DOE begins development of Grid Storage Launchpad at Pacific Northwest National Lab

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has begun the process of building the Grid Storage Launchpad (GSL), a $75 million facility located at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in Richland, Wash.

The goal of the Grid Storage Launchpad is to boost clean energy adaptation and accelerate the development of low-cost grid energy storage. The facility will include 30 research laboratories built to assess prototypes and new grid energy storage technologies under real-world grid operating conditions. The GSL will include flexible workstations and collaboration spaces, including Fellowship Labs — dedicated space for researchers to incubate storage technologies.

“The Grid Storage Launchpad facility will bring together researchers and industry from around the country to modernize and add flexibility to the power grid, advance storage technologies, and boost use of clean energy,” Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm said. “Deploying new grid technologies means we can get more renewable power on the system, support a growing fleet of electric vehicles, make our grid more reliable and resilient, and secure our clean energy future.”

The GSL will focus on collaboration, bringing together the DOE, multidisciplinary researchers, and industry to lower innovation barriers. It will also focus on validation by enabling independent testing of grid energy storage materials and systems under realistic grid operating conditions. Finally, it will focus on acceleration or the speed of developing new technologies through rigorous performance requirements.

“It took 40 years to get to the current state of today’s lithium-ion battery technology, but we need to move much faster to develop the long-duration, low-cost batteries needed to meet the significant challenges of decarbonizing the energy system,” PNNL Director Steven Ashby said. “The GSL will speed up the process considerably by doing the work needed to develop and deploy new grid storage technologies.”

During this phase of development, PNNL will select a design and construction contractor and begin working toward the start of construction. Construction is expected to begin late this year and be operational by 2025.