US DoE selects three projects to receive $15 million to showcase LDES technologies

The U.S. Department of Energy's (DoE) Office of Electricity (OE) on Wednesday announced the three demonstration projects that have been selected to receive 15 million to showcase the new Long Duration Energy Storage (LDES) technologies.

DTE's "Fully Hybrid Li-ion as LDES and Second-Life Batteries Demonstration", CapyBara Energy LLCP's "Empowering Sustainable Community Revival Through Innovative Long Duration Energy Storage and Resource Reclamation (ESTER)" and muGrid Analytics' "Project VITALITY: Vanadium Innovation to Advance Long Duration Energy Storage & Impact Tribal Sovereignty are the projects that have been finalized to receive the award.

"Long-duration energy storage bolsters system reliability and enables every American to benefit from abundant and affordable clean energy," said Gene Rodrigues, Assistant Secretary for Electricity.

"Congratulations to the selectees for your dedication to propelling the future of energy storage and working to deliver cost-effective solutions for our nation's electricity needs!"

The US government intends to meet the growing need for clean, reliable, and cost-effective energy by integrating renewable energy using LDES technologies. The three innovative demonstration projects selected through this opportunity will help advance energy storage technologies leading to commercialization and validating their cost and performance in the field.

The latest opportunity feeds into OE's Rapid Operational Validation Initiative (ROVI), which will validate the reliability of new technologies faster than real-time and help new energy storage companies get their innovations to market faster, DoE stated in an official release.

Here are the details of the three projects:

Project 1: Fully Hybrid Li-Ion as LDES and Second Life Batteries Demonstration

Through this project, DTE Electric Co. aims to demonstrate the benefits of LDES storage by adding a lithium-ion phosphate battery to its planned hybrid Pine River Park wind and solar electric generation site.

Federal funding: $5,000,000

Project 2: Empowering Sustainable Community Revival Through Innovative Long Duration Energy Storage and Resource Reclamation (ESTER)

CapyBara Energy's project will provide clean electricity to power the environmental remediation of mining waste. It will integrate RE with an LDES system to support the heavy industrial processes that constitute tailings remediation.

Federal funding: $4,914,285

Project 3: Project VITALITY: Vanadium Innovation to Advance Long Duration Energy Storage & Impact Tribal Sovereignty

muGrid Analytics is teaming with the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa tribe on a microgrid project to demonstrate the benefits of Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries (VRFB) at commercial and industrial scale.

Federal funding: $4,708,005 

The select projects will support DoE initiatives such as the Long Duration Storage Shot and the Energy Storage Grand Challenge, which draw on the extensive research capabilities of the DoE National Laboratories, universities, and industry. Additionally, these projects will also help address some of the challenges identified to LDES commercialization in the U.S. market.