Energy Storage Demonstration and Validation

Background
The Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), on behalf of the Office of Electricity (OE), is releasing a funding opportunity announcement (FOA) to solicit applications for innovative long duration energy storage system (ESS) demonstration projects that advance a technology towards commercialization and validate its cost and performance in the field to the energy stakeholder community. These demonstrations will contribute data to the National Lab led Rapid Operational Validation Initiative (ROVI) in order to unlock insights about the performance of these systems that will accelerate the testing and validation process for emerging technologies.

The FOA will contain three areas of interest based on eligible technology: 1. Lithium Batteries 2. Flow Batteries 3. Other Innovative Technologies, that will each be eligible for up to $5 million in federal funding available with 50% cost share provided by the applicant organization(s). These projects will support DOE priorities such as the Long Duration Storage Shot and Energy Storage Grand Challenge (ESGC) and address challenges identified in DOE’s Long Duration Energy Storage (LDES) Pathways to Commercial Liftoff report, Electricity Advisory Committee’s (EAC) 2022 Biennial Energy Storage Review, and the Federal Consortium for Advanced Batteries (FCAB) blueprint for lithium batteries.

Grant Details
The objective of this FOA is to fund demonstrations of 3 different energy storage technologies that operate at a meaningful scale in the field and consist of strong partners that will advance innovative technologies to wider commercialization opportunities and serve impactful use cases for end users. Performance data will be collected from these demonstrations to contribute to the ROVI and aid in the development of tools that can predict performance and lifetime of storage technologies at an accelerated pace and commercially confident level.

The technologies demonstrated will also support creating a robust manufacturing and supply chain ecosystem in the U.S. by selected technologies that are U.S. controlled, U.S. made, and North American sourced and supplied.

Eligibility Requirements
Applicants must register with SAM at https://www.sam.gov/ prior to submitting an application in response to this FOA. The applicant must maintain an active SAM registration with current information at all times during which it has an active Federal award or application under consideration.

Period of Performance
Submission Deadline for Concept Papers: 7/25/2023; Submission Deadline for Full Applications: 9/15/2023; Expected Date for Award: Q2 2024

Grant Value
$5,000,000 with 50% cost share provided by the applicant organization(s)