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The Need

Grid energy storage is critical to a future resilient and flexible U.S. electric grid that will enable decarbonization of energy supply, ensure transition of cars from oil to electric, and unlock a broad array of economic and societal benefits for all U.S. citizens.

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in Richland, Washington will be the home to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Electricity’s (OE) new $75 million facility, the Grid Storage Launchpad (GSL), a national grid energy storage research and development (R&D) facility that includes investments from the State of Washington, Battelle, and PNNL.

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 monthly webinar series, Energy Storage @PNNL, featuring PNNL’s foremost experts in energy storage technologies.

Learn more and register for a webinar today!

GSL’s goal is to accelerate the development and deployment of next generation grid storage technologies through systematic and independent validation - from basic materials and components to prototypes that enable technologies that are safer, more cost effective, and more durable. Strategic funding from the State of Washington, Battelle and PNNL provide further support for GSL equipment and research and development activities that complement the DOE OE investment.

The facility will foster collaboration between national labs and other stakeholders to support OE’s mission, the Energy Storage Grand Challenge, and the Long Duration Storage Shot.

Through independent testing and validation of grid energy storage technologies, the GSL facility will develop and  implement 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 four outcomes that address critical challenges in grid energy storage development:

• Validate: Independent testing of next-generation energy storage materials and systems (less than 100kW) under realistic grid operating conditions.

• Accelerate: Reduce risk and speed development of new technologies by propagating rigorous grid performance requirements to all stages of development.
• Collaborate: Link DOE and storage R&D communities in a new collaboration center to solve key crosscutting challenges.
• Educate: Provide standardized training and development of the next generation workforce, from skilled labor to first responders and safety officials, to utility planners and regulators.

DOE and Community Input

Fundamental Capabilities:

• Materials synthesis and processing
• In-operando characterization
• Small-scale cell fabrication
• KW-scale testing and validation
• Advanced prototyping
• Analytics and visualization
• Standards development