Grid Storage Launchpad at PNNL

Facility

Grid Storage Launchpad at PNNL

Advancing the Next Generation of Grid Energy Storage Technologies

An architectural rendering of DOE's Grid Storage Launchpad to be built on the PNNL campus

DOE's Office of Electricity has selected PNNL as the site for the Grid Storage Launchpad, a national resource and collaborative facility to advance the development of next-generation grid energy storage technologies.

(Architectural Rendering: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory)

The Need

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has identified the accelerated development of next-generation energy storage technology as a national priority for modernizing the power grid and unlocking a broad array of economic and societal benefits. The DOE’s Office of Electricity has selected PNNL in Richland, Washington, as the site for a new, national grid energy storage research and development (R&D) facility that includes investments from the State of Washington, Battelle, and PNNL.

Video: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

The Value

Grid energy storage technology is a critical technology component for realizing a modernized, resilient power grid capable of achieving many broadly shared energy objectives. Accelerating development of grid energy storage technologies will:

make our nation’s power grid more resilient, reliable, secure, and flexible
enable the full value of diverse energy resources to be realized
sustain U.S. global leadership in the development of energy storage technologies
accelerate the development of a domestic manufacturing supply chain and skilled workforce for energy storage technologies.

Attend Our Webinar Series

PNNL is bringing together DOE, multidisciplinary teams of researchers, utilities, and industry to lower the barriers to innovation and deployment of grid-scale energy storage technologies. As part of that, we’ve launched a webinar series, Energy Storage @PNNL, featuring PNNL’s foremost experts in energy storage technologies.

Learn more and register for a webinar today!

Watch past webinars here. (Video: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory)

The Grid Storage Launchpad (GSL) facility at PNNL will support the DOE’s Energy Storage Grand Challenge and the Long Duration Storage Shot. The vision for the Energy Storage Grand Challenge is to create and sustain global leadership in energy storage utilization and exports, with a secure domestic manufacturing supply chain that does not depend on foreign sources of critical materials.

Through independent testing and validation of grid energy storage technologies, the GSL facility will develop and promulgate rigorous grid performance standards and requirements that span the entire energy storage R&D development cycle—from basic materials synthesis to advanced prototyping. This mission focuses on three outcomes that address critical challenges in grid energy storage development:

Collaborate: Bringing together DOE, multidisciplinary teams of researchers, and industry to lower the barriers to innovation and deployment of grid-scale energy storage technologies.
Validate: Enabling independent testing of next-generation grid energy storage materials and systems under realistic grid operating conditions.
Accelerate: Reducing risk and speeding the development of new technologies, from benchtop to systems for deployment, by propagating rigorous performance requirements to all stages of grid storage development.

DOE and Community Input

GSL is a Department of Energy national capability that will develop technologies to address the nation’s decarbonization and resiliency goals. GSL capabilities and research will be guided by both DOE and community input. The GSL - DOE Coordination Team will align GSL capabilities with DOE and OE missions and coordinate GSL efforts across other DOE programs and national laboratory resources. The GSL - External Steering Group will help PNNL and DOE identify how GSL capabilities can address the most important opportunities and challenges to accelerate the development of next generation energy storage technologies for U.S industry.