Cities With Ocean Waves: New Marine Energy Prize Investigates Novel Materials To Capture and Convert Wave Energy
The Innovating Distributed Embedded Energy Prize encourages participants within and beyond the marine energy industry to support the development of wave energy technologies that could help power the nation.
March 30, 2023
Combined 'SuperLab' Demonstrates Unique Hybrid Power Plant
For a 60-minute period in January 2023, a power plant like no other existed in the U.S. Mountain West.
March 30, 2023
New Consortium Advances Technologies That Use Renewable Electricity To Turn Carbon Dioxide Into Fuel
NREL scientist and principal investigator for the CO₂ Reduction and Upgrading for e-Fuels Consortium (CO₂RUe) Michael Resch leads a team of researchers working to unlock the potential of carbon dioxide electrolyzers and other technologies that enable e-fuels.
March 29, 2023
Kestrel Supercomputer Arrives at NREL
The first delivery of NREL's latest high-performance computing (HPC) system, Kestrel, arrived Monday. The operations teams are working hard so Kestrel's first phase can undergo testing and be ready for research computing this summer.
March 29, 2023
FLOWIN Forward: Nine Teams Advance to Phase Two of the First Wind Energy Prize
The first NREL-administered, three-phase floating offshore wind energy prize has named nine Phase One winners, kicking off Phase Two.
March 29, 2023
NREL Study Shows Airport Energy Savings in Surprising Places: How You Find Your Way Around
In a new report supporting Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport's carbon neutrality goals, NREL scientists detail futuristic technologies, like using augmented reality navigational systems and querying directional robots, that could help to make airports more energy efficient and more equitable for all.
March 28, 2023
Advanced Computing Powers 300-Plus Clean Energy Projects
In Fiscal Year 2022, NREL played a critical role in computing advancements for 300-plus clean energy research projects through high-performance computing (HPC), efficient data center operation, and state-of-the-art data visualization.
March 27, 2023
Michael Martin Receives American Society of Mechanical Engineers Fellow Designation
Michael Martin, staff scientist in NREL's Computational Science Center, was recently named an American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) fellow. This recognition is for his contributions to science, public policy, and education as a member of the ASME.
March 27, 2023
Southeast Asia Wind Resource Data Set Released Through the Renewable Energy Data Explorer
The USAID-NREL partnership's Advanced Energy Partnership for Asia released a high-fidelity wind data set for Southeast Asia through the Renewable Energy Data Explorer.
March 24, 2023
Turning Mining Waste Into a Sustainable Concrete Replacement
NREL is leading a three-year $4.38 million collaborative project from the U.S. Department of Energy's Fiscal Year 2022 Office of Fossil Energy Carbon Management Technology Commercialization Fund to turn mining waste materials into a more sustainable concrete replacement.
March 22, 2023
Documentary Short Illustrates Impact of Waves to Water Prize
In honor of World Water Day, take a closer look at the NREL-administered prize charting a new course for wave-powered desalination.
March 21, 2023
Designing the Future of Wave Energy
NREL's marine energy team recently gave assistance to four different projects that are improving four different wave energy converter designs.
March 21, 2023
Researchers Determine Simplified Way To Make Perovskite Solar Cells by Coating Multiple Layers at Once
A concept developed at NREL simplifies the process to manufacture perovskite solar cells, which could accelerate the path toward commercialization of the technology.
March 20, 2023
New Infrastructure Perception and Control Lab Merges Transportation and Computational Science
NREL’s new lab builds on the evolving role that advanced sensing and computational controls play in connected and automated movement and applies it to the coordinated movement of vehicles on the road, as well as how people move and navigate in large facilities such as airports.
March 17, 2023
How To Be a 'Good Ancestor'
NREL's Tessa Greco presented twice at New Zealand's inaugural clean energy conference, where technology experts and government and community leaders strategized how to reach global clean energy goals.
March 16, 2023
NREL Regional Analysis Can Help Accelerate Production and Delivery of Sustainable Aviation Fuel
When Chemical Engineer Arpit Bhatt and his NREL colleagues observed a gap in knowledge of how regional variables work together to affect sustainable aviation fuel production and delivery for individual airports across the country, they got to work—using Chicago O'Hare International Airport as a case study.
March 15, 2023
Beneath the Surface: From Holes to Coal to Tides: Patrick O'Byrne's Journey to Clean Energy
Patrick O'Byrne is helping NREL hone tidal energy technologies—by working through complex underwater engineering challenges as a water power intern.
March 15, 2023
Clean Energy Solutions Center Returns To Support Clean Energy Policy Development Worldwide
After a short period of dormancy, the Clean Energy Solutions Center has revitalized its programming and recommitted to its three pillars of activities: ask-an-expert services, trainings and peer-to-peer learning, and management of a comprehensive resource library.
March 14, 2023
Howard University Joins NREL-Governing Alliance Board of Directors
Howard University has joined the Board of Directors of the Alliance for Sustainable Energy in a partnership that will facilitate the exchange of expertise in renewable energy, energy efficiency, environmental justice, and addressing the needs of historically underserved communities.
Share