Office of Electricity Energy Department Awards $1 Million in Energy Storage Technical Assistance Vouchers
OE's Grid Storage Launchpad. Photo courtesy with the building sign in the foreground.
OE's Grid Storage Launchpad. Photo courtesy of PNNL
The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Electricity (OE) today announced 11 selectees for an energy storage technical assistance voucher program that will spur innovations in Long Duration Energy Storage (LDES) technologies among developers, small businesses, research institutions, and communities. Two OE-funded vouchers aim to increase LDES project deployments nationwide by focusing on storage technology acceleration and community development that will benefit stakeholders locally and regionally. The voucher program is valued at approximately $1 million.
The DOE Voucher Program builds bridges between U.S. entrepreneurs, businesses, technology developers or other relevant partners and third-party voucher providers to advance commercialization and demonstration at scale of innovative energy technologies. Specifically, selectees can use these vouchers with predefined values for in-kind support from third-party technical assistance providers or DOE’s national laboratories rather than receiving cash awards to perform the work. They work similarly to how gift cards are used for purchases at retailers.
“The selectees for these vouchers will be able to create more reliable energy infrastructure through long-duration energy storage capabilities,” said Gene Rodrigues, Assistant Secretary for the Office of Electricity. “Their new energy storage ideas will also support communities by creating new jobs needed to make and deploy these new technologies.”
Here are the voucher programs and corresponding selectees:
Voucher Opportunity 7 (VO-7) – Technology Acceleration Selectees
This voucher targets LDES technology innovators, including vendors and manufacturers. These recipients will receive in-kind services valued between $50,000 and $150,000 from technical assistance providers. Examples include market assessment support, business plan formulation, technical modeling or analysis, testing, performance validation, and commercialization strategy support.
Voucher Opportunity 8 (VO-8) – Community Development Selectees
This program will enable first-time energy storage deployments in communities that wish to benefit from the decarbonization, resilience, and workforce development that energy storage brings. Recipients will also receive in-kind support valued at $50,000-$150,000 for assistance such as siting/permitting support, storage project road mapping, regional modeling, energy use analysis, technical feasibility studies, technology solutions, and community engagement.
ENERGYWERX will manage the voucher program in partnership with DOE, a collaboration made possible through a Partnership Intermediary Agreement (PIA) mechanism. PIAs are agreements between the Federal government and non-Federal partners to increase outreach with small business firms, higher education, and non-traditional partners. ENERGYWERX will directly reimburse voucher providers for their work on behalf of the voucher recipients.
