About National Institute for Renewable Energy
The National Institute for Renewable Energy (Institute) is a non-profit public-private partnership formed in 2009 by the Innovate Texas Foundation in collaboration with the Texas Tech University System.
Our Focus
- Research and development
- Alliance with solar and other green energy
- Liaison between government, universities and private sector
Our Structure
Institute developed an innovative organizational structure model for its non-profit public-private partnership, which includes partnering with world-class research centers. One of NIRE's partner entities is the National Wind Research Center (NWRC), an independent non-profit under the Texas Tech University umbrella.
Our Background
Wind is the dominant renewable energy source and is projected by DOE (Department of Energy) to grow to 20 percent of the nation‘s energy utilization by 2030. Texas has capacity to grow its current wind generation capability by 17 times and is aligning with other key R&D leaders throughout the U.S. to address and resolve key cost and engineering issues facing the industry. TTU has been a leader in wind research for 40 years and offers the only PhD program in wind science and engineering in the U.S.