Industrial Energy Storage Systems Prize
The Industrial Energy Storage Systems Prize is a $4.8 million challenge sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Industrial Efficiency and Decarbonization Office (IEDO). The prize seeks innovative thermal energy storage concepts for industrial facilities that enhance energy efficiency and are applicable across industrial sectors.
Prize Overview
America’s industrial sector, which manufactures materials and products essential to daily life and the U.S. economy, accounts for one-third of the nation’s primary energy use. Energy storage systems that can accommodate industrial-sized loads, across a range of temperatures of industrial relevance, could serve as a reliable solution for increasing industrial efficiency while addressing the growing demand on the electric grid. The Industrial Energy Storage Systems Prize aims to support the acceleration of market adoption for cost-effective thermal energy storage technologies that can be charged by thermal or electrical sources, and provide heating, cooling, and/or power to industrial facilities.
The prize is developed around three categories, based on types of input and output, to focus submissions on common themes while accommodating a variety of industrial sectors. Competitors may submit up to one application to each of the following three categories:
- Industrial cooling energy storage
- High temperature (>300°C) industrial energy storage
- Industrial thermal storage for hybrid cooling, heating, and power
These storage solutions facilitate time shifting of either electric or thermal energy demand to enable on-site or near-site renewable energy to fully meet the heat or power demands of industrial processes. This not only saves time and money, but also gives manufacturers greater control over the availability and integration of energy into their operations.
Prize Structure
The Industrial Energy Storage Systems Prize offers a total prize pool of $4.8 million in cash across three phases.
Phase 1: Design
Competitors present a cost-effective concept that has the potential to support industrial-level load storage for thermal or electric energy needs that increase the energy efficiency of the U.S. industry. Up to 18 winners are selected with up to six winners in each category. Winning teams each receive $100,000 in cash and are eligible to compete in Phase 2.
Phase 2: Advance
Teams create a proof-of-concept prototype and collect bench-scale data that can be used to optimize a technoeconomic and/or life cycle analysis to demonstrate that the concept would be applicable to industrial partners. Up to nine winners are selected with up to three winners per category. Winning teams each receive $200,000 in cash and are eligible to compete in Phase 3.
Phase 3: Validate
Teams demonstrate the prototype of their innovation and identify future scalability. Winners of Phase 3 may have the opportunity to enter into a cooperative agreement with IEDO for continued development of their technology and may be required to work with IEDO to generate a validation report for the Industrial Technology Validation program.
Important Dates
Please see the official timeline on the HeroX prize platform for the most current dates and deadlines. All dates are subject to change, including contest openings, deadlines, and announcements.
View the timeline and sign up for updates on the HeroX page.
Who Can Compete?
The competition is open to individuals; private entities (for-profits and nonprofits); non-federal government entities such as states, counties, tribes, and municipalities; and academic institutions.
For full eligibility requirements, please read the Official Rules.