The Australian National University (ANU) will strengthen its clean energy research collaboration with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in the United States under a new memorandum of understanding.

The agreement between the ANU Energy Change Institute and NREL, which is part of the US Department of Energy, recognises the growth in shared energy research between the two organisations and will lead to new knowledge and greater sharing of results on clean energy.

Director of the ANU Energy Change Institute, Professor Ken Baldwin, said ANU and NREL have worked together over several years on solar photovoltaics technology for electricity generation.

"This MOU brings together two renewable energy research powerhouses on two continents, and formalises our long-standing collaborative links," Professor Baldwin said.

"As our research interests continue to develop, the overlap of core activity in solar cells, hydrogen technologies, smart grids, solar thermal and other renewable grid technologies has created a strong foundation on which to grow the relationship between the ANU Energy Change Institute and NREL."

"This has been established through a series of productive visits by the Directors of the two organisations, and I am delighted that NREL Director Dr Martin Keller has seized the initiative and brought this agreement with the ECI to fruition."

The MOU was signed in Washington DC and was witnessed by ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr.

Dr Keller visited ANU in 2017 and gave a public lecture on the future of renewable energy in the US.

An interview between Dr Keller and Professor Baldwin is at: http://energy.anu.edu.au/research/highlights/future-low-carbon-energy-united-states.

NREL is a national laboratory managed and operated by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC for the US Department of Energy.