NREL adds clean energy grid-integration research unit

Sep 12, 2013 - US Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz on Wednesday officially opened a clean energy research centre at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado that will be focused on clean energy grid integration and wide-scale deployment.

The US government said in a press release on Thursday that the new Energy Systems Integration Facility (ESIF) will facilitate the work of manufacturers, utilities and public and private researchers on clean energy projects on the grid. "ESIF will tackle generation, transmission, distribution and end-use challenges to advance renewable energy, electric vehicles, energy storage batteries, microgrids and next generation building technologies”, the Department of Energy (DOE) said.

In addition, the DOE and NREL have entered a collaborative research agreement with Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, part of Japanese carmaker Toyota (TYO:7203), aiming to integrate plug-in electric cars into the power grid. Toyota will offer 20 of its Prius hybrid vehicles for the tests.

NREL will also cooperate with the US Army to create a Consolidated Utility Base Energy (CUBE) system -- a solar, battery and generator hybrid power device that generates electricity to forward operating bases.

Choose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!