Additive Manufacturing Poised to Remake Renewable Energy

There was once a time when additive manufacturing (AM) was something of a curiosity. Today, it is a firmly established technology in medical devices, tooling, and other industries. AM is now starting to find applications in new fields, most intriguingly in energy.

For instance, small hydro, geothermal, and wind power systems have all seen significant opportunities to deploy components quickly and at lower cost. According to Brian Post, senior researcher in the DOE’s Advanced Manufacturing Division at Oak Ridge National Lab (ORNL), they do “a lot of manufacturing for renewable energy research, especially in the area of additive manufacturing which has been a core focus for us over the last 10 years.”

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