114 people laid off from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory

Updated on May 5, 2025, at 5:20 p.m.

At least 114 people were laid off at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory today, according to an email reviewed by CPR News. 

The cuts affected staffers in both the research and operations sides of the lab. Employees impacted included some working out of NREL headquarters in Golden, as well as remote workers based elsewhere.

The email, sent by the “NREL Leadership team,”  implied the cuts would help the lab – which is part of the U.S. Department of Energy – focus on its longer-term mission and help the lab shift its resources to “critical priorities.” 

In a separate statement to CPR News, officials said “NREL continues to navigate a complex financial and operational landscape shaped by the issuance of stop work orders from federal agencies, new federal directives, and budgetary shifts.” 

The NREL cuts come as the Trump administration aims to slash the Department of Energy’s budget by nearly $20 billion, with deep cuts to the office that funds NREL’s operations. Those cuts are not final and must be approved in a budget passed by Congress. 

It’s unclear whether there will be successive cuts at the lab, which is the country’s premier laboratory for renewable energy research and receives most of its funding from the federal government. In recent months, the entire Department of Energy has seen a staff exodus as thousands of employees have accepted deferred resignation offers.

By Monday evening, lawmakers were reacting to the announcement.

“From NOAA to NIST and now NREL, this administration’s relentless attacks on the federal workforce continue to have disastrous impacts on our state’s hardworking scientists and researchers,” Democratic Rep. Joe Neguse told CPR News. “I’ll continue to stand firmly against the senseless, short-sighted dismantling of these critical agencies and push back against efforts being muscled through Congress that would further gut the support these institutions rely on.”

“This is a direct result of the instability and dysfunction of the Trump administration and Coloradans are paying the price,” Democratic Rep. Brittany Pettersen said. “This is going to have cascading effects on our community and local economy – NREL provides critical research every day and supports clean and affordable energy. My office stands ready to support the employees affected and so many other federal workers whose livelihoods have been threatened by Trump’s reckless layoffs.”

CPR News reached out to GOP Rep. Jeff Hurd, who serves on the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee, which oversees NREL, but did not immediately hear back.

Many NREL employees are not technically employed by the federal government and are instead paid by a third-party group, known as the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, which oversees the lab. 

The lab began in the late ‘70s as the Solar Energy Research Institute, established in part to deal with the aftermath of the 1970s oil crisis. In 1991, President George H.W. Bush elevated the facility to a national laboratory. 

Today, the lab partners with hundreds of companies to troubleshoot, and sometimes solve, thorny technical problems. The lab has endured cycles of funding and support — the Reagan administration dramatically cut the institute’s funding, while the second Bush administration fired, and then rehired, over two dozen employees.

CPR’s Caitlyn Kim and Haylee May contributed to this story. 

This is a developing story.