NREL breaks ground on $224M energy materials processing facility (original) (raw)

September 16, 2024 - Key stakeholders pose for a ceremonial photo at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Energy Materials and Processing at Scale Facility (EMAPS). From left: Mike Tilbury (JE Dunn), Dave Mooney (NREL), Dan Beckley (NREL), Julie Baker (NREL), Martin Keller (NREL), Amy Read (NREL), Derek Passarelli (DOE), Marlys Kinsey (DOE), Jeff Marootian (DOE). (Photo by Agata Bogucka / NREL)

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) broke ground on its new Energy Materials and Processing at Scale (EMAPS) facility on the east side of its South Table Mountain Campus in Golden, Colorado.

The 127,000-square-foot laboratory is intended to enable collaboration between industry partners, universities, and other DOE laboratories to accelerate laboratory-scale innovations in energy materials to market-ready products and processes. The total budget for the EMAPS project is $224 million.

“We are excited to be on our way to building our new EMAPS facility,” said NREL Director Martin Keller. “The new capabilities we will gain from EMAPS will accelerate innovations in materials and processes that are essential to clean energy technologies, from lab-scale discovery to scale-up for commercialization, allowing NREL to dig deeper into our current research while also pursuing exciting new avenues.”

EMAPS is meant to create a direct path from bench-scale materials and process innovations to pilot-scale integration and production. NREL said the laboratory design will facilitate a multidisciplinary approach to materials research and development by providing opportunities for engineers, scientists, and industry partners to work together in shared laboratory facilities to accelerate process scale-up and market adoption of advanced energy materials.

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The building’s research capabilities and applications could enable materials and process innovations in energy storage, advanced manufacturing, technologies for grid modernization, sustainable chemicals, and fuels for transportation and industrial applications, NREL said. The facility is also meant to address end-of-life and circularity challenges across multiple energy technology platforms with a focus on polymers, packaging, and waste streams during and after production.

“America’s ability to transition to renewable energy depends on a secure and sustainable supply chain,” said Jeff Marootian, principal deputy assistant secretary for the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. “With scientists, engineers, and other partners working together in a collaborative environment, the EMAPS facility will transform how the U.S. scales up the materials and processes needed to achieve our national clean energy goals.”

NREL stressed that the incorporation of advanced sustainability strategies and innovative energy efficiency approaches are critical project factors. Additionally, NREL expects EMAPS to achieve a minimum of LEED Gold certification with a “sustainable, high-performance” design, in addition to energy efficiency approaches such as reclaimed gray water, building heat reclaim technologies, and the use of electricity in lieu of natural gas to support campus decarbonization efforts.