NREL Researcher Craig Turchi Brings Small Business Experience to Big Concentrating Solar Projects

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Final Up to date on: eighth Could 2025, 10:02 am

Turchi’s Years at a Tech Startup Gave Him a Savvy Outlook on Concentrating Photo voltaic Energy (CSP) Programs Evaluation and Innovation

Honesty is one of the best coverage, and from his early days on the Nationwide Renewable Power Laboratory (NREL), Craig Turchi embraced that coverage in his work as a chemical engineer in concentrating solar energy (CSP).

The truth is, contemporary out of his Ph.D. program and dealing at his first job, he was not afraid to inform the U.S. Division of Power the reality a few photo voltaic detoxing reactor his staff was engaged on: Based mostly on the response charges he had modeled, it was not going to work—no less than, not as at present deliberate.

It was his first CSP undertaking on the laboratory within the early Nineteen Nineties, when NREL was referred to as the Photo voltaic Power Analysis Institute (SERI). The reactors used daylight concentrated from parabolic mirrors into fluid-filled tubes to interrupt down contaminants in water, utilizing titanium dioxide as a catalyst. Concentrating the daylight sped up response charges, however for this chemistry, it additionally lowered the response effectivity. Turchi knew the effectivity outcomes meant the associated fee wouldn’t add up. The staff pivoted.

“We followed the science,” he mentioned. “You’re initially pursuing things based on hope in many cases, but when the data come in, you have to follow the science.”

This primary analysis consequence at SERI earned him a fame as a straight shooter that stayed with him for 35 years as he constructed a profession in CSP and thermal power science.

“That scientific integrity is something everyone looks up to,” mentioned Guangdong Zhu, CSP subprogram lead at NREL and Thermal and Hybrid Power Programs group supervisor. “As researchers, we should focus on simply assessing the results based on scientific justification. For Craig, this comes naturally. His evaluation is never going to be influenced by any other factors.”

Turchi now serves because the Thermal Power Science and Applied sciences group supervisor in NREL’s Power Conversion and Storage Programs (ECaSS) Heart, and he led NREL’s CSP subprogram from 2022 till 2024, when he handed the baton to Zhu. He additionally serves because the partnership director for the Heliostat Consortium, a U.S. Division of Power consortium led by NREL and Sandia Nationwide Laboratories in partnership with the Australian Photo voltaic Thermal Analysis Institute.

His management extends past his work on the laboratory. An avid outdoorsman, Turchi is thought round NREL for main paddling journeys on Colorado’s and Utah’s scenic rivers. He and his spouse, Jeannette, together with their daughter additionally assist run a meals financial institution at their church by means of Meals Financial institution of the Rockies, the place they serve 150–200 individuals as soon as a month.

“I find that very fulfilling, and it’s a nice counterpoint to writing reports at a computer to go out and physically do something and see the immediate benefit happening in your community,” he mentioned. “I think it’s very important to give back.”

Bringing Small Enterprise Expertise to Programs Evaluation Analysis

Turchi began working at SERI in 1990 however left in 1996 for a place with a startup that didn’t absolutely launch. He then joined a small firm referred to as ADA Applied sciences, the place he served as a principal investigator and program chief for 10 years.

At ADA, Turchi obtained his first patents. He was notably happy with a product he created to separate amalgam for dental workplaces. On the time, when dentists positioned or eliminated silver fillings, that are nominally 50% mercury, tiny bits of the filling would get suctioned out and find yourself in metropolis sewer techniques—the place the mercury may ultimately be launched. His system trapped the amalgam bits on the dental workplace for recycling, conserving mercury from accumulating to dangerous ranges in bays and estuaries.

Upon his return to NREL in 2008, he discovered that his time within the startup world translated effectively on the laboratory. He had honed his proposal-writing abilities when working at ADA. He additionally introduced new experiences when he returned, together with an eye fixed for innovation and a eager enterprise sensibility. That outlook, paired along with his truth-seeking ethos as an engineer, helped him construct a strong analysis program in CSP techniques evaluation. This system allowed NREL to fill a distinct segment that had been lacking within the business.

“NREL started doing a lot of systems analysis,” mentioned Mark Mehos, an emeritus NREL researcher who employed Turchi again to NREL in 2008. “And the U.S. Department of Energy really appreciated the robustness of Craig’s analysis. He was very thorough, he was very honest, and he didn’t hold back. If the analysis seemed to show that this was the right path or the wrong path, Craig didn’t have any qualms about sharing that.”

CSP is a versatile know-how. It may be used to generate electrical energy, create thermal power for long-duration power storage, or create thermal power for a spread of commercial processes that require warmth, corresponding to these utilized in meals processing or desalination. That flexibility means there are quite a lot of elements to contemplate when analyzing prices, and making an sincere evaluation is essential. As early-career researchers joined Turchi’s staff, they realized from his rigorous method to analysis and evaluation.

“He’s the real CSP guru—Craig keeps things grounded with his practical mindset,” mentioned Judith Vidal, Constructing Thermal Power Science group supervisor. Vidal bought her begin at NREL as a postdoc for Turchi in CSP. “His advice stuck with me: Always approach things with economic sensibility.”

Vidal’s analysis emphasis is now not in CSP, however these classes nonetheless apply.

“Since many of our projects are applied research, you always have to keep cost-effectiveness in mind,” she mentioned. “But I also learned from him that sometimes, simply saying ‘This is too expensive’ pushes you to think differently in the lab—to optimize, to explore new directions. It challenges you. This is how Craig shaped me as a young researcher.”

Making use of a New Energy Cycle to CSP

Along with his principal physique of labor in techniques evaluation and associated matters, Turchi was in search of brand-new areas of analysis when he returned to NREL. An influence cycle that was turning into widespread in nuclear power circles, however not photo voltaic, caught his consideration: the supercritical carbon dioxide (CO₂) energy cycle.

“There was a renaissance in this power cycle development after a study came out that showed it could be valuable at nuclear power plants,” Turchi mentioned. “It’s a type of power cycle development that had been looked at decades ago, and it kind of got stuck on a back shelf. No one really looked at it.”

Turchi noticed potential for supercritical CO₂ energy cycles to exchange the steam generators in conventional CSP techniques, probably unlocking higher efficiencies.

This preliminary curiosity about supercritical CO₂ for CSP has grown into a significant path ahead for the CSP business—Era 3 CSP. In Gen 3 CSP, arrays of mirrors referred to as heliostats focus daylight onto a central receiver to gather and retailer warmth at excessive temperature (over 700°C). This warmth is transferred to supercritical CO₂ to generate energy in a closed-loop Brayton cycle. Sandia Nationwide Laboratories now has a Gen 3 Particle Pilot Plant at its Nationwide Photo voltaic Thermal Check Facility to review supercritical CO₂ because the working fluid in a plant with particle power storage.

Turchi received two NREL awards for his work on the supercritical CO₂ energy cycle for CSP. However these days, he’s extra targeted on elevating different researchers’ work.

“As you progress in your career, you either remain an expert in some area, or in my experience, you broaden out into what the interesting areas are in your field, and you help others develop,” Turchi mentioned. “I think as a group manager, that’s your role. It’s very rewarding when you see those people succeed.”

Be taught extra about NREL’s concentrating solar energy analysis.

By Jenn Fields. Initially revealed on NREL.gov.