Expected to be ready in 2023, Kestrel is likely to be more than five times faster than NREL’s existing supercomputer Eagle
HPE to build Kestrel supercomputer for NREL. (Credit: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP)
The US Department of Energy (DOE)’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has selected Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) for building a new supercomputer called Kestrel to expedite the discovery of renewable power.
According to HPE, the new supercomputer will help NREL in its ongoing research and development (R&D) aimed at transforming energy from geothermal, wind, solar, water, and fuels.
Besides, the new machine will support energy initiatives centred around security, resilience, systems integration, storage, community transitions, energy justice, as well as mobility and transportation, advanced manufacturing, and buildings.
Kestrel will be built by HPE using the HPE Cray EX supercomputer, which is a high-performance computing (HPC) platform.
The HPE Cray EX supercomputer is designed to offer end-to-end HPC solutions to scale performance and more efficiently harness insights with the help of advanced modelling, artificial intelligence (AI), simulation, and analytics capabilities.
HPE HPC vice president and general manager Bill Mannel said: “HPE has a long-standing collaboration with the NREL where we have developed joint high-performance computing and AI solutions to innovate new approaches that reduce energy consumption and lower operating costs.
“We look forward to continuing our relationship with NREL and are honoured to have been selected to deliver an advanced supercomputer with Kestrel that will significantly augment the laboratory’s efforts in making breakthrough discoveries of new, affordable energy sources to prepare for a sustainable future.”
Expected to be completed in 2023, Kestrel is likely to be more than five times faster than the Eagle supercomputer being used by NREL. Eagle was also developed by HPE.
The company said that the new supercomputer will have around 44 petaflops of peak performance. It will be housed in NREL’s Energy Systems Integration Facility (ESIF) data centre located in Golden, Colorado.
Kestrel will be the dedicated HPC system for DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE). It is expected to have a key role in computing across the research portfolio, taking forward research in computational materials, continuum mechanics, as well as simulation at a large scale and planning for energy systems in the future.
NREL advanced computing lab programme manager Kris Munch said: “NREL is excited to officially announce the procurement of our new supercomputer.
“Kestrel will help EERE researchers and industry partners tackle today’s toughest energy challenges and bring the United States one step closer to a clean energy future.”
Last month, HPE revealed that it is building a new supercomputer for the United Weather Centres – West (UWC-West) with an ambition to improve weather predictions for Denmark, Iceland, Ireland, and The Netherlands.