DE-FOA-0003399_-_Energy_Storage_Pilot_Demonstrations.pdf

1. REVIEW 2. GET READY 3. SUBMIT 4. SELECTION 5. REQUIREMENTS 6. CONTACTS

U.S. Department of Energy

Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations

Bipartisan Infrastructure Law

ENERGY

STORAGE PILOT

DEMONSTRATIONS

Funding Opportunity Number: DE-FOA-0003399

Concept Papers due: October 16th, 2024, 5:00pm ET

Applications due: February 13th, 2025, 5:00pm ET

Questions about this NOFO? Email LDESFOA@hq.doe.gov

Problems with OCED eXCHANGE? Email OCED-ExchangeSupport@hq.doe.gov

Include NOFO name and number in subject line mailto:LDESFOA@hq.doe.gov mailto:OCED-ExchangeSupport@hq.doe.gov

Step 1: Review the Funding Opportunity

Basic Information

Eligibility

Program Description

Step 2: Get Ready to Apply

Application Contents and Format

Step 3: Submit Your Application

Submission Requirements and Deadlines

Step 4: Learn About Review and Selection

Application Review Information

Risk review

Award Notices

Step 5: Learn about Post-Selection and

Post-Award Requirements

Post-Selection Information Requests and Submissions

Post-award Requirements and Administration

Terms and Conditions

Reporting

Step 6: Contacts and Support

Agency Contacts

Helpful Websites

Before you begin

If you believe you are a good candidate for this funding opportunity, secure your SAM.gov and other registrations now. If you are already registered, make sure your registration is active and up to date.

All registrations are free.

See Step 3: Submit Your Application

SAM.gov registration (this can take several weeks)

You must have an active account with SAM.gov. This includes having a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI).

OCED eXCHANGE (this can take 48-72 hours)

Registering with OCED eXCHANGE, with Login.gov or ID.me.

FedConnect (this can take 48-72 hours)

Registering with FedConnect® is fast and easy. Only individuals who are designated as Points of Contact in

SAM.gov can create a new company account.

Grants.gov registration (this can take several days)

You must have an active Grants.gov registration. Doing so requires a Login.gov registration as well.

Submit your Concept Paper by October 16, 2024

Concept Papers are due by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

Apply by February 13, 2025

Applications are due by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

https://sam.gov/content/home https://oced-exchange.energy.gov/ https://www.fedconnect.net/FedConnect/Default.htm https://www.grants.gov/forms/forms-repository/sf-424-family

STEP 1:

REVIEW THE FUNDING

OPPORTUNITY

IN THIS STEP

Basic Information

Eligibility

Program Description

Basic Information

Funding detail

Announcement Type: Initial

Expected total available funding: $100 million

Expected number and type of awards: 5 – 15 awards as

Cooperative Agreements or Grants

Expected dollar amount of individual awards: $5 million - $20 million Federal share

Expected award project period: The maximum expected project period is 5 years; the scope of the proposed project would determine that specific project period within the maximum project period.

Depending on the number and quality of Applications, DOE may not award the full NOFO funding amount and may issue other NOFOs to support additional strategies and approaches or incorporate lessons learned from the first round of Applications.

Statutory Authority

Section 3201(c) of the Energy Act of 2020, as amended by Section 41001 of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021, Public Law 117-58, codified at 42 U.S.C. § 17232(c).

Agency contact information

Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations

U.S. Department of Energy

1000 Independence Ave SW

Washington, D.C. 20585

Email: OCED@hq.doe.gov

Phone: 202-586-OCED

For questions relating to this specific NOFO, please use LDESFOA@hq.doe.gov.

KEY FACTS

Funding Opportunity Title:

Energy Storage Pilot Demonstrations

Funding Opportunity Number:

DE-FOA-0003399

Assistance Listing:

81.255

KEY DATES

Concept Paper Deadline:

October 16th, 2024, at 5:00pm ET

Application Deadline:

February 13th, 2025, at 5:00pm ET

Anticipated Award Date:

Summer 2025

Estimated Period of

Performance

Fall 2025 – Summer 2030

NOTE: The 2024 Revisions to 2 CFR 200 will be in effect for awards issued under this NOFO.

mailto:OCED@hq.doe.gov mailto:LDESFOA@hq.doe.gov https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/04/22/2024-07496/guidance-for-federal-financial-assistance

Executive summary

The energy storage community is rapidly growing and evolving. There are many solutions under investigation within the research and development (R&D) community across electrochemical, mechanical, and thermal approaches. However, many of these energy storage solutions have not yet been demonstrated in operational environments and at pilot scale. This limits their ability to access utility-scale demonstration funding and establish a commercial order book due to remaining scaling risk and uncertainty around real performance characteristics. Beyond the technical demonstration needs, there is a clear gap in market mechanisms to value and monetize storage services beyond 4-hour discharge. While significant efforts are needed to advance market mechanisms, this program is focused primarily on technology performance demonstrations.

This program seeks to:

1. Advance a diverse set of non-lithium energy storage technologies towards commercial viability and utility-scale deployment.

