Now former NREL Director Martin Keller (left), listens as Energy Secretary Chris Wright speaks to the press, April 2025.RJ Sangosti/MediaNews Group/Denver Post via Getty

This story was originally published by Inside Climate News and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.

The Trump administration has renamed the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, now calling it the National Laboratory of the Rockies, marking an identity shift for the Colorado institution that has been a global leader in wind, solar, and other renewable energy research.

“The new name reflects the Trump administration’s broader vision for the lab’s applied energy research, which historically emphasized alternative and renewable sources of generation, and honors the natural splendor of the lab’s surroundings in Golden, Colorado,” said Jud Virden, laboratory director, in a statement.

He did not specify what this “broader vision” would mean for the lab’s programs or its staff of about 4,000.

The renaming is the latest in a series of actions by the Trump administration to deemphasize or cut the parts of the federal government that support renewable energy, while also expanding federal support for fossil fuels.

Asked for details, the Department of Energy said in an email that the renaming  “reflects the Department’s renewed focus on ‘energy addition,’ rather than the prioritization of specific energy........

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