DOE Announces $125 Million in Funding to Support Energy Storage Research
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced it will provide $125 million in funding to support two Energy Innovation Hub groups that will look at challenges facing the battery energy storage industry. The DOE on September 3 said teams of researchers “will develop scientific concepts and understanding to impact decarbonization of transportation and incorporation of clean energy into the electricity grid.”
The DOE picked Argonne National Laboratory in Lemont, Illinois, near Chicago, to lead a new Energy Storage Research Alliance (ESRA). That group will bring together scientists and others from three national labs and 12 universities to study the development of new compact batteries for heavy-duty transportation, as well as energy storage solutions for the power grid.
Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, was chosen to lead the Aqueous Battery Consortium (ABC). The ABC “will focus on establishing the scientific foundation for large-scale development and deployment of aqueous batteries for long-duration grid storage technologies,” according to the DOE.
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Rechargeable Batteries
The DOE in a news release wrote, “Rechargeable batteries, such as Li-ion and lead-acid batteries, have had a tremendous impact on the nation’s economy. Emerging applications will require even greater energy storage capabilities, safer operation, lower costs, and diversity of materials to manufacture batteries. Meeting these challenges requires a better understanding of foundational battery and materials sciences to enable scalable battery designs with versatile and reversible energy storage capabilities beyond what is currently possible. Additional benefits may include mitigation of supply chain risks associated with the current generation of batteries.”
The agency said ESRA’s work to develop new batteries will “focus on achieving unprecedented molecular-level control of chemical reactivity, ion selectivity, and directional transport in complex electrochemical cells.” The DOE said the ABC group “will focus on establishing the scientific foundation for large-scale development and deployment of aqueous batteries for long-duration grid storage technologies.” The agency said both hubs “will prioritize study and use of Earth-abundant materials to mitigate supply chain risks.”
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“Providing the scientific foundation to accelerate this important research is key to our economy and making sure the U.S. plays a lead role in transforming the way we store and use electricity,” said Harriet Kung, DOE’s Acting Director for the Office of Science. “Today’s awards provide our Energy Innovation Hub teams with the tools and resources to solve some of the most challenging science problems that are limiting our ability to decarbonize transportation and incorporate clean energy into the electricity grid.”
Five Years of Funding
The DOE said the $125 million in funding is for awards that could last as long as five years. Each groups’ membership includes multiple institutions, with the DOE noting the teams include representatives from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and other Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs). The DOE said the projects “provide an outstanding opportunity for workforce development in energy storage research and inclusive research involving diverse individuals from diverse institutions.”
The DOE said hub members were selected by competitive peer review under the DOE Funding Opportunity Announcement for the Energy Innovation Hub Program: Research to Enable Next-Generation Batteries and Energy Storage. The agency said the Funding Opportunity Announcement was developed in coordination through the DOE Joint Strategy Team for Batteries.
The ESRA will be co-led by the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab in Berkeley, California, along with the Pacific Northwest National Lab, located in Richland, Washington. The group will include about 50 researchers. Argonne in a news release wrote, “ESRA’s primary aim is to push the boundaries of energy storage science to drive technological innovation and strengthen U.S. economic competitiveness.”
“The demand for high-performance, low-cost and sustainable energy storage devices is on the rise, especially those with potential to deeply decarbonize heavy-duty transportation and the electric grid,” said Shirley Meng, ESRA director, chief scientist of the Argonne Collaborative Center for Energy Storage Science, and professor at the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering at the University of Chicago. ”To achieve this, energy storage technology must reach levels of unprecedented performance, surpassing the capabilities of current lithium-ion technology. The key to making these transformative leaps lies in a robust research and development initiative firmly grounded in basic science.”
Research Ecosystem
“ESRA creates an energy storage research ecosystem with the mission to rapidly innovate, shorten the time between basic discovery and technology development, and train the next-generation workforce,” said Bryan McCloskey, ESRA deputy director for scientific thrusts and faculty engineer in the Energy Storage and Distributed Resources Division at Berkeley Lab.
Officials said ESRA’s goals including developing high-energy batteries that will not catch fire, provide days of long-duration power from storage, can last for multiple decades, and are made from abundant and inexpensive materials.
“ESRA will pave the way for innovative energy storage solutions that drive both U.S. prosperity and security,” said Argonne Director Paul Kearns. “As the lead laboratory for ESRA under the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, Argonne takes pride in spearheading this collaborative effort that unites world-leading experts and taps the impressive scientific resources available in national labs and academia.”
Scientists and engineers at Stanford have been testing a variety of battery materials for years. The school’s research includes working to improve solid oxide storage devices, in addition to conventional lithium-ion batteries and alternatives, such as those made with lithium-sulfur and other materials.
Stanford researchers also are working on optimization of battery use, extending battery life, and the recycling of battery materials. The university earlier this year said its researchers have discovered a battery’s lifecycle can be improved simply by letting it rest for several hours in a discharged state.
—Darrell Proctor is senior editor for POWER (@POWERmagazine).