Background
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.
Industrial energy storage solutions that can accommodate cooling, thermal, and/or electric energy loads could serve as a cross-sector method for advancing efficiency of industrial facilities while reducing additional burden on the electric grid.
Prize Overview
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 cost-effective energy storage concepts for industrial facilities that enhance energy efficiency and are applicable across industrial sectors.
This prize supports 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.
To accommodate a variety of industrial sectors, the prize invites submissions of thermal energy storage solutions across a range of temperatures of industrial relevance. 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 clean 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. Up to three winners are selected with one winner selected in each category. Winning teams each receive $400,000 in cash. 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.
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.
Guidelines
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.
Please review the Official Rules for the complete submission process and instructions for participating in this prize.
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