Water Research News
Stay up to date on the latest water energy research and development news at the National
Renewable Energy Laboratory.
Dec. 28, 2022
NREL researchers and staff reached countless goals and achieved numerous successes in science, partnerships, and commercialization in 2022. Here are just a few of the highlights.
Dec. 15, 2022
How do we balance both human and environmental needs? This is NREL’s Kerry Stout Grantham’s big question as she helps design the blueprint for coastal, island and remote communities to adopt marine energy.
Nov. 18, 2022
An accessible, centralized data library for all things marine energy is making it easier for everyone in marine energy—from small startups to big universities—to get the data they need to accelerate technology development.
Nov. 7, 2022
Today’s hydropower workforce is aging, creating an oncoming wave of retirement. Yet, with new and lower-impact technologies and increased demand for workers, the hydropower industry is projected to grow.
Oct. 25, 2022
Read a summary of the six manufacturing experts profiled throughout the year as part of NREL's Manufacturing Masterminds Q&A profile series.
Oct. 17, 2022
The new Small WEC Analysis tool—an online, publicly available graphical user interface recently co-developed by NREL researchers—provides baseline information about the performance of different types of wave energy converters in various ocean settings.
Oct. 3, 2022
Researchers at NREL are developing data-gathering tools to help accelerate the development of promising marine energy technologies.
Sept. 29, 2022
NREL's validation capabilities range from lab to field, watt to megawatt, component to system, and nanogrid to microgrid.
Sept. 19, 2022
Distributed embedded energy converter technologies (or DEEC-Tecs) could eventually transform sources of everyday energy into electricity or other forms of usable energy.
Aug. 19, 2022
The free, publicly available Marine Energy Atlas just got some new features, making it even easier for marine energy developers to learn how much electricity their device could produce at various U.S. sites.
Aug. 18, 2022
It is hard to find a flock of sheep nestled under an array of solar panels. But both solar developers and those in the local community who care for the land—whether as farmland, rangeland, or native habitats—can benefit from agrivoltaics.
Aug. 11, 2022
A small project in New Hampshire could help tidal energy go global.
Aug. 10, 2022
At NREL, Ritu Treisa Philip focuses her energy—and expert analyses—on marine energy technologies, which could provide renewable, reliable, and locally sourced power to coastal communities.
Aug. 9, 2022
Three winners of the Ocean Observing Prize BUILD Contest share a cash prize pool in recognition of their prototypes' potential to one day power ocean observing technologies after wave tank testing.
Aug. 8, 2022
On July 11, 2022, NREL experts hosted two workshops at the 2022 HydroVision International Conference in Denver, Colorado.
July 27, 2022
Learn how NREL simulates rivers and oceans (and much more) to help accelerate the development of cost-effective and durable hydropower and marine energy technologies.
July 20, 2022
Johney Green, associate laboratory director for Mechanical and Thermal Engineering Sciences at NREL, was appointed Chairman of The National GEM Consortium Board of Directors on July 18, 2022. GEM is a 45-year-old national nonprofit organization whose vision is to make scientific impact through underrepresented minority STEM talent in the United States.
June 16, 2022
Growing up in Canada, Robynne Murray got her hands dirty clam digging in the Bay of Fundy. Now, at NREL, the mechanical engineer likes getting her hands dirty, manufacturing and evaluating new materials--like recyclable plastics and carbon fibers--for wind and tidal turbines and electric vehicles.
June 15, 2022
The latest additions to the Energy Transitions Initiative Partnership Project (ETIPP) more than double the number of communities advancing local energy goals through this DOE-funded, multi-lab, multi-partner effort.
June 14, 2022
A new strategic business plan for marine energy standards showcases how close the industry is to wide-scale commercial use.
June 7, 2022
Energy storage is expected to play a big role in tomorrow's clean energy grid. To help guide future development of pumped storage hydropower facilities in the United States, NREL researchers developed a new interactive map and geospatial dataset to identify potential installation sites and estimate the quantity, quality, and cost of resources available at each.
