DOE Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations

It’s time for Project Management 101. 🎓 To ensure the success of OCED-funded demonstration projects, our team is focused on demonstration project management oversight excellence. What does that mean? It means we provide oversight and expert guidance to our partners every step of the way as they embark on capital-intensive, large-scale demonstration projects. From applications to full operations, we’re shepherding in the next generation of clean energy technologies. Keep an eye out for another Project Management 101 soon! Learn more about OCED’s mission and mandate here: https://lnkd.in/emTPKsEm

Award Wednesday Announcements: • Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs Program: OCED awarded the Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Hub—led by Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Association (PNWH2)—with $27.5 million in Phase 1 funding out of the total federal cost share of up to $1 billion. The Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Hub aims to reduce emissions in hard-to-decarbonize industries including transportation, agriculture and electricity generation, with the ultimate goal of reducing carbon emissions by approximately 1.7 million metric tons per year—roughly the equivalent to annual emissions of 400,000 gasoline-powered cars. • Long-Duration Energy Storage (LDES) Demonstrations Program: OCED awarded the Stored Rechargeable Energy Demonstration (STORED) project—led by Urban Electric Power (UEP) in collaboration with the New York Power Authority and EPRI—more than $675,000 in Phase 1 funding out of the total federal cost share of up to $6.5 million. UEP plans to develop and build two LDES systems using its own rechargeable zinc-manganese dioxide batteries that together provide up to 600 kW of power for up to 12 hours per discharge to provide load management and power resilience. Learn more about these awards here: https://lnkd.in/eYAZxxc2 To stay up-to-date on all future awards, funding opportunities, news announcements, upcoming events, and more, sign up for our newsletter: https://lnkd.in/eDJVVENA

Award Wednesday Announcement!  This week, OCED awarded two projects to begin Phase 1 planning and development activities: Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs Program: OCED awarded the California Hydrogen Hub—led by ARCHES H2—with $30 million for the first tranche of funding (of the total project federal cost share of up to $1.2 billion). The California Hydrogen Hub aims to create a network of clean hydrogen production sites that incorporate multiple facilities at California ports, with the ultimate goal of decarbonizing public transportation, heavy duty trucking, and port operations by 2 million metric tons per year—roughly the equivalent to annual emissions of 445,000 gasoline-powered cars. Long-Duration Energy Storage Demonstrations (LDES) Program: OCED awarded Columbia Energy Storage Project—led by Alliant Energy—with more than $7 million for the first tranche of funding (of the total project federal cost share of up to $30.7 million). Alliant Energy plans to construct a grid-tied compressed carbon dioxide (CO2) LDES system at the Columbia Energy Center, a soon-to-be retired coal-fired power plant in Pacific, WI. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/eQrpiEbb To stay up to date on all future awards, funding opportunities, news announcements, upcoming events, and more, sign up here: https://lnkd.in/eDJVVENA

From awarding more than $10 million in funding to three projects to announcing our intent to fund up to $900 million to support initial U.S. deployments of Gen III+ Small Modular Reactor technologies, June was a busy month for OCED. See what we’ve been up to in our June newsletter: https://lnkd.in/e5EJdh7i

Award Wednesday Announcement! OCED awarded $1M in federal funding (of the total federal cost share of up to $10 million) to the Long-Duration Energy Storage (LDES) Demonstrations Program's Communities Accessing Resilient Energy Storage (CARES) project, led by ReJoule, to begin planning activities in Phase 1. The CARES project plans to demonstrate ways to maximize the value of used batteries by repurposing lithium-ion batteries from electric vehicles to build modular energy storage systems for behind-the-meter microgrid installations. The installations will vary in size and usage and have the potential to demonstrate a diverse portfolio of repurposed lithium-ion batteries with 10+ hours of continuous discharge, support larger microgrids and grid storage, and offer a clean-energy alternative to fossil fuel-powered peaker plants. The CARES project will be located in Red Lake Nation, MN; Santa Fe, NM; and Petaluma, CA. To stay up-to-date on all future awards, funding opportunities, news announcements, upcoming events, and more, sign up for our newsletter: https://lnkd.in/eDJVVENA

🗓️ WEBINAR TODAY: Plan to join DOE Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED) and Office of Nuclear Energy, U.S. Department of Energy for an informational webinar about the DOE’s recent Notice of Intent to fund up to $900M to catalyze the deployment of Generation III+ Small Modular Reactors. Webinar starts at 1 p.m., ET. Register here: https://lnkd.in/ee7MnKUA

Award Wednesday Announcement! OCED awarded $12.5M (of the total federal cost share of up to $270 million) to the Carbon Capture Demonstration Project Program’s Baytown Carbon Capture and Storage Project, led by Calpine Texas CCUS Holdings, an indirect subsidiary of Calpine, to begin activities in Phase 1. Calpine plans to build a carbon capture demonstration facility that would capture carbon dioxide (CO2) from the Baytown Energy Center, a natural gas combined power plant in Baytown, Texas. During Phase 1, Calpine will complete an integrated Front-End Engineering and Design (FEED) study to determine the specifications for CO2 capture, transport, and storage components. During this phase, the project team will also start workforce planning, project permitting, and complete a National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review process. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/ex-wrZJ4. To stay up-to-date on all future awards, funding opportunities, news announcements, upcoming events, and more, sign up for our newsletter: https://lnkd.in/eDJVVENA

Today, OCED issued a Notice of Intent for up to $100M to fund pilot-scale energy storage demonstration projects, focusing on non-lithium technologies, long-duration (10+ hour discharge) systems, and stationary storage applications. With this funding, OCED aims to support the advancement of a diverse set of long-duration energy storage (LDES) technologies towards commercial viability and utility-scale deployment, an integral ingredient in a clean, reliable grid system to achieve a net-zero emissions clean energy economy. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/eMgfbm5j

Award Wednesday Announcement! OCED awarded nearly $1M (of the total project federal cost share of up to $10 million) to the Long-Duration Energy Storage Demonstrations (LDES) Program's Second Life Smart Systems (SMART) project, led by Smartville Inc. With the growing supply of retired EV batteries that still hold energy value, and sustained demand for energy storage systems, Smartville’s second-life battery solution was designed to repurpose spent EV batteries and unlock their untapped value. The SMART project aims to demonstrate the viability of repurposed lithium-ion electric vehicle (EV) batteries in LDES systems across a range of use cases, environments, and sizes—from smaller scale (50kW x 10 hour) to larger scale (200kW x 10 hour). Across its several locations, the SMART project plans to improve grid resilience, support EV charging, facilitate clean energy technologies for use in a town renovation project, and offer educational and training opportunities at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Learn more: https://lnkd.in/eRr6qP6X To stay up-to-date on all future awards, funding opportunities, news announcements, upcoming events, and more, sign up for our newsletter: https://lnkd.in/eDJVVENA

Award Wednesday (our office was out in observance of Juneteenth)!  OCED awarded nearly $5.5M to the Long-Duration Energy Storage Demonstrations (LDES) Program's Pumped Thermal Energy Storage in Alaska Railbelt (POLAR) project, led by Westinghouse Electric Company in collaboration with Echogen Power Systems. The project will build a Pumped Thermal Energy Storage system at a power plant in Healy Alaska that is slated to retire one of its two coal-fired generation units. The POLAR project will work with a planned wind power system at the plant to fill the gap in power generation with clean, reliable energy that will bring economic benefits and offer improved air quality to the region. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/eyshB6Pu To stay up-to-date on all future awards, funding opportunities, news announcements, upcoming events, and more, sign up for our newsletter: https://lnkd.in/eDJVVENA