Solar Research News

Explore our archive of solar news stories.

Oct. 30, 2024

Researcher Melissa Gish Bridges Chemistry and Physics To Improve Solar Energy Technologies

The journal Trends in Chemistry recently honored NREL researcher Melissa Gish in a special issue designed to highlight emerging leaders in chemistry innovating in their respective fields.

Oct. 23, 2024

Dive Into a Lake of Data: Open Energy Data Initiative Increases Big Data Access for Everyone

When data is widely accessible and available to anyone, anywhere, it can transform communities—especially when that data concerns something as vital as energy.

Oct. 22, 2024

NREL Helps US Forest Service Go Green After 2024 Lake Fire

During the July 2024 Lake Fire in Santa Barbara County, California, NREL and the U.S. Forest Service successfully piloted several renewable energy solutions that put their sustainable firefighting operations ideas into practice.

Oct. 17, 2024

September's Sunny Skies Make Perfect Day for Solar Calibrations

From Sept. 21 to 27, groups of scientists and engineers from around the globe gathered at NREL's Solar Radiation Research Laboratory in Golden, Colorado, for the 24th NREL Pyrheliometer Comparisons.

Oct. 1, 2024

Introducing the Solar District Cup Class of 2024–2025

Students from 38 schools are entering an ever-widening community of competitors and alumni involved in the U.S. Department of Energy Solar District Cup Collegiate Design Competition.

Sept. 18, 2024

Tim Silverman Likes Breaking Things—and That Is Good for Photovoltaic Reliability

The Materials Science senior scientist was named one of NREL's 2024 Distinguished Members of Research Staff.

Sept. 5, 2024

Innovative Materials and Scalable Manufacturing Pathways: New NREL Research Center To Look Toward the Future of Renewable Energy

The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Science Basic Energy Sciences program recently selected NREL to lead A Center for Power Electronics Materials and Manufacturing Exploration (APEX), a new Energy Frontier Research Center.

Aug. 28, 2024

DOE Consortium Awards $3 Million for 6 Projects To Advance Heliostat Technology and Workforce for Commercial Readiness

Recognizing the crucial role heliostats play at large-scale concentrating solar power facilities, the U.S. Department of Energy's Heliostat Consortium awarded a combined $3 million across six projects to innovate heliostat controls, deployment, and workforce training.

Aug. 22, 2024

NREL Research Synthesizes Molecular Aggregates for Solar Energy Applications

No molecule stands alone—they need others, at least when it comes to being able to display useful photophysical, electronic, and chemical properties.

Aug. 6, 2024

Stronger Together: Coupling Excitons to Polaritons for Better Solar Cells and Higher Intensity LEDs

In solar cells and light-emitting diodes, maintaining the excited state kinetics of molecules against annihilation is a race against time.

July 23, 2024

News Release: NREL Researchers Highlight Opportunities for Manufacturing Perovskite Solar Panels With a Long-Term Vision

Researchers working at the forefront of an emerging photovoltaic technology are thinking ahead about how to scale, deploy, and design future solar panels to be easily recyclable.

July 17, 2024

Into Another Dimension: Nanoscale Trilayer Exhibits Ultrafast Charge Transfer in Semiconductor Materials

Deriving inspiration from the natural process of photosynthesis, NREL researchers developed a mixed-dimensionality (2D/1D/2D) trilayer of semiconductors to enable exciton dissociation.

July 15, 2024

Stellar Year for the Solar Market, at Home and Abroad

The year 2023, according to NREL analyst David Feldman, was a year of historic proportions in the solar power industry.

July 1, 2024

Escaping the Lab Into the Sunlight: Research Examines Durability of Outdoor Perovskite Solar Cells

New research funded by the U.S. Department of Energy examines degradation mechanisms of PSCs under the unfiltered sunlight of the outdoors in comparison with widely used light-emitting diodes.

June 26, 2024

Bridging the Solar Energy Gap Through Federal Assistance Programs

The number of residential solar photovoltaics installations continues to increase across the United States. But that increase is slower for low-income households, who made up 23% of solar adopters as of 2022.

June 26, 2024

International Solar Energy Leaders, Researchers Discuss Growing Role in World Energy and Shared Challenges for the Future at 4th Multiterawatt Workshop

Approximately 70 researchers from 14 countries gathered in California earlier this month to discuss the progress toward deploying multiple terawatts of solar power around the globe to transition to a sustainable energy system.

June 20, 2024

How To Power the South Pole With Renewable Energy Technologies

From research to life in the Antarctica research stations, diesel fuel provides almost all of the necessary power. The fuel is shipped to Antarctica and either flown or trucked to the South Pole, an expensive proposition that could be greatly reduced using wind and solar.

June 12, 2024

'Moderate' Is the New 'Extreme': Weather's Impact on Growing Renewable Grid Operations

Shifting our perception of extreme weather could support planning a reliable future grid.

June 12, 2024

Safe and Fast Permitting Using NREL's SolarAPP+ Continued To Grow Throughout 2023

The SolarAPP+ automated online permitting platform instantly issues a permit for residential solar PV or PV-plus-storage systems if they pass an automated code compliance check, saving valuable time for local governments and solar contractors. In 2023, the platform continued to grow nationwide.

