The US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy (FE) has announced up to $6 million in federal funding for cost-shared research and development projects under the funding opportunity announcement (FOA) DE-FOA-0002332, Energy Storage for Fossil Power Generation.

The FOA seeks applications to (1) advance near-term, system-integrated, energy storage solutions toward commercial deployment with fossil assets; (2) mature promising mid-technology-readiness-level (TRL), component-level energy storage solutions toward eventual system integration with fossil assets; (3) develop innovative, low-TRL concepts and technologies that offer game-changing benefits for fossil assets.

Energy storage combined with fossil energy assets offers a suite of benefits to asset owners, the electricity grid, and consumers. These benefits include a more reliable and affordable energy supply, cleaner environmental performance, and stronger energy infrastructure. The FOA seeks a variety of technology approaches to integrate fossil assets with thermal, chemical, and potential energy storage applications.

The selected projects will support FE’s Advanced Energy Storage Program, which is focused on conducting research and development to advance energy storage technologies and integrate them with fossil assets to reduce barriers to widespread deployment. This program is consistent with DOE’s Energy Storage Grand Challenge, which seeks to position the United States as a world leader in energy storage.

The National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) will manage the projects. The FOA focuses on three areas of interest (AOIs) as described below.

AOI 1: Design Studies for Engineering-Scale Prototypes. Projects under this AOI will support the development of feasibility studies and pre-front-end engineering designs to set the stage for subsequent site-specific projects integrating relatively mature combinations of energy storage technologies with fossil-fueled assets.

The most mature energy storage technologies have not been demonstrated as a system integrated with a full-scale fossil EGU. Some have been demonstrated at large-scale (>50MWh) in different applications, whether as stand-alone storage or as an integrated hybrid system with a generating asset (not necessarily fossil). Others have been demonstrated at small-scale with or without integration.

The scope of work under this AOI will include feasibility studies (Phase I) and Pre- Front End Engineering Designs (Pre-FEEDs, Phase II) to set the stage for subsequent site-specific projects integrating relatively mature combinations of energy storage technologies with fossil fueled assets. The scale of the energy storage technology will be suitable to provide at least 10 MWh of storage.

There are two specific sub-AOIs: Applications Focusing on Hydrogen Energy Storage; and Applications Not Focusing on Hydrogen Energy Storage.

AOI 2: Component-Level Research and Development. Projects under this AOI will advance the technology readiness level of energy storage technologies that offer a relatively near-term deployment prospect, but need additional work at the component level to reduce risks.

Sub-AOIs in this area again are Applications Focusing on Hydrogen Energy Storage; and Applications Not Focusing on Hydrogen Energy Storage.

AOI 3: Innovative Concepts and Technologies. Projects under this AOI will support the research of energy storage technologies that are in a relatively early stage of development. This AOI will consist of paper studies validated with modeling, existing/partner-provided data sets, and small-scale experiments.

Sub-AOIs in this area again are Applications Focusing on Hydrogen Energy Storage; and Applications Not Focusing on Hydrogen Energy Storage.