National Renewable Energy Lab gets extra $107 million

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory will get $107 million more in the current budget year, Sen. Ken Salazar said Friday.

The extra money amounts to an increase of more than 50 percent in the lab's budget, said Cody Wertz, a spokesman for Salazar. Before the boost, the budget was about $200 million, but the exact figure wasn't immediately available.

The Energy Department will give the lab $20 million to expand its Integrated Biorefinery Research Facility, $17 million to equip its science and technology facility and $63 million to design and build a research support facility.

An additional $7 million will go for operational costs.

An NREL spokeswoman did not immediately return a call.

The biorefinery project is designed to develop biofuels and biorefining techniques, and to help transfer them to the market sooner, Wertz said. An announcement on specifics of the project was planned Monday, with Salazar, Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter, NREL officials and university researchers in attendance.

The lab just west of Denver does the nation's primary research on renewable energy and energy efficiency.

Salazar and Reps. Diana DeGette and Mark Udall, all Colorado Democrats, had pressed the department to increase the lab's funding this year.

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