NREL’s Mark Mehos and Craig Turchi win the 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award – SolarPACES

Report on the SolarPACES 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award and its Alignment with Sustainable Development Goals

This report details the recognition of Mr. Mark Mehos and Mr. Craig Turchi of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) with the SolarPACES 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award. The award acknowledges their transformative leadership in advancing Concentrating Solar Power (CSP), a critical technology for achieving multiple Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Mark Mehos: Contributions to Global Sustainability Goals

Mr. Mehos’s work has directly advanced the global sustainability agenda, particularly in the areas of clean energy, climate action, and international cooperation.

• SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy) & SDG 13 (Climate Action): He pioneered the integration of thermal energy storage with CSP systems. This innovation is crucial for providing reliable, 24/7 clean energy, directly supporting the transition away from fossil fuels and mitigating climate change.
• SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure): His landmark analyses quantified the economic and operational value of CSP with storage, especially in grids with high renewable penetration. This provides a clear business case for investing in resilient, sustainable energy infrastructure.
• SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals): Mr. Mehos fostered international collaboration to establish globally recognized best practices and modeling standards, strengthening partnerships to accelerate the adoption of clean energy technologies.

Craig Turchi: Advancements in Sustainable Energy Technology and Innovation

Mr. Turchi’s contributions focus on the technological innovation required to make clean energy more efficient and economically viable, aligning with key SDG targets.

• SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure): He led multi-disciplinary research that produced major innovations in heat transfer and hybrid systems. His work integrating advanced supercritical CO₂ cycles into industry analysis tools like NREL’s System Advisor Model (SAM) represents a significant leap in sustainable industrial technology.
• SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy): By developing and disseminating advanced techno-economic modeling tools, he has enabled the global energy sector to better design and deploy cost-effective CSP projects, making clean energy more affordable.
• SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals): Through technical mentorship and strategic vision, Mr. Turchi has strengthened both U.S. and global CSP initiatives, building capacity and fostering partnerships essential for achieving the global goals.

Collective Impact on Sustainable Development

The combined efforts of Mr. Mehos and Mr. Turchi have provided a critical foundation for the global deployment of CSP technology. Their leadership has directly informed policy and investment strategies worldwide, accelerating progress on the following primary Sustainable Development Goals:

1. SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy – By enhancing the reliability, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness of solar thermal power.
2. SDG 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure – By developing new technologies, analytical tools, and industry standards for sustainable energy infrastructure.
3. SDG 13: Climate Action – By advancing a key utility-scale renewable energy technology essential for decarbonizing the power sector.
4. SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals – By leading international collaborations and sharing knowledge to build global capacity for sustainable development.

SDGs Addressed in the Article

The article, which focuses on advancements in Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) technology, directly and indirectly addresses several Sustainable Development Goals. The core themes of renewable energy innovation, international collaboration, and capacity building connect to the following SDGs:

• SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy: The entire article is centered on advancing CSP, a form of clean and renewable energy. The work of Mehos and Turchi aims to make this technology more commercially viable and efficient, contributing directly to the goal of ensuring access to clean energy.
• SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure: The article highlights significant technological innovation, research, and development in the energy sector. It details the creation of advanced modeling tools, new heat transfer systems, and the establishment of industry best practices, all of which fall under the umbrella of fostering innovation and sustainable industrialization.
• SDG 13: Climate Action: By promoting a key renewable energy source like CSP, the work described in the article is fundamental to climate change mitigation. The global deployment of clean energy technologies is a primary strategy for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and taking urgent action to combat climate change.
• SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals: The article explicitly mentions the importance of collaboration. It notes that the awardees fostered “international collaboration” and that their work has strengthened “global CSP initiatives,” which aligns with the goal of building partnerships to achieve sustainable development.

Specific SDG Targets Identified

Based on the details provided in the article, several specific SDG targets can be identified:

1. SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy

   • Target 7.2: By 2030, increase substantially the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix. The article’s focus on “advancing the commercialization of concentrating solar power” and quantifying its “operational and economic value” directly supports efforts to increase the adoption and share of solar energy in power grids.
   • Target 7.a: By 2030, enhance international cooperation to facilitate access to clean energy research and technology… and promote investment in energy infrastructure and clean energy technology. The article highlights Mark Mehos’s work in “fostering international collaboration” and establishing “internationally recognized best practices,” which are clear examples of enhancing cooperation in clean energy research.

2. SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure

   • Target 9.5: Enhance scientific research, upgrade the technological capabilities of industrial sectors in all countries… encouraging innovation. The article is a testament to this target, detailing the awardees’ contributions to “multi-disciplinary CSP research,” “major innovations in heat transfer, hybrid systems, and techno-economic modeling,” and the development of “widely adopted industry analysis tools like NREL’s System Advisor Model.”

3. SDG 13: Climate Action

   • Target 13.3: Improve education, awareness-raising and human and institutional capacity on climate change mitigation. Craig Turchi’s “technical mentorship” and the establishment of “internationally recognized best practices and modeling standards” contribute to building the human and institutional capacity needed to deploy and manage renewable energy systems, which are crucial for climate mitigation. Their “influential leadership and publications” also serve to educate and inform policy.

4. SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals

   • Target 17.6: Enhance… international cooperation on and access to science, technology and innovation. The article mentions fostering “international collaboration” and strengthening “global CSP initiatives,” which directly aligns with this target of sharing scientific and technological knowledge across borders.
   • Target 17.7: Promote the development, transfer, dissemination and diffusion of environmentally sound technologies. The development and popularization of tools like the “System Advisor Model and SolTrace” represent the dissemination of technologies and knowledge that help in the planning and deployment of CSP projects globally.

Indicators for Measuring Progress

While the article does not cite official SDG indicators, it implies several metrics that can be used to measure progress towards the identified targets:

1. Implied Indicators for SDG 7

   • Rate of commercial deployment of CSP plants: Progress towards Target 7.2 can be measured by the increase in installed CSP capacity, which is a direct result of the “advancing the commercialization” efforts described.
   • Number of international collaborative projects on CSP: For Target 7.a, the success of “fostering international collaboration” can be measured by the number of joint research initiatives and partnerships formed globally.

2. Implied Indicators for SDG 9

   • Adoption rate of industry analysis tools: The article states that tools like the “System Advisor Model and SolTrace” are “widely adopted.” The number of users or projects utilizing these tools is a direct indicator of the successful dissemination of innovation (Target 9.5).
   • Number of technical publications and innovations: The “major innovations in heat transfer” and “influential… publications” mentioned are tangible outputs of scientific research that can be quantified to measure progress in enhancing research and development.

3. Implied Indicators for SDG 13

   • Number of policies influenced by research: The article notes that their publications “have informed CSP deployment strategies and policy globally.” Tracking the number of policies or strategies that cite or are based on their research is a way to measure impact on institutional capacity (Target 13.3).
   • Number of professionals mentored or trained: The “technical mentorship” provided by Craig Turchi contributes to human capacity building. The number of individuals who have benefited from this mentorship is a relevant indicator.

Summary Table of SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

Source: solarpaces.org