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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.
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December 2019
PVWatts at 20: Measuring Success in Megawatts and by the Millions
Expanding solar energy’s reach, one estimate at a time. Meet PVWatts.
On with the Wind
Wind turbines with social skills. Potato guns that help researchers better understand wind-wildlife impacts. A fast-growing and long-lasting demand for skilled wind workers. Whatever the story, 2019 saw gale-force developments in wind energy research at NREL, and these currents show no signs of slowing down.
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.
Small Colorado Utility Sets National Renewable Electricity Example Using NREL Algorithms
Holy Cross Energy brings NREL algorithms out of the lab and into homes, setting a national example for grid control.
FAST Grand Prize Winners Make Progress on Pumped Storage Research
Team Wittmeyer-Dasgupta of the Southwest Research Institute won a Furthering Advancements to Shorten Time (FAST) Commissioning for Pumped-Storage Hydropower Prize for a modular steel concept for dams that reduces costs by one-third and cuts construction schedules in half.
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.
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.
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.
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Last Updated April 28, 2025