2. Generate high-quality operational datasets and techno-economic models.

3. Build investor, utility, and other end user confidence in the real performance and adoptability of the proposed solutions.

This program will fund technology demonstrations for energy storage solutions at the pilot-scale. The program will focus on non-lithium technologies, long-duration (10+ hour discharge) systems, and stationary storage applications.

Applicant teams must include at least one technology provider as a recipient or a subrecipient. Priority will be given to proposals that include utility, developer, and/or end user members, a plan to demonstrate the solution in an operational environment, and a plan to build investor confidence to secure support for follow-on projects.

The following entities are eligible to apply as recipients: (1) State energy office, (2) Indian Tribe, (3) Tribal organization, (4) Institute of higher education, (5) Electric utility (including electric cooperatives, Tribal utilities, municipally owned electric utilities, and investor-owned utilities), and (6) Private energy storage companies.

This NOFO is being released in coordination with The Office of Electricity (OE) Critical Facility Energy

Resilience (CiFER) Solicitation DE-FOA-0003384 which is providing up to $30 million to support large-scale deployment of innovative storage technologies to support energy resiliency needs at a host site containing critical infrastructure. Eligible entities are allowed to apply separately to both opportunities.

https://www.fedconnect.net/FedConnect/default.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2FFedConnect%2F%3Fdoc%3DDE-FOA-0003384%26agency%3DDOE&agency=DOE&doc=DE-FOA-0003384

Table 1. Program overview. All values anticipated. Details to be determined through merit reviews and project negotiations.

Total DOE Funding $100M

Project Funding $5M - $20M DOE share, 50% minimum required non-Federal cost share

Project Count 5 - 15 projects

Key Objectives 1. Advance a diverse set of non-lithium energy storage technologies towards commercial viability and utility-scale deployment.

2. Generate high-quality operational datasets and techno-economic models.

3. Build investor, utility, and other end user confidence in the real performance and adoptability of the proposed solutions.

Example Technology Types (non-exhaustive)

• Electrochemical solutions, including flow and non-flow batteries.

• Mechanical solutions, including both pressure and gravity based.

• Thermal solutions, including sensible, latent and thermochemical heat storage mechanisms configured for electrical to electrical, electrical to thermal, and thermal to thermal input-output configurations.

Applications specifically NOT of interest

• Proposals that use lithium-based energy storage technologies or other technologies that are deployed at >100MW capacity.

• Proposals that intend to produce a bulk chemical as a storage medium, such as hydrogen or ammonia.

• Proposals with technologies that cannot achieve a 10-hour continuous discharge duration.

Requirements and Priorities

• Minimum pilot-scale system capacities required:

▪ Electrochemical: 100kWDC

▪ Mechanical: 1MWAC

▪ Thermal (electric to thermal): 1MWth

▪ Thermal (electric to electric): 1MWe

▪ Thermal (thermal to thermal): 1MWth

• DOE will require teams to include a technology provider as a recipient or subrecipient and encourages inclusion of facility owner/operators, utilities, storage developers, financiers and others that support a clear path to commercial adoption.

• DOE will expect projects to share operational datasets and techno-economic information first produced in performance of the award with DOE and potentially National Laboratory programs to improve system performance modeling capabilities and validate performance. To the extent such data constitutes Protected Data,1 DOE will share such information publicly only if it is possible to aggregate and anonymize the data in accordance with OCED protocols.

1 Protected Data is technical data or commercial or financial data first produced in the performance of the award which, if it had been obtained from and first produced by a non-Federal party, would be a trade secret or commercial or financial information that is privileged or confidential under the meaning of 5 U.S.C. 552(b)(4) and which data is marked as being protected data by a party to the award.

Eligibility

Eligible applicants The proposed recipient and subrecipient(s) must be domestic entities. The following types of domestic entities are eligible to participate as a recipient of this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO):

1. State, territory or District of Columbia energy offices

2. Indian Tribes, as defined at 25 U.S.C. § 41032

3. Tribal organization

4. Institution of higher education

5. Electric utility (including electric cooperatives, Tribal utilities, municipally owned electric utilities, and investor-owned utilities)

6. Private energy storage company

To qualify as a domestic entity, the entity must be organized, chartered, or incorporated (or otherwise formed) under the laws of a particular state or territory of the United States or under the laws of the United

States; have majority domestic ownership and control; and have a physical place of business in the United

States, or otherwise qualify as an Indian Tribe or Tribal organization.

The above entity types may also participate as subrecipients. In addition, Department of Energy (DOE)

Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDC) are eligible to apply for funding as a subrecipient but are not eligible to apply as a recipient. The funding for the FFRDC will flow through the recipient. Non-DOE FFRDCs are eligible to participate as a subrecipient, subject to approval of their sponsor agency, but are not eligible to apply as a recipient. Notwithstanding the above, Federal agencies, instrumentalities, and corporations (other than DOE) are eligible to participate as a subrecipient but are not eligible to apply as a recipient.

Entities banned from doing business with the U.S. government, such as entities debarred, suspended, or otherwise excluded from or ineligible from participating in Federal programs, are not eligible.

