On January 15, Eaton, a power management company dedicated to improving the quality of life and the environment through the use of power management technologies and services, entered into a cooperative agreement with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The partnership, designed to expedite research and commercialization of new energy-related technologies, includes co-locating approximately 15 members of Eaton's Corporate Research and Technology team at NREL's Energy Systems Integration Facility (ESIF) in Golden, Colorado.

"NREL's industry partnerships are integral to the advanced energy research revolutionizing the global energy landscape," said NREL Director Martin Keller. "This on-site, direct collaboration allows our fully-integrated teams to expand knowledge related to grid integration and power management."

For more than a decade, Eaton and NREL have collaborated on a comprehensive portfolio of joint programs that includes optimizing energy systems for microgrids, buildings and communities, and developing a predictive battery management system for hybrid electric vehicles. This new agreement augments this relationship by enabling both organizations to collaborate closely on the evolving state of energy solutions such as microgrids, energy storage systems and grid intelligence.