A longstanding federal research laboratory that supports the nation’s deployment of renewable energy has laid off more than 100 people for the second time in less than a year. The National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR) reportedly laid off 134 people this week.
An aerial view of NREL’s South Table Mountain Campus outside Golden, Colorado. Photo by Joshua Bauer, NREL.
This latest round of layoffs comes nine months later another 114 employees were removed from the laboratory in Golden, Colorado, impacting NRL’s research and operations departments, as reported by CBS News.
The research center was founded in 1974 as the Solar Energy Research Institute and later renamed the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. The Dept. of Energy, the Trump administration renamed it NLR in December, which came a month after the DOE removed or replaced several offices with decarbonization missions, including the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.
NLR has been responsible for many initiatives and research projects to support the deployment of sustainable energy in the United States. The laboratory also houses the National Center for Photovoltaics. Colorado Public Radio reported that an NRL spokesperson attributed the layoffs to “projected funding levels” and the alignment of new priorities under the current DOE.
World of solar energy has left a voicemail with NRL and is awaiting further comment.