Entities identified on a Department of Homeland Security Binding Operational Directives as an entity publicly banned from doing business with the Unites States government are not eligible. See https://cyber.dhs.gov/directives/.

Non-profit organizations described in Section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 that engaged in lobbying activities after December 31, 1995, are not eligible to apply for funding. Non-profit organizations described in Section 501(c)5 of the Internal Revenue Code are eligible to apply for funding. See the Applicant

Eligibility Guidance for more information.

2 “Indian Tribe,” for the purposes of this NOFO and as defined in in section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C.

§ 5304), means any Indian tribe, band, nation, or other organized group or community, including any Alaska Native village or regional or village corporation as defined in or established pursuant to the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (85 Stat. 688) [ 43 U.S.C. § 1601, et seq.], which is recognized as eligible for the special programs and services provided by the United States to Indians because of their status as Indians. Federally Recognized Indian Tribes are also considered disadvantaged communities for the purposes of Justice40 requirements in this NOFO per https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/M-23-09_Signed_CEQ_CPO.pdf.

https://cyber.dhs.gov/directives/ https://www.energy.gov/oced/apply-funding-opportunities#eligibility https://www.energy.gov/oced/apply-funding-opportunities#eligibility https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=(title:25%20section:5304%20edition:prelim) https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=(title:25%20section:5304%20edition:prelim) https://uscode.house.gov/statutes/pl/92/203.pdf#:~:text=688%20PUBLIC%20LAW%2092-203-DEC.%2018%2C%201971%20%5B85%20STAT.,and%20for%20other%20purposes.%20Alaska%20Native%20Claims%20Settlement https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=(title:43%20section:1601%20edition:prelim) https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/M-23-09_Signed_CEQ_CPO.pdf

Other Eligibility Criteria

Foreign Entities

In general, foreign entities are not eligible to apply as either a recipient or subrecipient. In limited circumstances, DOE may allow a foreign entity to participate as a recipient or subrecipient. A foreign entity may submit an Application to this NOFO, but the Application must be accompanied by an explicit disclosure of the foreign entity’s participation. Likewise, if the applicant seeks to include a foreign entity as a subrecipient, the applicant must submit a separate explicit disclosure in the Application for each proposed foreign subrecipient.

See the Applicant Eligibility Guidance on the Eligibility page for more information on applicant eligibility.

Information about foreign entity disclosure requests can be found in the Foreign Entity Participation and

Performance of Foreign Work in the United States Guidance document located on the What other

Information may be requested? page. DOE’s decision concerning foreign entity participation or foreign entity work is not appealable.

Cost sharing

The cost share must be at least 50% of the total project costs for demonstration projects or a commercial application activity. The cost share must come from non-Federal sources unless otherwise allowed by law.

DOE funding is limited to the award amounts listed in Basic Information and Table 1 sections; therefore, any cost increases to the negotiated total project cost must be covered by additional non-Federal cost share.

Cost share may come from project recipients, subrecipients, state or local governments, Tribes or other third-party financing. Federal financing, such as DOE Loan Guarantees, cannot be leveraged by applicants to provide the required cost share or to otherwise support the same scope that is proposed under the Energy

Storage Pilot Demonstrations Program. Generally, realized tax credits may be used as cost share.3 Also, in general, deferred or avoided costs such as tax credits may not be used as cost share.

However, non-Federal cost share can include Tennessee Valley Authority power sales revenue, which is specifically allowed under the Energy Policy Act of 2005. See 42 U.S.C § 16352(c) (Section 988 of Energy

Policy Act of 2005) and 2 CFR 910.130(d)(2)(v).

To assist applicants in calculating proper cost share amounts, DOE included a cost share information sheet and sample cost share calculation within the Cost Sharing Guidance on the Preparing Your Budget page.

Further, applicants are encouraged to review the regulations regarding Program Income and be aware of the ways in which Program Income can be treated during the award. For awards made under this NOFO, the default use of program income is Addition, where program income may be added to the award with prior approval and must be used for the purposes of the award. Any other treatment of Program Income must be negotiated and approved by DOE. Program Income should not be included as cost share in the applicant’s budget.

3 Tax credits authorized by the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (P.L. 117-169) are considered a non-Federal source and are not a Federal award for purposes of cost sharing.

https://www.energy.gov/oced/apply-funding-opportunities#eligibility https://www.energy.gov/oced/award-negotiations#request https://www.energy.gov/oced/award-negotiations#request https://www.energy.gov/oced/apply-funding-opportunities#budget https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/section-200.307

Program Description

Purpose

OCED was established to build on DOE’s expertise in clean energy research and development and expand DOE’s scope to fill a critical gap in demonstration of first-of-a-kind (FOAK) technologies. OCED’s mission is to deliver clean energy demonstration projects at scale in partnership with the private sector to accelerate deployment, market adoption and the equitable transition to a decarbonized energy system. OCED has over 100 projects under award or selected and in negotiations, representing nearly $20 billion in Federal investment.

Variable renewable solar and wind are expected to grow significantly in the coming years and comprise the majority of new capacity additions.4 In addition, electricity demand is expected to continue to increase through 2050, driven by electrification of various sectors and loads5,6 and growth of information processing demands.

