U.S. Department of Energy launches challenge to accelerate energy storage development

Washington, D.C. — The U.S. Department of Energy has launched the Energy Storage Grand Challenge, a comprehensive program to accelerate the development, commercialization, and utilization of next-generation energy storage technologies and sustain American global leadership in energy storage.

“Energy storage is key to capturing the full value of our diverse energy resources,” said Secretary Brouillette. “Through this Grand Challenge, we will deploy the Department’s extensive resources and expertise to address the technology development, commercialization, manufacturing, valuation, and workforce challenges to position the U.S. for global leadership in the energy storage technologies of the future.”

The vision for the Energy Storage Grand Challenge is to create and sustain global leadership in energy storage utilization and exports, with a secure domestic manufacturing supply chain that is independent of foreign sources of critical materials, by 2030. While research and development (R&D) is the foundation of advancing energy storage technologies, the Department recognizes that global leadership also requires addressing associated challenges.

Using a coordinated suite of R&D funding opportunities, prizes, partnerships, and other programs, the Energy Storage Grand Challenge sets the following goals for the U.S. to reach by 2030:

Technology Development: Establish ambitious, achievable performance goals, and a comprehensive R&D portfolio to achieve them:

Technology Transfer: Accelerate the technology pipeline from research to system design to private sector adoption through rigorous system evaluation, performance validation, siting tools, and targeted collaborations;

Policy and Valuation: Develop best-in-class models, data, and analysis to inform the most effective value proposition and use cases for storage technologies;

Manufacturing and Supply Chain: Design new technologies to strengthen U.S. manufacturing and recyclability, and to reduce dependence on foreign sources of critical materials; and

Workforce: Train the next generation of American workers to meet the needs of the 21st-century electric grid and energy storage value chain.

The Energy Storage Grand Challenge is a cross-cutting effort managed by DOE’s Research and Technology Investment Committee (RTIC). The Department established the RTIC in 2019 to convene the key elements of DOE that support R&D activities, coordinate their strategic research priorities, and identify potential cross-cutting opportunities in both basic and applied science and technology.