National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), with campuses located in Colorado and Alaska, is the United States' primary laboratory for renewable energy and energy efficiency research and development. NREL is operated by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy LLC on behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy. The lab’s mission is to advance the science and engineering of energy efficiency, sustainable transportation, and renewable power technologies and provide knowledge to integrate and optimize energy systems. To accomplish these goals, the lab’s researchers explore new and better ways to harness renewable power sources—including geothermal, solar, water, and wind—as well as to build more sustainable buildings, transportation, energy storage, grid infrastructure, and more. NREL’s water and wind research groups tap into the lab’s more than 40 years of experience to design, evaluate, validate, and demonstrate novel marine and wind energy technologies while mitigating potential environmental risks. NREL is also home to the National Center for Photovoltaics, the National Bioenergy Center, and the National Wind Technology Center.

The Enabling Coexistence Options for Wind Energy and Wildlife (ECO Wind) program at NREL's Flatirons Campus supports efforts to protect vulnerable wildlife species while ensuring sustainable deployment of wind energy. Through ECO Wind, NREL collaborates with technology providers to support the development and validation of emerging technologies related to bird and bat interactions at wind farms. Identifying the best wind-wildlife impact monitoring and minimization strategies enables more efficient and cost-effective wind energy projects to be deployed across the United States.