May 31, 2022
With SHARKS, ARPA-E and NREL could make it possible for marine energy devices to power up in rivers across the country and play a valuable role in combating the climate change crisis.
May 19, 2022
Among NREL's many funding agencies, the U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) funds what is perhaps some of NREL's most innovative work.
May 18, 2022
Meet NREL senior legal and regulatory analyst Aaron Levine, who examines how environmental regulations and hydropower could help protect the planet.
May 5, 2022
Through the U.S. Department of Energy's Testing Expertise and Access for Marine Energy Research (TEAMER) program, developers, researchers, companies, and national laboratories are teaming up to share resources.
April 26, 2022
Twenty-one of NREL's water power successes earn the spotlight in the U.S. Department of Energy Water Power Technologies Office 2020-2021 Accomplishments Report.
April 22, 2022
This year's Earth Day theme is "Invest in Our Planet." NREL is—already has been, in fact—investing in clean energy, like water power, which helps preserve the planet.
April 20, 2022
NREL's Cold Climate Housing Research Center's Sherry Stout connects rural, remote, tribal, and developing communities with scientists who can help them meet their clean energy goals.
April 14, 2022
NREL customizes competitions for DOE technology offices—solar, water, buildings, geothermal, and others—to meet industry needs. American-Made is a pillar of DOE's activities, incentivizing U.S. entrepreneurs to strengthen American leadership in energy innovation and domestic manufacturing.
April 14, 2022
NREL's new wave tank could help accelerate the development of commercially-viable marine energy technologies.
April 8, 2022
Today, the U.S. Department of Energy's Water Power Technologies Office and NREL, East Carolina University's Coastal Studies Institute, and prize competitors celebrated the finale of the Waves to Water Prize--a competition designed to accelerate the development of small, modular, wave-energy-powered desalination systems.
April 7, 2022
The inaugural Hydropower Collegiate Competition and third annual Marine Energy Collegiate Competition calls on the next generation workforce to help reach a clean energy future.
April 6, 2022
In partnership with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the U.S. Department of Energy's Water Power Technologies Office has launched the Hydropower Operations Optimization (H2Os) Prize to support a reliable, resilient grid. The Phase 1 submission window closes on May 20, 2022.
March 31, 2022
A newly revamped software offers marine energy developers a way to analyze how well their technology might perform in various ocean and river sites.
March 28, 2022
NREL Hydropower Technical Lead Greg Stark reflects on how the conversation around hydropower is changing and NREL is honored to be part of it in 2022.
March 24, 2022
For Women's History Month 2022, the NREL marine energy and hydropower groups are taking a look at the work of six NREL women who are interested in renewable energy technologies, specifically water power technologies. Here are the second three.
March 23, 2022
NREL Marine Energy Team Lead Mike Lawson believes 2022 will be defined by collaboration with current and future industry leaders.
March 17, 2022
For Women's History Month 2022, the NREL marine energy and hydropower groups are taking a look at six NREL women who are interested in renewable energy technologies, specifically water power technologies. Here are the first three.
March 15, 2022
Six teams of marine energy innovators are advancing from the DESIGN to the BUILD Contest of the Ocean Observing Prize with their ocean-observing technologies.
March 7, 2022
NREL researchers recently tested a hydraulic and electric reverse osmosis wave energy converter off the coast of North Carolina ahead of Waves to Water Prize finalists' desalination prototype trials.
Feb. 15, 2022
Why aren't waves powering your home right now? The ocean is an inhospitable place for technology. Now, a new cost-effective, resilient wave energy design adapts to changing seas and could help power up the wave energy industry.
Feb. 8, 2022
On Jan. 11, 2022, U.S. senators and hydropower experts referenced NREL's hydropower research to argue for an expansion of the U.S. hydropower industry.
Jan. 25, 2022
Wave energy developers can bring the ocean to the laptop thanks to the Wave Energy Converter SIMulator (WEC-Sim), a tool built by researchers at NREL and Sandia National Laboratories.
Jan. 18, 2022
In the last year, NREL researchers helped advance water power, which provides renewable energy from oceans and rivers and is critical to build a clean energy future.
