Facilities
NREL's facilities offer a broad range of expertise and capabilities for nearly every aspect of photovoltaics research and development.
Learn more about the facilities and capabilities that support our photovoltaic (PV) research.
Science and Technology Facility
Our Science and Technology Facility is designed to accelerate the transfer of PV technology from lab to industry. It offers capabilities for fabricating solar cells and characterizing materials and interfaces.
Solar Energy Research Facility
This facility houses PV and basic sciences activities, such as developing diverse semiconductor materials, fabricating prototype cells, and measuring and certifying cell performance.
These two facilities support:
Outdoor Test Facility
Outdoor testing facilities allow us to evaluate PV technologies under simulated, accelerated, and prevailing conditions; develop standards and codes for testing PV devices; and calibrate primary reference cells for the PV industry.
Capabilities support:
- Simulated, accelerated indoor and outdoor testing
- Outdoor field testing
- Uniform and consensus standard testing for PV and codes
- Real-time PV and solar resource testing
- Degradation and soiling analysis
- Encapsulation studies.
Regional Test Centers
The Department of Energy Regional Test Centers for solar technologies serve to validate PV technologies in a range of climate regions.
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Last Updated April 3, 2025