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March 2019
REopt Lite Adds Custom Electricity Rates and an Integrated Critical Load Builder
Building owners and energy managers looking to evaluate renewable energy and storage economics for their site can use REopt™ Lite's custom utility rate tariff capabilities and an integrated critical load profile builder—new features that allow a more detailed energy analysis without leaving the tool.
February 2019
Gallium Oxide Could Have Low Cost in Future, NREL Analysis Reveals
The findings reveal gallium oxide wafers could be three to five times cheaper to manufacture than another related technology, silicon carbide.
January 2019
Collaboration Works To Improve Variable Renewable Energy Modeling
A group of NREL researchers recently collaborated with expert modelers from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the Electric Power Research Institute to improve the treatment of variable renewable energy, such as wind and solar, in the flagship planning models used by these research organizations.
December 2018
News Release: NREL Details Great Potential for Floating PV Systems
While the United States was the first to demonstrate floating PV panels--with the first installation occurring 10 years ago on pontoons on an irrigation pond in Napa Valley, California--the idea has not received widespread national acceptance.
Ian Baring-Gould is Engaging in the Power of Communities
Ian Baring-Gould has traveled the globe for NREL, helping communities. He is amazed at the progress of renewables, particularly wind, over the past few decades.
News Release: Upwind Wind Plants Can Reduce Flow to Downwind Neighbors
New National Science Foundation and Department of Energy-funded research highlights a previously unexplored consequence of the global proliferation of wind energy facilities: a wake effect from upwind facilities that can reduce the energy production of their downwind neighbors.
November 2018
NREL Leadership in Grid-Mod Projects Highlights National Progress
The challenge to modernize our grid is not a maintenance task or an everyday repair. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Grid Modernization Laboratory Consortium (GMLC) is responding to a grid transformation unlike anything the nation has experienced.
REopt Lite Adds New Energy Optimization Capabilities with Wind, Custom Rate Tariff, Critical Load Builder, and User Dashboard Features
The REopt Lite web tool's new wind optimization module lets building owners and energy managers evaluate the economic viability of grid-connected wind at a site, in addition to solar photovoltaics and battery storage.
October 2018
News Release: NREL to Lead $5 Million Initiative to Reduce Energy Use and Increase Energy Efficiency of Major Transportation Hub
Working with DFW and the surrounding region, NREL and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) will identify technology approaches that maximize mobility energy productivity of passenger and freight options in this major transportation hub.
September 2018
NREL Analysts Take a First Look at the Florida Duck Curve, and How Flexibility Could Help
New analysis examines how solar deployment may impact grid operations in Florida, an understudied but important market.
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Last Updated May 5, 2025