48 Years Ago
The March 25, 1977 Golden Transcript announced the gladsome tidings that Golden had been chosen as the site for a new federal facility.
Proud, ecstatic, excited–those are the reactions of local officials to the announcement that a national Solar Energy Research Institute…. The Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA) announced Thursday that the Golden site was picked unanimously from a field of 19 candidates.
SERI was established under the Jimmy Carter administration. In 1991, President George H.W. Bush elevated its status, making it the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
The organization started with a skeletal staff of 75, but the article quoted a local business leader as saying that they predicted 500 employees once the site was built out.
According to NREL’s website, they now have 3,675 “employees, postdoctoral researchers, interns, visiting professionals, and subcontractors.”
NREL is expanding their campus to create space for energy-related industries. This includes the former minimum security prison along South Golden Road.