Short duration (<4 hours) energy storage is already supporting resource adequacy, reliability, and flexibility needs of the grid.7 Continued deployment of variable generation may push utility-scale storage duration requirements above 4 hours8 and beyond the commercially viable discharge duration of currently deployed Li-ion systems. The Long Duration Energy Storage (LDES) Pathways to Commercial Liftoff report estimates that “the U.S. grid may need 225-460 GW of LDES capacity for power market application” by 2050.9

Figure 1. Estimates of LDES requirements from 2025 to 2050 under varying Li-ion performance scenarios.10

4 https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=56160 5 NREL Electrification Futures Study, https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy21osti/79094.pdf 6 Energy Information Administration, Annual Energy Outlook 2023, https://www.eia.gov/outlooks/aeo/ 7 https://www.eia.gov/analysis/studies/electricity/batterystorage/pdf/battery_storage_2021.pdf 8 https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy23osti/85878.pdf 9 https://liftoff.energy.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Pathways-to-Commercial-Liftoff-LDES-May-5_UPDATED-v10.pdf 10 https://liftoff.energy.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Pathways-to-Commercial-Liftoff-LDES-May-5_UPDATED-v10.pdf https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=56160 https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy21osti/79094.pdf https://www.eia.gov/outlooks/aeo/ https://www.eia.gov/analysis/studies/electricity/batterystorage/pdf/battery_storage_2021.pdf https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy23osti/85878.pdf https://liftoff.energy.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Pathways-to-Commercial-Liftoff-LDES-May-5_UPDATED-v10.pdf https://liftoff.energy.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Pathways-to-Commercial-Liftoff-LDES-May-5_UPDATED-v10.pdf

Energy storage at this scale requires materials that are lower cost and less environmentally impactful than lithium. Lithium batteries also experience significant supply chain competition from the electric vehicle market.11 Multiple technologies (mechanical, thermal, electrochemical and chemical) are under development across the research, development and demonstration (RD&D) community. Each of these technologies has a unique set of challenges and opportunities.12

Figure 2. Examples of LDES technologies and typical performance characteristics.13

Regardless of technology class, there are remaining challenges for long-duration energy storage solutions from technology and commercial adoption readiness perspectives.

Technology Readiness Level (TRL)14 varies across energy storage technologies.15 Depending on the technology area, challenges may be at the minimum viable module scale or involve complex systems integration:

• Electrochemical solutions may need to establish confidence in performance characteristics at the module or subsystem level (up to the direct current (DC) module capacity). Aggregation of

DC modules to align with commercial-scale inverter capacities is fairly well established.

• Mechanical and thermal solutions often have well established technical performance at the subsystem level but have not yet demonstrated a fully integrated system.

11 https://www.energy.gov/policy/articles/americas-strategy-secure-supply-chain-robust-clean-energy-transition 12 https://www.energy.gov/oe/storage-innovations-2030 13 https://liftoff.energy.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Pathways-to-Commercial-Liftoff-LDES-May-5_UPDATED-v10.pdf 14 https://www.directives.doe.gov/directives-documents/400-series/0413.3-EGuide-04/@@images/file 15 https://liftoff.energy.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Pathways-to-Commercial-Liftoff-LDES-May-5_UPDATED-v10.pdf, p 13 https://www.energy.gov/policy/articles/americas-strategy-secure-supply-chain-robust-clean-energy-transition https://www.energy.gov/oe/storage-innovations-2030 https://liftoff.energy.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Pathways-to-Commercial-Liftoff-LDES-May-5_UPDATED-v10.pdf https://www.directives.doe.gov/directives-documents/400-series/0413.3-EGuide-04/@@images/file https://liftoff.energy.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Pathways-to-Commercial-Liftoff-LDES-May-5_UPDATED-v10.pdf

Commercial Adoption Readiness Level (ARL)16 challenges for long- duration energy storage include:

• Delivered cost – There is high uncertainty in many cases for Nth of a Kind (NOAK) costs given the relatively small scale of demonstrated systems to date.

• Functional performance – Asset owners and utilities lack confidence in long-duration energy storage system performance (closely linked to TRL above).

• Demand maturity/market openness – In many regions there is a lack of clear valuation methods and market mechanisms for long-duration energy storage.

• Capital flow – There may be reluctance to invest in these technologies due to uncertainty in cost and performance characteristics and monetization of services.

• Manufacturing and supply chain – For some energy storage technologies, supply chains are underdeveloped, and serial production methods and facilities have not yet been established.

Some energy storage technologies rely on raw materials that do not have reliable and resilient supply chains.

• Regulatory environment – There is a lack of clear rules or a multi-year horizon for market participation of energy storage and distributed energy assets in many cases. There is uncertainty for updating codes, standards, and permitting regulations developed for lithium-ion batteries to accommodate a range of non-lithium technologies.

• Safety – Li-ion battery safety incidents may influence perception of safety of other energy storage systems and limit siting opportunities.

With this program, DOE seeks to directly address challenges in both TRL and ARL to advance the technical maturity of multiple energy storage technologies and increase investor and end-user confidence in the path to commercial viability.

