OE Energy Storage Leaders Eric Hsieh and Mohamed (Mo) Kamaludeen stand before the Grid Storage Launchpad with PNNL representatives.
The Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Electricity (OE) is pioneering innovations to advance a 21st-century electric grid. A key component of that is the development, deployment, and utilization of bi-directional electric energy storage. To that end, OE announced several developments including new funding opportunities for energy storage innovations and the upcoming dedication of a game-changing new energy storage research and testing facility. OE made these announcements at its 4th Annual Energy Storage Grand Challenge Summit, bringing together stakeholders who will shape the future of the electricity infrastructure through next-generation energy storage solutions.
Maintaining a robust electric grid is crucial as the nation experiences rapid transformation ranging from new electricity generation resources to increasing demand to threats to infrastructure security and reliability on the grid. The recent announcements will help address these areas.
Critical Facility Energy Resilience (CiFER) Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA):
This FOA supports large-scale demonstration and deployment of storage technologies that will provide resiliency to critical facilities and infrastructure. Projects will show the ability of energy storage technologies to provide dependable supply of energy as backup generation during a grid outage or other emergency event. This FOA is in coordination with DOE’s Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED)’s Notice of Intent to fund $100 million for Long-Duration Energy Storage Pilot projects, focusing on non-lithium technologies, 10+ hour discharge energy systems, and stationary storage applications. These opportunities complement DOE’s Industrial Efficiency and Decarbonization Office (IEDO), which plans to announce a prize to accelerate market adoption for cost-effective thermal energy storage concepts and technologies for industrial applications and data centers. Learn more here.
Aligning Manufacturability and Pre-production Design (AMPD) for Storage Technologies Notice of Intent (NOI):
OE has announced an NOI for $8 million in funding for up to four projects to address manufacturability challenges that energy storage technology developers face when making design decisions that impact production of the technology, including scaling. The goal is to help improve manufacturability through design improvements, generally resulting in reduced overall technology production costs and increased diversity of technology options. Identifying and implementing design innovations will align pre-production storage system design to set the stage for manufacturing scale up and improved production of cost-effective, safe, and reliable short-, medium-, and long-duration storage technologies.
New Report Showcases Innovation to Advance Long Duration Energy Storage (LDES):
OE today released its new report “Achieving the Promise of Low Cost LDES.” This report is one example of OE’s pioneering RD&D work to advance the next generation of energy storage technologies. OE partnered with energy storage industry members, national laboratories, and higher education institutions to analyze emergent energy storage technologies. Read the full report here.
Acceleration Vouchers for Innovators, Communities, and ESGC Summit Participants
Attendees at the Energy Storage Grand Challenge Summit will have an opportunity to learn about and apply for a voucher to access storage modeling and analytical capabilities at DOE national labs. Separately, communities and innovators throughout the U.S. have until August 28 to apply for a total of $1M in vouchers to access analytical and capacity-building assistance from DOE labs and other experts.
Grid Storage Launchpad (GSL) Dedication
This month, OE will open and dedicate its new Grid Storage Launchpad, a state-of-the-art $75 million facility hosted at DOE’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). The GSL is an energy storage research and testing facility that will accelerate development of next-generation grid energy storage technologies that are safer, more cost effective, and more durable. The GSL dedication and opening event will be August 12-13 at PNNL.
Tagged with Department of Electricity, DOE