NREL Plans United States' First Energy Systems Integration Facility
The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has signed a contract with the design build team of JE Dunn and SmithGroup to begin designing and construction for the latest research building on the NREL campus.
The Energy Systems Integration Facility (ESIF) will be the nation’s only facility examining how to integrate renewable energy into the national grid system. The facility will conduct integrated megawatt-scale testing of all components and strategies critical to deploying renewable energy and other energy-efficiency technologies into the nation’s electric grid at utility scale.
The ESIF will be approximately 175,000 sq. ft.; the building will house laboratories as well as office space for 200-250 NREL researchers and support staff. The ESIF will also include a state-of-the-art, high-performance computing and data center that will expand NREL’s capabilities in modeling and simulation of renewable energy technologies and their integration into the existing energy infrastructure.
“Incorporating large amounts of renewable energy into the aging grid is going to require a transformation in this country’s electricity infrastructure,” NREL Director Dan Arvizu said. “We are eager to begin construction on this unique facility that will help speed the adoption of renewable energy for everyone’s everyday use.”
The project will be designed and constructed to meet LEED Gold Certification and will be a model for energy efficient facilities. The ESIF data center is designed to be one of the most energy efficient in the world. Construction of the US$135 million project will start in the spring of 2011 and will be completed in late 2012.
Image credit: Heather Lammers
Alison Pruitt is a freelance writer/editor living near Washington DC. She has written about a variety of issues, including education, healthcare, IT, the arts, and energy/environment -- and has worked with the U.S. Department of Energy. She has a B.A. from Oberlin College and a Ph.D. in English Literature from Rutgers University.
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