U.S. Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette has announced the launch of the Energy Storage Grand Challenge, a program to accelerate the development, commercialisation, and utilisation of next-generation energy storage technologies. The Grand Challenge builds on the US$ 158 million Advanced Energy Storage Initiative announced in President Trump's Fiscal Year 2020 budget request.
Using a coordinated suite of R&D funding opportunities, prizes, partnerships, and other programs, the Energy Storage Grand Challenge sets the following goals for the U.S. to reach by 2030:
- Technology Development: Establish ambitious, achievable performance goals, and a comprehensive R&D portfolio to achieve them;
- Technology Transfer: Accelerate the technology pipeline from research to system design to private sector adoption through rigorous system evaluation, performance validation, siting tools, and targeted collaborations;
- Policy and Valuation: Develop best-in-class models, data, and analysis to inform the most effective value proposition and use cases for storage technologies;
- Manufacturing and Supply Chain: Design new technologies to strengthen U.S. manufacturing and recyclability, and to reduce dependence on foreign sources of critical materials; and
- Workforce: Train the next generation of American workers to meet the needs of the 21st century electric grid and energy storage value chain.