U.S. National Renewable Energy Lab announces layoffs
As proposed cuts to federal budgets threaten to impact the advancement of clean energy in the U.S., the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) announced that 114 employees have been laid off.
The employees affected work at NREL headquarters in Golden, Colo., as well as remote workers in other locations, according to Colorado Public Radio.
A statement released by NREL called the layoffs an “involuntary separation,” thanked them for their work and acknowledged that the mission is critical to achieving “an affordable and secure energy future.”
NREL continues to navigate a complex financial and operational landscape shaped by the issuance of stop work orders from federal agencies, new federal directives, and budgetary shifts. As a result, NREL has experienced workforce impacts affecting 114 employees across the laboratory, including staff from both research and operations, who were involuntarily separated today. We appreciate their meaningful contributions to the laboratory. NREL’s mission continues to be critical to achieve an affordable and secure energy future. We are grateful for the dedication and commitment of our staff as we continue to advance the laboratory’s work.
NREL is the principal research laboratory of the Department of Energy (DOE). President Trump’s recently announced budget includes cuts of $2.5 billion (74%) from the DOE’s Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Department.
The focus of the lab is to transform energy through research and development in many areas including advanced manufacturing, biomass, energy-efficient buildings, scientific data management, visualization and informatics.
The results of its research projects have significant implications. They’ve launched new start-up businesses, trained scientists and researchers, and solved real-world problems. For example, an international team led by NREL used ionic salt for the electron transport layer of a perovskite solar cell to improve device stability and performance of this new technology. NREL researchers produced a report that examined what’s driving distribution transformer demand, the lack of which is causing a bottleneck to infrastructure buildout. NREL researchers developed SolarApp+, software that speeds solar permitting for municipalities. Through NREL the DOE launched the Cold Climate Heat Pump Challenge, which resulted in leading manufacturers, such as Lennox, producing state-of-the-art products. And the list goes on.
NREL history dates back to 1974 when President Gerald Ford established the Solar Energy Research Institute (SERI), which became NREL in 1991. Dedicated to renewable power sources, the lab is operated by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, a joint venture between MRIGlobal and Battelle. NREL is governed by a board of directors consisting of five executives each from MRIGlobal and Battelle, and one each from the following six universities: the University of Colorado, Colorado State University, Colorado School of Mines, Howard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Stanford University.