NSWEP was established in 2003 by NREL, the Nevada State Office of Energy and the Nevada Universities to promote renewable energy and building science research and development in Nevada. Prior to joining Aspen the director of the Integrated Energy Policy and Analysis department served as the founding Chair of the Partnership while he was Director of the Office of Energy. NSWEP has spawned research on zero energy homes, solar demonstration projects with advanced trough technologies, the Amonix Power Generation System and a Stirling Engine demonstration project, a tall tower wind assessment and mapping project, and several geothermal resource optimization projects.