The Department of Energy 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: Lithium Batteries, Flow Batteries, and 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.

The objective of this FOA is to fund demonstrations of three 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. This FOA will lead to demonstration of fully operational systems that provide tangible economic, societal, or environmental benefits.

The three areas of interest include:

• Area of Interest 1 – Lithium Battery Energy Storage System Demonstration. The technology used for this demonstration must be considered a Lithium Ion or Lithium Metal Battery, such as the technologies described in the U.S DOE Energy Storage Handbook. Systems must be a bi-directional electricity-in electricity out system with quality performance metrics justified by the applicant based on their intended storage application.
• Area of Interest 2 – Flow Battery Energy Storage System Demonstration. The technology used for this demonstration must be considered a Redox Flow Battery, such as the technologies described in the U.S DOE Energy Storage Handbook. Systems must be a bi-directional electricity-in electricity out system with quality performance metrics justified by the applicant based on their intended storage application.
• Area of Interest 3 – Innovative Technology Energy Storage System Demonstration. Demonstration of other bi-directional electricity-in electricity out system with quality performance metrics justified by the applicant based on their intended storage application. Storage technology may not be a lithium battery or flow battery as described in the other two areas of interest.