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September 2020

Sept. 15, 2020

Renewables Rescue Stability as the Grid Loses Spin

Across the world, renewable power is displacing traditional generation, but can renewables also replace the critical stability functions that go with it? NREL studies are confirming in the field and on live power systems that solar, wind, and hybrid power plants can provide their own source of grid stability—potentially unlike anything currently on the grid.

August 2020

Aug. 13, 2020

ARIES and RAIL Promise To Advance Renewable Energy Innovation and Integration

Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette introduced two new acronyms to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's (NREL's) lexicon on Aug. 12: RAIL and ARIES. RAIL stands for Research and Innovation Laboratory, while ARIES is short for Advanced Research on Integrated Energy Systems.

Aug. 3, 2020

Grid Coordination Opens Road for Electric Vehicle Flexibility

As electric vehicle sales continue to rev up in the United States, the power grid is in parallel contending with the greatest transformation in its 100-year history: the large-scale integration of renewable energy and power electronic devices. The changes will test the limits of grid integration, but NREL sees opportunity at the intersection of energy systems and transportation.

July 2020

July 29, 2020

Arrival of OptGrid: Advanced Technology of Grid Management Now Available to Industry

A new product developed at NREL has industry-shifting potential to help manage today's increasingly distributed energy infrastructure, and it has emerged as a commercial solution for real-time coordination of distributed energy resources.

May 2020

May 28, 2020

Inertia and the Power Grid: A Guide Without the Spin

A new video and report explain the historical role of inertia in maintaining a reliable power system—and how this role is changing as the grid evolves.

May 14, 2020

Blockchain: Not Just for Bitcoin

A common vision for the future of the nation's energy grid involves homeowners selling unused power generated from rooftop solar panels to others in their communities, and working together to help ensure the reliability, resiliency, and security of the power grid everyone uses. But how can the grid manage such complex energy transactions at scale? Several emerging solutions rely on blockchain technology.

March 2020

March 30, 2020

Q&A with Ben Kroposki: A Grid Visionary

Ben Kroposki works at the innovative edge of renewable energy in power systems, leading to his current role at NREL as director of the Power Systems Engineering Center.

March 25, 2020

JISEA Celebrates a Decade of Energy System Transformation Through Analysis

Ten years since its founding, the Joint Institute for Strategic Energy Analysis continues to provide critical insights linking energy, society, and prosperity around the world.

January 2020

Jan. 2, 2020

Declining Renewable Costs Drive Focus on Energy Storage

An oft-repeated refrain—the sun doesn't always shine, is sometimes seen as an impediment to renewable energy. But it's also an impetus toward discovering the best ways to store that energy until it's needed.

November 2019

Nov. 25, 2019

CyberForce Accelerates the Next Generation of Energy Security Defenders

The CyberForce Competition challenged teams to defend one of four realistic system scenarios while communicating with the other three infrastructures to monitor and maintain the integrity of the system as a whole.


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Last Updated May 5, 2025