How Low Can Conventional Generators Go? NREL Explains Why Minimum Generation Is Key to Maximum Renewable Integration

New study in the journal Energy Policy illustrates the importance of quantifying power system operational constraints to enable more renewables on the grid.

News Release: Cost-Reduction Roadmap Outlines Two Pathways to Meet DOE Residential Solar Cost Target for 2030

News Release: 2016 Data Book Shows Continued Growth of Renewable Electricity

The 2016 Renewable Energy Data Book shows that U.S. renewable electricity grew to 18.3 percent of total installed capacity and 15.6 percent of total electricity generation in 2016.

News Release: Multi-model Effort Highlights Progress, Future Needs in Renewable Energy Modeling

Four agencies, including the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), hosted two workshops that led to a new report where the teams identified areas of importance for modeling variable renewable energy, performed experiments to determine key assumptions, and compiled a set of recommendations for future research in this area.

News Release: NREL Launches Electrification Futures Study Series

The U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is spearheading the Electrification Futures Study, a research collaboration to explore the impacts of widespread electrification in all U.S. economic sectors--commercial and residential buildings, transportation, and industry.

NREL Welcomes Robert Leland as Leader for New Scientific Computing and Energy Analysis Division

Robert Leland, former vice president at Sandia National Laboratories, joined NREL in early December, 2017, as associate lab director for Scientific Computing and Energy Analysis.

Can Climate, Water Resource Changes Impact U.S. Power Supply?

Power plants that require water for cooling provide 85% of U.S. electricity generation and need large volumes of water at sufficiently cool temperatures. Researchers from NREL, City College of New York, and Sandia National Laboratories evaluated U.S. thermoelectric plants under possible future climates and performance within power grid sub-regions and published their findings in Nature Climate Change.

New Study Indicates Shorter-Term Storage Can Reduce Variable-Generation Curtailments

Increasing the penetration of variable energy sources such as solar and wind energy in the grid without introducing heavy curtailment does not require costly, very-long-duration storage.

News Release: NREL, Johns Hopkins SAIS Develop Method to Quantify Life Cycle Land Use of Electricity from Natural Gas

A case study of the Barnett Shale region in Texas, where hydraulic fracturing was first implemented, for the first time provides quantifiable information on the life cycle land use of generating electricity from natural gas based on physical measurements instead of using assumptions and averages that were previously used for evaluation.

News Release: NREL Report Shows Utility-Scale Solar PV System Cost Fell Nearly 30% Last Year

The installed cost of solar power fell to record lows in the first quarter of 2017 because of the continuing decline in photovoltaic (PV) module and inverter prices, higher module efficiency, and lower labor costs, according to an analysis by the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).