NREL

The Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator (IN2), a $55-million energy technology program funded by Wells Fargo & Company and co-administered by NREL, the U.S. Department of Energy National Renewable Energy Laboratory, has announced the selection of three startups for its next cohort in the Emerging Tech track. This cohort focuses on enhancing resiliency in the built environment through innovative technologies that strengthen building operations, heating and cooling systems, and grid reliability.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) final energy efficiency standards for distribution transformers appear to strike a compromise with industry, softening the agency’s stance on steel requirements for essential transformer components and extending compliance deadlines to five years. The DOE’s final standards issued on April 4 seek to reduce losses in three types of distribution […]

One concern some observers raise about the growth of inverter-based resources, such as solar, wind, and battery storage, supplying the power grid is that they don’t provide inertia. Inertia has historically

The spectrum of geothermal technologies is quickly evolving. This supplement to POWER’s April 2023 feature, “Startups Are Shaking Up Geothermal Power’s Potential,” briefly explains the differences between some engineered geothermal systems. Conventional geothermal energy is largely produced by hydrothermal systems, which consist of hot water circulated in deep-seated permeable rocks. Resource temperature ranges from high (greater […]

U.S. utility Entergy and global power giant RWE are partnering to jointly assess the best means to develop an offshore wind market in the Gulf of Mexico. The two companies on March 30 unveiled a memorandum of understanding (MoU) under which they will analyze the Gulf of Mexico offshore wind market and define an optimal […]

The U.S. Dept. of Energy (DOE) has announced a new competition designed to support the integration of distributed energy resources (DERs) into the nation’s power grid. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm unveiled the program Feb. 7 during a presentation to attendees of the DISTRIBUTECH 2023 event at the San Diego Convention Center in California. The program […]

GOLDEN, CO. (Dec. 20, 2021) — The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), joined by our partners at Sandia National Laboratories and the Australian Solar Thermal Research Institute, announces the launch of theHeliostat Consortium (HelioCon), an international effort to drive down the cost of heliostats. HelioCon, led by NREL, emphasizes the […]

The growth curve for solar power continues its upward trajectory, thanks to technologies such as perovskites, heterojunction solar cells, and energy storage systems designed to complement rooftop solar. New

Many consider the “hydrogen economy” (the idea that all our energy needs could be provided by hydrogen) a pipe dream, since current solutions to the green energy crisis are critically lacking in either economic viability or environmental sustainability. Producing hydrogen from natural gas (grey hydrogen) is the least expensive method but produces carbon pollution and consumes large […]

Advancements in batteries, along with an improved regulatory environment and more investment, could make this decade the Roaring ’20s for energy storage. Many areas have been considered a focus for the

Three GE business units will partner with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) to develop and demonstrate an integrated additive manufacturing process for high-performance blade designs as part of a $6.7 million project funded by the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Advanced Manufacturing Office (AMO).  Under the AMO’s proposed “Additive […]

The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) was selected by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to lead three advanced energy storage projects. The projects will study innovative, non-battery-based bulk energy storage solutions integrated with fossil assets. “Investing in research and development to improve energy storage is critical at this moment in time,” Neva Espinoza, vice […]

The digitalization of power generation includes many new technologies, all designed to increase efficiency, along with reliability and resiliency. A group of energy industry experts came together Sept. 30 at Experience POWER, the virtual event supported by POWER magazine, to discuss “Microgrids and DERs—Leveraging the Benefits.” The session explored how data analytics and the Industrial […]

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has launched the Advanced Research on Integrated Energy Systems (ARIES) platform to substantially boost national energy research experimental capability and allow the scientific community to explore fundamental challenges related to integrated energy systems at scale.  ARIES, which the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado, developed over this […]

GOLDEN, CO (August 12, 2020) – U.S. Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette today announced the launch of the Advanced Research on Integrated Energy Systems (ARIES) platform at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). ARIES is a cutting-edge research platform that will allow NREL researchers and the scientific community to address […]

After several years of stagnancy, prospects for the geothermal power industry are heating up. Over the past year, it has seen a flurry of legislative boosts, an uptick of power purchase agreements, and

Electrification has been a much-touted driver for the global energy transition toward decarbonization. But though an all-electric future could have vast implications for the power and gas sectors, achieving it

There is a near-global drive to replace carbon-based, polluting, resource-constrained energy sources with non-carbon renewables as the primary fuel for the electricity industry. Even traditional sources of

Utilities and other power generators need to prepare now for increased loads as the electrification of transportation grows. As with any challenge, opportunities exist for those willing to invest in electric

Blockchain—a distributed database technology that allows a network of parties to securely transact with each other—has been hailed as a game-changing innovation in the power sector for its potential to

Low asset utilization is an increasing financial challenge for both conventional and renewable assets, which are sometimes curtailed due to over-generation at various times of day. Integrating large-scale

A first-of-its-kind project spearheaded by Exelon, the nation’s largest nuclear power generator, and Norwegian firm Nel Hydrogen could demonstrate an integrated hydrogen production, storage, and utilization facility at an existing nuclear plant site. If the project comes to fruition, it could shed light on a new and potentially lucrative revenue stream for existing nuclear power […]

The world’s nuclear sector is struggling to stay economically afloat amid a deluge of renewables and natural gas power, and reinvigorating it will require operational flexibility from new or existing

Nine pumped-storage hydropower (PSH) concepts today were named winners of the latest stage in the FAST Commissioning for Pumped-Storage Hydropower (PSH) prize competition. The FAST Prize—which stands for “Furthering Advancements to Shorten Time”—is part of the American-Made Challenges series, designed to accelerate the commissioning times of PSH projects from 10 years to five, while reducing […]

It’s energy that has been around forever, used for years as a heating source across the world, particularly in areas with volcanic activity. Today, geothermal has surfaced as another renewable resource, with

America’s energy mix is undergoing a period of rapid change. The way we generate electricity in this country looks dramatically different than it did just a decade ago, as wind and solar have matured and

National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) researchers estimate that installing floating solar photovoltaics on the more than 24,000 man-made U.S. reservoirs could generate about 10 percent of the nation’s annual electricity production. Their findings, published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, reveal for the first time the potential for floating PV to produce electricity in […]

DENVER (Sept. 20, 2018) — Shell today announced a new multimillion dollar, multiyear program to discover and advance emerging clean energy technologies with the potential to dramatically alter the future global energy landscape. Partnering with early-stage startup companies, the new Shell GameChanger™ Accelerator Powered by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) (GCxN) […]

Documents obtained by The Washington Post show the Trump administration is prepared to ask Congress to cut the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) renewable energy and energy efficiency programs by as much as 72% in fiscal year 2019. The newspaper in a January 31 report says Congress likely would not support many of the cuts, but […]

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has entered into a license agreement with MicroLink Devices, Inc. (Niles, IL) to commercialize NREL’s patented inverted metamorphic (IMM) multijunction solar cells. While high-efficiency multijunction solar cells are commonly used for space satellites, researchers have continued to look for ways to improve cost and […]