NREL Selects Design-Build Contractor for Newest Laboratory

The U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory has chosen JE Dunn Construction with its design partner SmithGroup to design and build a new research facility on the east side of its South Table Mountain Campus in Golden, Colorado.

The 127,000-square-foot Energy Materials and Processing at Scale laboratory will be a signature facility that will enable collaboration with industry partners, universities and other DOE laboratories to accelerate laboratory-scale innovations in energy materials to market-ready products and processes.

JE Dunn and SmithGroup previously partnered with NREL 10 years ago to complete the Energy Systems Integration Facility, a 180,000-square-foot research building also on NREL’s South Table Mountain Campus directly adjacent to the future site of EMAPS.

EMAPS will create a direct path from bench-scale materials and process innovations to pilot-scale integration and production. The laboratory design will facilitate a multidisciplinary approach to materials R&D by providing opportunities for engineers, scientists and industry partners to work together in shared laboratory facilities to greatly accelerate process scale-up and market adoption of the advanced energy materials needed for a clean energy transition. It will serve to maximize collaboration, facilitate cross-functional innovation and accelerate discoveries to market-relevant technology solutions.

The building’s research capabilities and applications will enable materials and process innovations in energy storage, advanced manufacturing, grid modernization and net-zero chemicals and fuels for transportation and industrial decarbonization. The facility will also 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.

The total budget for the EMAPS project is $224 million. JE Dunn was also selected for a new contracting agreement known as the Cooperative Construction Contracting Approach. The CCCA is an overarching contract vehicle that will enable NREL to expedite future construction contracting processes and provide greater contracting efficiency in the coming years on large construction projects. EMAPS will be the first building to be designed and constructed under the CCCA agreement.

EMAPS is intended to achieve a minimum of LEED Gold certification with a sustainable, high-performance design. The incorporation of advanced sustainability strategies and innovative energy-efficiency approaches are critical project factors.

Building design is underway with a vision to have modern, open and flexible spaces that accommodate rapid experiment configuration and collaboration between researchers. The space will be designed with concepts that facilitate reconfigurability and flexibility in research directions as new insights and needs arise.

The project is anticipated to break ground in late 2024.