DOE seeks $ 508 million contribution to long-term energy initiative – pv magazine USA

May 13, 2022Anne Fisher

The Department of Energy (DOE) has published an input request (RFI) to get feedback from a wide range of stakeholders on the Ministry of Energy’s implementation strategy and requirements for participation in its long-term energy storage initiative.

Prolonged energy storage can increase local control of the power system, increase community resilience, minimize power outages, and help achieve the U.S. goal of 100% clean electricity by 2035.

“The ability to move cheaper and cleaner electricity there, and when it is most needed, is the foundation of a reliable energy grid and is crucial to achieving President Biden’s environmental energy goals,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Grenholm. “The Long-Term Energy for All and Everywhere initiative uses the expertise of the Department, national laboratories and industry to create next-generation energy storage – making solar energy available when the sun is not shining and supporting wind energy when there is no wind.”

A shorter storage facility is currently being installed to support renewable energy production, and electrification is being connected to the grid in record numbers. With investments from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act, more renewable energy sources will be deployed, and electrification of buildings and vehicles will continue to grow. Cheaper and more efficient systems, which can store energy for more than 10 hours at a time, support low-cost, reliable, carbon-free electrical networks.

This initiative, run by the new Office of Clean Energy Demonstratons, will invest about $ 505 million over four years in testing long-term energy storage technologies and empower customers and communities to more effectively integrate network drives.

DOE implements three energy saving demonstration programs:

• Demonstration: The demo program will prepare a cohort of advanced technologies to demonstrate utilities that might otherwise not proceed, given the potential risks of investing in technology, through a lab, beyond measurement, or on-campus demonstration. In particular, these field demonstrations are designed on a scale of 100 kilowatts (kW) or less and have already been proven on a laboratory scale.
• Verification: Demo projects will allow the use of first-of-its-kind utilities-based technologies by mitigating risks during the final technical verification before a broader deployment, the steepest part of the commercialization curve. Large long-term storage demonstrations in this program should be able to provide at least 10 hours of rated power and undergo sufficient third-party testing / verification to justify the path to reach the target level of equalized storage cost of $ 0.05 / kWh.
• Piloting: The pilot grant program will address institutional barriers to technology adoption in the marketplace. Such barriers are easier to eliminate when the technology is installed, operated, eliminated risks and proven to benefit users, communities or the energy system. Few organizations have the financial ability to invest in such a pilot. Pilot grants alleviate this barrier by allowing greater investment in storage by relevant actors, which include government energy agencies, tribal nations, higher education, utilities, and energy storage companies.

The U.S. Department of Defense is also working with the U.S. Department of Defense for long-term storage demonstrations at government facilities.

Prolonged storage of shots

DOE Prolonged storage of shots, launched in July 2021, has set a goal of achieving equalized energy storage costs of $ 0.05 / kWh, a 90% reduction by 2030 compared to base costs in 2020. Achieving this cost goal will make affordable dispatching clean energy through long-term energy storage. the most cost-effective choice for electricity consumers. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to consider a wide range of energy storage technologies, including electrochemical, mechanical, thermal, flexible generation, flexible buildings and power electronics, much more than traditional lithium-ion batteries.

In March, the Ministry of Health Accumulating energy for the social justice initiative selected 14 communities to receive technical assistance for the use of energy storage as a means of increasing sustainability and long-term accessibility. According to the Justice40 initiative, this initiative supports the goal of 40% of the benefits of investing in climate change coming to disadvantaged communities.

The RFI seeks public input to help inform the Ministry of Economy about the implementation of the Infrastructure and Jobs Investment Act, also commonly known as the Bipartite Infrastructure Act (BIL). RFI is looking for a contribution on:

• BIL 41001 Energy Storage Programs – Specific Requirements and Implementation Strategy
• BIL 41001 Energy storage programs are cross-cutting themes
• Employment: job creation in trade unions and effective workforce development • Justice, Environment and Energy (EEEJ) priorities
• Additional input collected from this RFI will be used by the Department of Health for planning purposes, which may include the development of future funding opportunity announcements (FOAs) related to 41001 energy storage programs.

Comments must be received by 5:00 PM EDT on June 16, 2022 and may be sent by mail EnergyStorage41001RFI@ee.doe.gov. A public webinarwill be conducted to provide additional information.