NETL experts recently joined U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) leaders in North Dakota to learn about the development of technologies that can harness the state’s massive reserves of lignite coal to extract key rare earth elements (REEs) and critical minerals (CMs), which are needed to manufacture nearly all high-tech devices and are critical to the clean energy economy.

NETL researchers are working to overcome key challenges associated with supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO2) power cycles, which will help advance next-generation power systems, such as the NETL-supported Supercritical Transformational Electric Power (STEP) pilot plant, that could help achieve a decarbonized energy future.

An NETL researcher who leads a multi-national laboratory effort to determine the viability, safety, and reliability of storing hydrogen in subsurface environments recently told an international audience of National Academy Committee on Earth Sciences that hydrogen’s potential as a flexible fuel for many end users depends upon a reliable system of subsurface storage facilities.

Ashraf Abedin, Ph.D., a research scientist with Leidos who works with NETL’s Reaction Engineering Team, will represent the Laboratory at the Department of Energy (DOE) SLAM Competition on Capitol Hill, Nov. 15, 2023. SLAM is a competition among 17 national labs that highlights DOE research programs through compelling three-minute talks by competitors from each lab.

He is the man to know at NETL’s research campus in Albany, Oregon. As lead facilities and project engineer at NETL-Albany, Lee Jensen keeps his finger on the pulse of small and large construction activities and other improvements planned at the U.S. Department of Energy research site. “He is the main point of contact for everything Albany,” said Larry Kincell, Jensen’s supervisor. “He’s very much on top of everything happening.” 

On a recent summer morning, more than 30 uniformed and tactical police officers arrived at the NETL research campus near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to participate in drill that simulated a workplace shooting.

An NETL researcher gathered invaluable knowledge and experience by participating in the annual Research Experience in Carbon Sequestration (RECS) program — a carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) education program designed to help graduate students and early career professionals expand their knowledge and grow a collaborative network.

NETL personnel played key roles in Electric Power Transformation: 2023 MEGA Symposium — a national event focused on the transition of the energy generation industry to cleaner and climate resilient electric power that is cost-effective and reliable.

Members of the current class of Leadership West Virginia recently visited NETL-Morgantown and toured some of the Lab’s most impactful equipment and technologies that are making a sustainable energy future a reality.

An innovative sensor technology, developed by NETL and its partners at the University of Pittsburgh and the Pittsburgh-based company Sensible Photonics Inc. that can protect the Nation’s energy infrastructure, help save lives, and save the economy billions of dollars by preventing electric service downtime has scored a 2023 R&D 100 award in the topic area of IT/Electrical.