16 https://www.energy.gov/technologytransitions/adoption-readiness-levels-arl-complement-trl https://www.energy.gov/technologytransitions/adoption-readiness-levels-arl-complement-trl

Program goals and objectives

With this program, DOE seeks to directly address challenges in both TRL and ARL, primarily through increasing confidence in performance and cost characteristics, planning for manufacturability and supply chain maturation, and engagement with investors and end users. Specifically, this program seeks to:

1. Advance a diverse set of non-lithium long-duration energy storage technologies towards commercial viability and utility-scale deployment.

2. Generate high-quality operational datasets and techno-economic models.

3. Build investor, utility, and other end user confidence in the real performance and adoptability of the proposed solutions.

To support the goals of building a clean and equitable energy economy, DOE anticipates supporting projects that define a robust Community Benefits Plan, including:

1. Supporting meaningful community and labor engagement;

2. Investing in America’s workforce and supporting good jobs;

3. Advancing diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility; and

4. Contributing to the President’s goal that 40% of the overall benefits of certain Federal investments flow to disadvantaged communities (the Justice40 Initiative).17

This investment will allow the U.S. to develop more cost-effective, investable long-duration energy storage technologies and solutions while supporting climate action and providing benefits to communities and workers.

Award contribution to goals and objectives

In this NOFO, DOE seeks to fund technology demonstrations for energy storage solutions at the pilot-scale.

The program will focus on non-lithium technologies with long-duration (10+ hour) discharge in stationary storage applications, potentially including electrochemical, mechanical, and/or thermal solutions. Priority will be given to proposals that include utility, developer, and/or end user members, a plan to demonstrate the storage technology in an operational environment, and a plan to build investor confidence to secure support for follow-on projects.

17 The Justice40 Initiative, established by EO 14008, “Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad,” January 27, 2021, sets a goal that 40% of the overall benefits of certain federal investments flow to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution. Pursuant to EO 14008 and the Office of Management and Budget’s Interim Implementation Guidance M-21-28 and Addendum M-23-09 guidance, DOE recognizes disadvantaged communities as the census tracts identified as disadvantaged by the White House Council on Environmental

Quality’s Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool (CEJST), located at https://screeningtool.geoplatform.gov/, as well as all Federally Recognized

Tribes (whether or not they have land). See https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/M-23-09_Signed_CEQ_CPO.pdf. DOE’s

Justice40 Implementation Guidance is located at https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/2022-

07/Final%20DOE%20Justice40%20General%20Guidance%20072522.pdf.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/27/executive-order-on-tackling-the-climate-crisis-at-home-and-abroad/ https://screeningtool.geoplatform.gov/ https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/M-23-09_Signed_CEQ_CPO.pdf https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/2022-07/Final%20DOE%20Justice40%20General%20Guidance%20072522.pdf https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/2022-07/Final%20DOE%20Justice40%20General%20Guidance%20072522.pdf

DOE is seeking to support projects that can:

• Demonstrate reliable, repeatable technology performance at pilot scale.

• Generate high-fidelity operational data sets that enable quantification of the social cost of GHG avoided18 from the project as well as anticipated future deployments of the technology.

• Produce high-confidence techno-economic models and cost-down projections from First of a Kind to Nth of a Kind.

• Refine and optimize system designs for commercial deployments.

• Refine and optimize robust and resilient supply chains.

• Establish partnerships with end-users and financiers for future projects.

Funding priorities

This NOFO will fund demonstrations of a variety of energy storage solutions at pilot-scale to advance technology maturity, reduce uncertainty in cost and performance characteristics, generate operational datasets, and increase investor and end-user confidence in technical and commercial maturation pathways and timelines.

DOE will consider proposals that include (non-exhaustive):

• Electrochemical solutions, including flow and non-flow batteries.

• Mechanical solutions, including both pressure and gravity based.

• Thermal solutions, including sensible, latent and thermochemical heat storage mechanisms configured for electrical to electrical, electrical to thermal, and thermal to thermal input-output configurations.

Funding will support technology maturation activities including design for manufacturability, pilot system development, fabrication and installation, operational testing and validation, and commercial scale system design and supply chain maturation.

Technology and System Requirements

In the interest of maximizing funding impact and differentiating this program from related prior and current

DOE efforts, the minimum requirements stated in Table 2 below apply for all projects under this NOFO.

18 Applicants may use the social cost of greenhouse gases calculation such as that developed by the Environmental Protection Agency, found at https://www.epa.gov/environmental-economics/scghg https://www.epa.gov/environmental-economics/scghg

Table 2. System requirements for all projects.

TECHNOLOGY TYPE MINIMUM CAPACITY STRETCH CAPACITY

Electrochemical 100kWDC 1MWDC

Mechanical 1MWAC 5MWAC

Thermal (electric to thermal) 1MWth 5MW th

Thermal (electric to electric) 1MWe 5MW e

Thermal (thermal to thermal) 1MWth 10MW th

Applicants must justify why the size of the system proposed is commercially relevant (i.e., it is the module, container, or minimum unit size that once validated in this pilot could be duplicated across units for a commercial-scale project). If deviating from this table or the discharge duration range identified, applicants must justify their readiness for a pilot-scale demonstration and show a clear development and demonstration path to commercial viability and market acceptance.

