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Energy Storage Innovations Prize

Calling all storage innovators! The Energy Storage Innovations Prize is seeking next-generation energy storage solutions to accelerate grid decarbonization.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Electricity launched the Energy Storage Innovations Prize to help illustrate nascent and emerging technologies within the energy storage landscape. This prize includes $300,000 in cash prizes to individuals or organizations who provide a technical overview of their innovative ideas.

Prize Background

Accessible, cost-effective, and grid-scale energy storage is critical to the clean energy transition. The Energy Storage Innovations Prize supports the broader DOE strategy to foster development of new technologies that reliability, equity, and decarbonization objectives. This prize complements the efforts of the Storage Innovations 2030 (SI 2030) (i) framework to incentivize creativity and innovation in emerging technologies to expand beyond the current state-of-the-art.

Competitors will propose their grid-scale, long-duration-capable energy storage innovation with a written summary and accompanying 90-second video. Submissions will be judged on the innovation’s quality including a pathway to the Energy Storage Grand Challenge’s(ii) levelized cost of storage, SI 2030 goals, strength of plan, and other unique benefits including equity and supply chain considerations.

The Energy Storage Innovations Prize will consider various technologies, including electrochemical, mechanical, thermal, chemical carriers, and other candidates that meet duration and cost targets for grid flexibility. However, this prize is focused on nascent and emerging technologies. Established technologies already specified in the SI 2030 Framework effort are not of interest to this prize. Detailed descriptions of the technology categories are available in the official prize rules document.

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Prize Structure

The Energy Storage Innovations Prize offers a total prize pool of $300,000 in cash prizes. There will be up to ten winners, with up to five Storage Innovations Champion winnersreceiving $50,000 each and up to five Storage Innovations Finalist winners receiving $10,000 each.

In addition to the cash prize, DOE may include proposed technologies of some or all winning teams in a future Office of Electricity report to Congress, focusing on the state of energy storage innovation in the United States. Inclusion in this report, and the extent to which winners may be featured, is not guaranteed and dependent on governmental review and approval. Winners will be announced publicly but may opt out of inclusion in the Storage Innovations Report.

Who is Eligible to Compete?

The competition is open to private entities (for-profits and nonprofits), non-federal government entities such as states, counties, tribes, and municipalities, academic institutions, and individuals that meet all eligibility requirements. For more information, review the Official Prize Rules.


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Solutions that help shape the future

Are you a thinker, entrepreneur, facility or potential partner? Anyone with an innovative idea can help promote transformation by participating in the American-Made Challenges.

Follow this Prize

i

DOE has launched the Storage Innovations 2030 (SI 2030) initiative. The objective of SI 2030 is to develop specific and quantifiable research, design, and development (RD&D) pathways to achieve DOE targets and enable the significant cost reduction outlined.

ii

https://www.energy.gov/energy-storage-grand-challenge/energy-storage-grand-challenge