June 10, 2024

Advanced Spin Resonance Facility Accelerates Fundamental Understanding of Catalytic Mechanisms and Structural Characterization at Level of Electrons

Realizing the need and opportunity to probe deeper into the mysteries of the chemical reactions that sustain photosynthesis and enable light-driven ammonia production and hydrogen catalysis, NREL formed the Advanced Spin Resonance Facility.

May 30, 2024

Longtime NRELian Arthur Nozik Elected Member of American Academy of Arts and Sciences

NREL Senior Research Fellow Emeritus Arthur Nozik investigates methods to turn photons from our solar system's star into fuels, chemicals, and electricity.

May 20, 2024

DuraMAT Forecasts How New Photovoltaic Module Technologies Might Perform Over 20, 30, or 50 Years

For the solar photovoltaics (PV) industry, rapid growth can produce rapid—and sometimes unpredictable—changes.

May 2, 2024

Popular NREL Cell Efficiency Chart Now Better Presents Tandem Photovoltaics

NREL photovoltaics researchers created a new version of the iconic chart that tracks world-record photovoltaic cells across many technologies and time.

May 1, 2024

Solar Prize Round 7 Finalists Enter Last Phase of Competition

On May 1, the U.S. Department of Energy announced the 10 Solar Prize Round 7 finalist teams who were each awarded $100,000 in cash and $75,000 in technical support vouchers for their innovative ideas for advancing solar deployment.

April 25, 2024

News Release: NREL Proof of Concept Shows Path to Easier Recycling of Solar Modules

The use of femtosecond lasers to form glass-to-glass welds for solar modules would make the panels easier to recycle, according to a proof-of-concept study conducted by researchers at NREL.

April 25, 2024

NREL Researchers Outline Path Forward for Tandem Solar Cells

Researchers at NREL have prepared a roadmap on how to move tandem solar cells—particularly those that mesh different photovoltaic technologies—closer to commercialization.

April 8, 2024

NREL Shows Live Grid Impacts From Total Solar Eclipse

On April 8, 2024, a total solar eclipse will traverse North America bringing a period of midday complete darkness to 12 U.S. states and affecting solar power plants across all 50 U.S. states.

March 7, 2024

A Crystal Ball for Solar Modules

Historically, photovoltaic (PV) modules have demonstrated high reliability, making them a dependable and growing part of global decarbonization efforts.

March 4, 2024

Nextracker and NREL Partnership Inspires New Look at PV Tracker Industry Design Standards

Over the past year, NREL and industry partner Nextracker teamed up to advance the reliability of photovoltaic (PV) tracker technologies during severe weather events.

Feb. 29, 2024

Renewable Energy Is Green, but We Can Make It Greener

The U.S. energy transition is gaining speed, accelerated by government renewable energy goals and billions of dollars through the Inflation Reduction Act. As we race toward a greener future, understanding the potential adverse effects of renewable energy technologies before they are deployed has never been more critical.

Feb. 21, 2024

News Release: NREL-Led Workshop Points to Path for Clean Energy Future

Participants in a workshop organized by NREL agree on the importance of mitigating degradation rates for the continuing rollout of clean technologies.

Jan. 24, 2024

How Extreme Weather and System Aging Affect the US Photovoltaic Fleet

A massive data set of photovoltaic system performance quantifies the small but significant impacts of extreme weather and long-term degradation, with important lessons for the PV industry.

Jan. 12, 2024

MAKE IT Prize Helps Fuel US Clean Energy Boom

The United States is poised for a clean energy boom, with the new investments flowing from 2021's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act expected to unlock around $3 trillion in clean energy and energy efficiency investments.

Jan. 11, 2024

NREL Awards $1.8 Million in Second Round of Contracts To Support Development of Cheaper, More Efficient Cadmium Telluride Solar Cells

NREL has awarded $1.8 million to fund seven projects to support the Cadmium Telluride Accelerator Consortium.

Jan. 11, 2024

Solar Prize Round 7 Semifinalists Bring Bold, Bright Ideas to Competition

A new crop of semifinalists has been selected to move on to the Set! Contest in the American-Made Solar Prize Round 7.

Jan. 10, 2024

American-Made Prize Accelerates Community Solar Initiatives Across the US

Today, the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office announced 25 Phase 1 winning teams, each receiving a $50,000 cash prize and advancing to Phase 2 of the competition.

Jan. 9, 2024

News Release: Green Wheels, Bright Skies: NREL Analysis Unveils the Connection Between Electric Vehicles and Photovoltaics

People who own electric vehicles are more likely to go a step further and add solar panels to their home, according to an analysis of a behavioral study by researchers at NREL.

Jan. 2, 2024

News Release: Heliostat Consortium Publishes Annual Report Highlighting Impactful Technical Projects, Partnerships With Industry

The HelioCon Annual Report: 2023 provides detailed information on progress the Heliostat Consortium team has made since its founding.

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