All projects should have an integrated system TRL of 5-6 at the start of the project and a TRL of 7-8 by the end of the project. All projects are expected to attain at least 10 hours of continuous discharge at or above the minimum capacity.

Applications should clearly describe the proposed demonstration site, which could be an industrial facility, grid-connected utility site, a utility testbed, or a laboratory testbed, and explain the rationale for their selection and approach to apply project results to commercialization efforts. If not proposing to utilize an existing site, applicants must explain their approach to manage increased execution and schedule risks as well as their understanding of any required environmental reviews.

Commercialization support activities, such as supply chain maturation and system design for future developments beyond this pilot, should be limited to ≤15% of the project budget.

The application should describe the intended outcomes from pilot scale testing and the rationale for developing the pilot at a test facility or an end user facility. Utilizing a test facility will allow the pilot to be run through a designed test profile to validate key performance characteristics and accumulate long-term operational and degradation information on the system but may not demonstrate integration with the end user. Utilizing an operational facility will demonstrate end user integration but, by nature of following the end user’s required load profile, will more slowly accumulate operational cycles and may not be able to validate key performance characteristics.

Applications must show a clear path to technology commercialization and follow-on investment, including a clear articulation of potential cost reduction mechanisms, an investor engagement strategy, a business plan to scale and enter markets, an assessment of the competitive landscape, a monetization approach for services provided, and similar relevant commercialization plans.

DOE anticipates providing awards to teams that are led by a single entity. All applicants are encouraged to partner with experts in technical engineering support or analysis, lifecycle analysis, commercialization, financing, and/or community benefits, if none exist within the applicant’s team.

Project Examples

A few examples of projects or components of projects are included below. These are intended to illustrate the range of potential approaches for clarification only. This list is non-exhaustive.

• Electrochemical: Module validation testing at a utility test bed, including design de-risking through operational testing campaigns, systems integration designs for commercial asset and design for commercial manufacturing. Team to include technology provider, facility partner, commercialization partners, and similar.

• Electrochemical: 100kW-1MW battery energy storage system at an end-user facility, such as co-located with a renewable generation asset or in a behind the meter configuration at a commercial sector site. Demonstrate full system integration and operation under real-world conditions. Validation of operation as a long-duration storage asset. Team to include technology provider, facility partner, commercialization partners, and similar.

• Mechanical: 1-5MW geothermal pressurized-fluid system installed at an existing abandoned well or mining site. Off-grid and operational testing, leading to performance validation of fully integrated system. Team to include technology provider, facility engineering partners, and similar.

• Thermal: 1-10MW electrical to thermal energy storage system tested in a campaign mode at an industrial site to offset natural gas fired boiler usage. Team to include technology provider, industrial facility owner/operator, facility engineering partners, and similar.

Applications Specifically NOT of Interest

• Proposals that use lithium-based energy storage technologies or other technologies that are deployed at >100MW capacity.

• Proposals that intend to produce a bulk chemical as a storage medium, such as hydrogen or ammonia.

• Proposals with technologies that cannot achieve a 10-hour continuous discharge duration.

• Proposals that intend to expand or construct a pilot manufacturing line or manufacturing facility.

Expected performance goals, indicators, targets, baseline data, and data collection

To evaluate program performance and advancement of the supported energy storage solutions, selected projects may be required to report on relevant metrics such as system capital costs, lifetime and degradation, round trip efficiency, idle energy losses, and system physical size.

Projects will be expected to share operational datasets first produced in performance of the award with DOE and potentially National Laboratory programs to improve system performance modeling capabilities and validate performance; findings will be supplied to projects and may be used to support performance claims to investors and/or end users. To the extent such data first produced in performance of the award constitutes Protected Data, DOE may share such information publicly, but only if it is possible to aggregate and anonymize the data in accordance with OCED protocols.

Expected award and project management structure

Awards selected under this NOFO will adhere to a four-phased structure for managing scope, schedule, deliverables, and budget, typically with one Budget Period per phase. Figure 3 shows an example of the phase progression, major work activities, funding proportion and timeline. These activities will also be further defined during award negotiations and subsequent negotiations between phases. DOE anticipates all awarded projects to be funded through Phase 4 pending successful go / no-go reviews, which will be designed to manage risk and will occur between and within phases.

While the phase figure and the narrative text below provide approximate timetables for each phase, these timetables are representative only. It is DOE’s intention to work with Recipients to progress projects through the phased project implementation as prudently as possible. While phases are used to conceptually describe the progression of project development, awards will be managed in Budget Periods as defined in 2 CFR

200.1 “Budget period.”19

Figure 3. Summary of the anticipated phase structure of the projects awarded under this NOFO.

19 https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/part-200#p-200.1(Budget%20period) https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/part-200#p-200.1(Budget%20period)

Phase 1 – Detailed Planning

Phase 1 activities will focus on completing specific details about the overall project plan and analysis to refine projections submitted as part of the proposal. These activities must provide assurance to DOE that the overall project plan is technologically, financially, and legally viable, with buy-in from relevant local and community stakeholders.

