The purpose of this solicitation is to fund technology demonstration and deployment projects that accelerate commercialization and validate the capability of long-duration energy storage (LDES) technologies to improve grid reliability and resilience in disadvantaged communities (DACs), low-income communities (LICs), and California Native American Tribes (Tribes). This solicitation supports the EPIC Interim Investment Plan Initiative 4 titled “Optimizing Long-Duration Energy Storage to Improve Grid Resiliency and Reliability in Under-resourced Communities.”
This solicitation seeks to accelerate the commercialization of promising long-duration storage technologies by demonstrating their technical readiness and commercial scale-up potential at durations of 24 hours or more in real-world environments.
Minimum Requirements:
The following describes the minimum requirements that applicants must include in their proposal:
This solicitation is open to non-Li-ion electrochemical or thermal long-duration storage technologies with a full rated power of at least 100 kW and a minimum duration of 24 hours
Proposed technologies under this solicitation should have the ability to achieve a Levelized Cost of Storage (LCOS) of 5 cents/kWh or less at scale consistent with ARPA-E goals.
Demonstration sites must be located in a California IOU service territory.
- The targeted community and customers must be located in or benefitting DAC, LIC, or Tribe. Applicants must provide the address and coordinates (latitude and longitude in degrees) with a precision of at least six decimal places. The site of LDES system is not required to be located in a DAC, LIC or Tribe.
- The proposed applications of LDES systems must provide direct benefits to the residents of the identified communities such as higher resiliency, increased reliability, reduced energy demand, improved air quality, and lower utility bills.
- The proposed LDES systems must stay in operation for at least one year before the end of the grant agreement, and the recipient must complete this period at least six months prior to the end of the agreement. This requirement ensures that sufficient data on the system's performance and capabilities can be gathered and analyzed to validate its performance.
Amount Available and Minimum/ Maximum Funding Amounts
There is up to $29,200,000 available for grants awarded under this solicitation. The minimum funding amount for each project is $4,000,000. The maximum funding amount is $9,000,000.
Match Funding Requirement
Match funding is required in the amount of at least 20% of the requested project funds.
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