New NREL Building Dedicated on Wednesday

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado recently became the subject of great interest to the U.S. Department of Energy. NREL has created a new facility that will research issues of generation, transmission, distribution and end-use challenges related to large scale implementation of renewable energy.

The building has been named the Energy Systems Integration Facility (ESIF) and will include a new liquid-cooled supercomputer, the most energy efficient of its kind in the world. The supercomputer will enable researchers to perform previously impossible modeling tasks. NREL officials have called the building a "game-changer" for renewable energy.

It is hoped that the new facility will help researchers solve the difficulties of renewable energy storage and transmission. Renewable energy has proven difficult to implement on a large scale due to its variable nature. The amount of power generated varies with each passing cloud or gust of wind. Researchers are now struggling to find a way for the current electricity grid to handle these fluctuations.

Energy Secretary Moniz, oversaw the dedication of the new facility on Wednesday and stated,
“The Energy Department has been at the forefront of large scale computation and modeling, and new NREL supercomputing capabilities will support the groundbreaking science and innovation we need to address the effects of global climate change and pave the way to a cleaner, more sustainable energy future.”

Angelica Oman

Graduate Program Assistant