Teams will complete preliminary engineering, construction, and commercial-scale designs. This will include finalization of a Project Management Plan, a Risk Management Plan, the initial Safety Plan, an initial financial plan for the entire 4-phase effort, and final site selection and procurement plan for the various components to be included in the award. As specified by DOE, Teams will prepare an environmental information volume (EIV) or an environmental considerations summary (ECS) to support DOE’s National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) evaluation of construction and operating impacts.

Phase 1 should also include a continuation of analysis activities to refine and update Techno-Economic Analysis (TEA) data provided in the application and expand the initial environmental impact evaluation into a quantitative Life-Cycle Analysis (LCA) for the specific project. Outreach and stakeholder engagement should continue throughout Phase 1 as the project details are finalized and community impacts become clearer.

Applicants should be fully engaged with the DOE’s NEPA team as they develop environmental and regulatory plans to prepare for permitting and approval processes in Phase 2.

Phase 2 – Project Development, Permitting, and Financing

Phase 2 encompasses advanced planning activities. Recipients will finalize their project development plans, commercial agreements, financial structure, fabrication plans, and complete the necessary permitting and approval activities required to begin construction. By the end of Phase 2, engineering and operational designs should be sufficiently mature to support completion and execution of relevant fabrication, procurement, or construction contracts and overall commencement of major project execution tasks. Plans for operational, validation, or other testing should be refined.

Long-lead procurement activities may be started in Phase 2 with prior DOE approval. Third-party financing agreements should be completed and any relevant offtake agreements in place. Risk management plans should be revised and updated to reflect progress made and risks mitigated as well as new or emerging risks and corresponding management plans.

By the completion of Phase 2, safety and security plans should be finalized and execution ready. All necessary permits and regulatory approvals should be in place to prepare for construction, including completion of DOE’s NEPA review. All procurement plans should be finalized. Final pre-implementation LCA and TEA activities should be completed according to DOE expectations and corresponding verification and validation (V&V) plans should be in place. Community and labor engagement should have progressed, and updated comprehensive Community Benefits Commitments should reflect community and labor input and implementation experience to date and set the stage for ongoing engagement. Community impact targets should be finalized, and tracking plans should be in place to monitor economic, environmental, and social impacts (including the social cost of GHG avoided) of projects as relevant as they progress to implementation.

Phase 3 – Assembly, Installation and Integration

Phase 3 activities will focus on implementation. Recipients will employ industry standard project management tools and will be required to provide regular status updates and reports. Plans developed in the preceding phases will be revised and updated as appropriate to reflect actual performance. Engineering drawings may be further developed within this phase. Operational protocols and controls will be finalized within this phase.

Previously and newly developed risks will be tracked, actively managed, and regularly reported to DOE.

Reporting frequencies and content requirements will be unique to each award and negotiated prior to Phase 3 commencement.

While recipients will manage implementation, DOE will closely monitor progress and evaluate it against the plans developed through Phase 2. DOE and/or its third-party representatives will visit the site(s) regularly to verify progress and collect data, including data related to community benefits, consistent with the established reporting requirements.

During Phase 3, recipients will continue to advance their community benefits commitments and provide ongoing mechanisms for community and labor input that will support the realization of meaningful benefits and minimization of any project negative impacts. Outcomes and impacts related to community benefits efforts will be tracked to assess progress.

Phase 3 may look significantly different for each award as there will be varying amounts of construction and retrofitting. Specific details will be addressed for selected projects during the negotiation phase. System commissioning should be complete at the end of Phase 3 in preparation for testing and operations in Phase

4. Phase 3 will likely include procurement, fabrication, site preparation, and installation. By the end of Phase 3, the pilot systems should be fully built and commissioned.

Phase 4 – Testing and Validation

In Phase 4, recipients will transition to testing and operations. Phase 4 activities will focus on integrated system performance and ramp-up. By the end of Phase 4, each award will have demonstrated fully functional operations over an extended period.

A key objective is for DOE-funded demonstration projects to catalyze follow-on private sector investments while meeting community benefits goals. Recipients should show a clear path to replicability and extensibility of their solution. To meet this key objective, Phase 4 is likely to include financial, socio-economic, environmental, and operational data collection and reporting to DOE. To the extent practicable and while ensuring the protection of sensitive and proprietary information first produced in the performance of the award, DOE will aggregate and anonymize site and operations data that qualifies as Protected Data from all awarded projects into quantitative and qualitative analyses that can be promulgated to external stakeholders for the purpose of informing future private sector investment decisions.

In addition to the expectation to share data with National Laboratory experts as noted previously, project teams are also encouraged, though not required, to disseminate operational data, lessons learned, financial, planning, and O&M strategies to the broader community and the public. Specific details regarding dissemination will be finalized during negotiations.

Transitions between Phases

All projects selected under this NOFO will be eligible to complete all four phases pending successful execution of milestones. DOE is not planning a competitive down-select process among projects after awards are made;

however, to manage risk, all projects will be required to complete regular Go/No-Go reviews at the end of each Budget Period. Specific Go/No-Go criteria will be negotiated with each selected project for transitions between each Budget Period.

