The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations on Sept. 5 opened applications for up to $100 million in funding to support pilot-scale energy storage demonstration projects.
The funding will focus on non-lithium technologies, long-duration (10+ hour discharge) systems, and stationary storage applications.
Eligible applicants include state energy offices, tribes, tribal organizations, institutes of higher education, electric utilities (including electric cooperatives, tribal utilities, municipally owned electric utilities, and investor-owned utilities), and private energy storage companies.
The funding opportunity is part of the Long-Duration Energy Storage Pilot Program, which aims to advance the maturity of a variety of non-lithium LDES technologies towards commercial viability and utility-scale demonstrations.
For this opportunity, OCED plans to fund 5-15 projects, offering $5-20 million each with a 50% minimum non-federal cost share per project.
The funding is for electrochemical, thermal, and mechanical storage technologies, and will support technology maturation activities including design for manufacturability, pilot system development, fabrication and installation, operational testing and validation, and commercial scale system design and supply chain maturation.
This funding opportunity requires applicants to have a team that includes at least one technology provider, with priority given to applications that include utility, developer, and/or end use members, a plan to demonstrate the solution in an operational environment, and a plan to build investor confidence to secure support for follow-on projects.
Read the Notice of Funding Opportunity here.
Concept papers are due by October 16, 2024, and full applications are due by February 13, 2025.
