Deadline: 16-Dec-22
The Office of Electricity has launched the $300,000 Energy Storage Innovations Prize. This new competition is seeking next-generation energy storage solutions to accelerate grid decarbonization.
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.
Eligibility Criteria
- Your submission for the Energy Storage Innovations Prize is subject to the following terms and conditions:
- You must upload the final content of your submission by the deadlines established by the Prize Administrator/U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Late submissions or any other form of submission may be rejected.
- All submissions that you wish to protect from public disclosure must be marked according to the instructions in Section A.10. Unmarked or improperly marked submissions will be deemed to have been provided with unlimited rights and may be used in any manner and for any purpose whatsoever.
- You must include all the required elements in your submission. The Prize Administrator may disqualify your submission after an initial screening if you fail to provide all required submission elements. Competitors may be given an opportunity to rectify submission errors due to technical challenges.
- Your submission must be in English and in a format readable by Microsoft Word or Adobe PDF. Scanned handwritten submissions will be disqualified.
- Submissions will be disqualified if they contain any matter that, in the sole discretion of DOE or the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), is indecent, obscene, defamatory, libelous, and/or lacking in professionalism, or demonstrates a lack of respect for people or life on this planet.
- If you click “Accept” on the HeroX platform and proceed to register for any of the prizes described in this document, these rules will form a valid and binding agreement between you and DOE and are in addition to the existing HeroX Terms of Use for all purposes relating to these contests. You should print and keep a copy of these rules. These provisions only apply to the prize described here and no other prize on the HeroX platform or anywhere else.
- The Prize Administrator, when feasible, may give competitors an opportunity to fix nonsubstantive mistakes or errors in their submission packages.
- As part of your submission to this prize, you will be required to sign the following statement:
- I am providing this submission package as part of my participation in this prize. I understand that I am providing this submission to the federal government. I certify under penalty of perjury that the named competitor meets the eligibility requirements for this prize competition and complies with all other rules contained in the Official Rules document. I further represent that the information contained in the submission is true and contains no misrepresentations. I understand false statements or misrepresentations to the federal government may result in civil and/or criminal penalties under 18 U.S.C. § 1001 and § 287.
Submission
- Final submissions will include:
- A 90-second video introducing your team and innovation
- A 3000-word maximum narrative that answers four questions:
- What is your storage technology innovation?
- How does your technology support DOE’s goal for cost-effective long-duration energy storage?
- What challenges are associated with the development and deployment of your technology?
- How do you plan to further develop or commercialize your technology?
- Summary PowerPoint slide.
For more information, visit https://www.energy.gov/oe/articles/new-energy-storage-prize-targets-disruptive-next-gen-innovation