Overview
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Electricity is launching the American-Made Energy Storage Innovations 2030 Prize. This prize aims to gain insight on innovative, emerging, and next-generation energy storage technologies to inform DOE’s strategy on transformative storage technologies to accelerate grid modernization and decarbonization. Competitors will propose their grid-scale, long duration-capable energy storage technology 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 (ESGC)’s levelized cost of storage (LCOS) 2030 goals, strength of plan, and other unique benefits (supply chain considerations, equity, etc.).
It is vital to note that this competition is focusing only on emerging energy storage technologies. Established technologies that are being considered as part of the SI Framework effort are ineligible to participate in this prize. See the official rules sections on Eligibility and Background for detailed descriptions of the ineligible technology categories and expanded rationale.
Prizes
The Energy Storage Innovations Prize offers a total prize pool of $300,000 in cash prizes. There will be up to ten winners total, with up to five Storage Innovations Champion winners receiving $50,000 each and up to five Storage Innovations Finalist winners receiving $10,000 each. The prize money is cash with no restrictions to its use. In addition to the cash prize, proposed technologies of some or all winning teams may be included in a future Report to Congress, an Office of Electricity presentation 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 intergovernmental review and approval. Winners are announced publicly, but may opt out of inclusion in the 2023 Storage Innovations Report.
Submission
Final submissions will include:
This prize is focused on grid-scale, long-duration-capable energy storage innovations that are distinct from those in DOE’s separate Storage Innovations Framework effort. The following Table lists examples of technologies of interest for this prize competition. Other technologies beyond those listed in this Table may be of interest.
| Type | Technology |
| Electrochemical | Li-metal |
| Na-metal | |
| Other metals (e.g., Mg, Al) | |
| Reversible fuel cells | |
| Electromechanical | Liquid air energy storage |
| Flywheels | |
| Geomechanical | |
| Pumped storage hydropower | |
| Gravitational | |
| Thermal | Phase change |
| Low-temperature storage | |
| High-temperature sensible heat | |
| Thermal-photovoltaic | |
| Chemical | Chemical carriers (e.g., ammonia) |
| Hydrogen | |
| Flexible buildings | Thermostatically controlled loads |
| Building mass | |
| Ice and chilled water | |
| Organic phase change material | |
| Salt hydrate | |
| Thermochemical | |
| Desiccant | |
| Flexible generation | Front-of-the-meter flexibility and hybrids |
| Behind-the-meter hybrids |
DOE is already spending significant resources analyzing the Storage Innovations Framework-focused technologies. The following Table lists the technologies of focus under the framework, which are not of interest for this prize.
Lithium-ion batteries | Lead batteries |
Sodium-ion batteries | Flow batteries |
Zinc batteries | Compressed-air energy storage |
Supercapacitors |
|
The purpose of this prize is to highlight innovative, disruptive ideas that accelerate next-generation energy storage. If your technology falls within or adjacent to one of the technology families listed in the Table above, your submission must clearly differentiate how your innovation is significantly different from the historical or projected trajectory for that technology.
Please review the official rules for the complete application process and instructions for competing.
If you want to receive updates on the prize or have any questions, please subscribe by using the contact feature on the HeroX platform or message us directly at storageinnovations@nrel.gov.
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