FORT COLLINS - Colorado State University will receive a seat on the board of the firm managing the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden.

CSU, the Colorado School of Mines, the University of Colorado, Stanford University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology will all have a spot on the board of the Alliance for Sustainable Energy LLC. The U.S Department of Energy awarded a five-year, $1.1 billion management and operating contract to the Alliance, which is owned by the Midwest Research Institute and national lab management nonprofit Battelle.

"Colorado State University's well-recognized energy and environmental research will aid in the development of actionable energy policies at the national level," said CSU President Larry Penley in a prepared statement. "This appointment is largely thanks to the hard work of the Colorado Renewable Energy Collaboratory, which has demonstrated the value of cooperation among the state's research universities with the nation's top federal energy laboratory."

The Collaboratory was launched in February 2007 with a goal of combining the resources and research capabilities of CSU, CU, the School of Mines and NREL to promote Colorado as a magnet for renewable energy development.