This may include a requirement to submit a standardized set of data to provide quantitative and qualitative insight on metrics spanning the technological, environmental, economic, market, workforce, community benefits, and other components of the project’s analysis activities. DOE may also require the negotiation of additional Go/No-Go decision points within phases (i.e., phases may include one or more budget periods with Go/No-Go points at the end of each budget period). Applicants must propose quantitative Go/No-Go criteria for each budget period as defined in the Technical Volume section.

If DOE determines that an award is making insufficient progress, additional scrutiny and oversight by DOE or its representatives may be employed, and corrective measures negotiated. Awards may be discontinued at any of the Go/No-Go decision points if the Go/No-Go criteria, project, and/or program requirements are not met. If awards are proceeding on an accelerated schedule, it may be possible to move to a Go/No-Go review earlier than originally planned and advance to the next phase if the review is successfully completed.

Specific project structure details for each recipient will be negotiated on a project-by-project basis to produce the best possible balance between project outcomes and DOE risk exposure. Examples of factors that may be considered as part of such negotiations include project and risk management processes, team capabilities, cost share amounts, financial contingencies, and engagement of independent monitors such as an Independent Engineers and/or Community Benefits Plan consultants. DOE will require access to project performance and financial data necessary to track progress against a project baseline (or similar). As these projects are new pilot demonstrations, project progress data first produced in performance of the award will be shared with interested stakeholders to the greatest extent possible. If such data is Protected Data, it will only be shared publicly if aggregated and anonymized in accordance with OCED protocols.

If funded through all four phases, DOE expects that the projects selected under this NOFO will significantly advance technical and commercial viability. Projects may be decommissioned at the end of the pilot or continue to operate beyond the financial assistance project period (beyond DOE funding). Achieving DOE’s broad end goals will necessitate review and evaluation of proposed project characteristics that include cost, schedule, and scope; technology; environmental; business; market; financial; management; community support or other factors throughout the project to validate assumptions made for determining technical and commercial viability.

The phased approach is designed to guide Recipients through the project development process incrementally. Each subsequent phase is structured to ensure that each award meets a standard level of maturity, employs a robust execution approach, and that technical and non-technical project risks are adequately and appropriately managed throughout the award. If the project expects to continue operating fully independent of Federal funds, DOE may also request financial sustainability plans or long-term decommissioning plans as part of future decision points. This may include proposed sources of funding/revenue and the business model which will support the projects beyond the DOE award.

Cooperative Agreement Substantial Involvement

A Cooperative Agreement is an award funding type where there will be substantial Federal scientific or programmatic involvement. Substantial involvement includes but is not limited to the following:

1. DOE shares responsibility with the recipient for the management, control, direction, and performance of the project.

2. DOE may intervene in the conduct or performance of work under this award for programmatic reasons. Intervention includes the interruption or modification of the conduct or performance of project activities.

3. DOE may redirect or discontinue funding the project based on the outcome of DOE’s evaluation of the project at the Go/No-Go decision point(s).

4. DOE participates in major project decision-making processes.

Unallowable Costs

All expenditures must be allowable, allocable, and reasonable in accordance with the applicable Federal cost principles. Pursuant to 2 CFR 910.352, the cost principles in the Federal Acquisition Regulations (48 CFR

31.2) apply to for-profit entities. The cost principles contained in 2 CFR Part 200 Subpart E apply to all entities other than for-profits.

Pre-Award Costs

Applicants selected for award negotiations (selectees) must request prior written approval to charge pre-award costs. Pre-award costs cannot be incurred prior to Applicants receiving notification of selection for award negotiations.

Pre-award expenditures are made at the applicant’s risk. DOE is not obligated to reimburse costs as outlined in the Applicant Supplemental Budget and Cost Information document located on the Preparing Your Budget page.

Authorizing Statutes and Regulations

Section 3201(c) of the Energy Act of 2020, as amended by Section 41001 of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021, Public Law 117-58, codified at 42 U.S.C. § 17232(c).

https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/subtitle-B/chapter-IX/part-910/subpart-D/section-910.352 https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-48/chapter-1/subchapter-E/part-31/subpart-31.2 https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-48/chapter-1/subchapter-E/part-31/subpart-31.2 https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/subtitle-A/chapter-II/part-200/subpart-E?toc=1

STEP 2:

GET READY TO APPLY

IN THIS STEP

Application Contents and Format

Application Contents and Format

Component and Subcomponent

File Naming Convention Page Limit Format

Concept Paper ControlNumber_LeadOrganization_ConceptPaper.pdf 6 PDF

Application

Application For Federal Assistance

Standard Form SF-424 N/A PDF

Technical Volume ControlNumber_LeadOrganization_TechVol.pdf 25 PDF

Community Benefits Plan ControlNumber_LeadOrganization_CBP.pdf 5 PDF

Community Partnership Documentation

ControlNumber_LeadOrganization_Partner_Doc.pdf 2 PDF

Impacting Indian Tribe Documentation

ControlNumber_LeadOrganization_IMT_Doc.pdf N/A…