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Electrified Thermal Solutions

DOE Announces Energy Storage Innovations Prize Winners

AMERICAN-MADE CHALLENGE CALLS FOR INNOVATIVE AND EMERGING SOLUTIONS TO LONG-DURATION GRID-SCALE ENERGY STORAGE 

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Electricity (OE) today announced the ten winners of the inaugural American-Made Energy Storage Innovations Prize. The American-Made Challenge calls for solutions to grid-scale energy storage. The prize is $300,000. 

The Energy Storage Innovations Prize focuses on nascent and emerging technologies that disrupt or advance current state-of-the-art energy storage research areas. As part of DOE’s Storage Innovations 2030 Initiative, this prize is helping industry develop new technologies that have greatest potential to meet grid reliability, equity, and decarbonization goals.  

“Cost-effective, long-duration, and grid-scale energy storage is essential to supporting the nation’s electric infrastructure in the transition to clean energy,” said Gene Rodrigues, OE Assistant Secretary for Electricity. “The Energy Storage Innovations Prize showcases American innovation across a wide spectrum of energy storage research areas.” 

Of the ten winning teams, OE announced five “Storage Innovations Champions” to receive $50,000 each and five “Storage Innovations Finalists” to receive $10,000 each. These finalists represent an essential part of our country’s innovative minds. To recognize their contributions, all winning teams may be included in a future Report to Congress focusing on the state of energy storage innovations in the United States. 

Energy Storage Innovations Prize Winners. Video courtesy of the Department of Energy

Storage Innovations Champions: 

  • Cryostone, Houston, TX 
  • RCAM Technologies, Los Angeles, CA 
  • Gravity Power LLC, Santa Barbara, CA 
  • Electrified Thermal Solutions, Medford, MA 
  • KineticCore Solutions, Loveland, CO 

Storage Innovations Finalists: 

  • Rondo Energy, Alameda, CA 
  • Thermal Battery Corporation, Cambridge, MA 
  • THEMES LLC, Houston, TX 
  • NerG Solutions, Knoxville, TN 
  • Cache Energy, Champaign, IL 

Submissions were judged on the innovation’s quality, including a pathway to DOE’s levelized cost of storage goals, strength of plan, and other unique benefits, such as supply chain considerations and equity.  

The Energy Storage Innovations prize also supports the Energy Storage Grand Challenge and Long Duration Storage Shot. These initiatives aim to reduce by 2030 the cost of grid-scale energy storage by 90% for systems that deliver 10 or more hours of electricity. DOE is considering all types of technologies, including electrochemical, mechanical, thermal, chemical carriers, and more. 

Learn more about each of the Champion and Finalist proposals at a virtual networking event on Wednesday, March 1 at 12 p.m. EST. During this event, each winning team will have 5-10 minutes to introduce their emerging technology proposal to industry experts and potential collaborators. 

Learn more about the Office of Electricity. 

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Senior Program Coordinator - Carbon Management, GPI

Carrie Danner joined the Great Plains Institute in 2023 and serves as the operations coordinator for the Carbon Management team. In her work, she supports all projects within the program to elevate operations, specifically in the grant making and event planning spaces. Carrie earned a bachelor’s degree from Knox College in environmental studies. Prior to joining GPI, she supported programs at the Conservation Corps of Minnesota & Iowa as their member experience administrator.

Carbon Management Program Associate, GPI

Alana joined GPI in 2024 as a program associate on the Carbon Management team, specifically supporting the Industrial Innovation Initiative, where she helps to advance industrial decarbonization through GPI’s consensus-building approach. Alana previously worked as an account executive at Jamf, where she helped current K-12 education customers improve and scale the management and security of their Apple device deployments. Alana has spent most of her professional years working with Minnesota nonprofits, including two years as an AmeriCorps member with Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity.  She holds a bachelor’s degree in community environmental studies from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.

Ankita Gangotra, Associate, WRI

Dr. Ankita Gangotra is an Associate in WRI’s US Climate Program, researching avenues to decarbonize the industrial sector, focusing on cement and steel decarbonization, environmental trade policies and international cooperation. Prior to joining WRI, Ankita was a postdoctoral research fellow in the School of Foreign Service and the Department of Physics at Georgetown University. Her research looked at the readily available technology and policy options for upgrading low-carbon cement production in the United States. Ankita has an integrated Master's in Electronics Engineering with Nanotechnology from the University of York, UK (2015) and a Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Auckland, New Zealand (2020). During her time in New Zealand, Ankita interned at the Office of the Prime Minister's Chief Science Advisor looking into equity, diversity and inclusion policy options for New Zealand’s science, research and innovation workforce.

Carrie Dellesky, Program and Outreach Manager, Carbon Removal and Industrial Innovation, WRI

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Zachary Byrum, Research Analyst, WRI

Zachary Byrum is a Research Analyst in WRI's U.S. Climate Program, where he provides technology and policy analysis for carbon removal and deep decarbonization. His work focuses on pathways to reduce industrial emissions as well as bolstering technological carbon removal. Prior to WRI, Zach was a research assistant in the Carbon Management Research Initiative at the Center on Global Energy Policy. In the preceding years, he served as White House Intern in the National Economic Council under the Obama Administration and then an assistant analyst at the Congressional Budget Office. Zach holds a Master of Public Administration in Environmental Science and Policy from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University and a B.A. in Economics and Political Science from Goucher College.

Katie Lebling, Associate, WRI

Katie Lebling is an Associate in WRI's Climate Program where she works on research and analysis of technological carbon removal approaches and industrial decarbonization. Before joining WRI, she worked at The Asia Group, and interned at the Woodrow Wilson Center’s China Environment Forum and the Treasury Department’s Office of Environment and Energy. She holds a Master's degree from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Energy, Resources, and the Environment, where she spent one year of the program studying in Nanjing, China, and has a B.A. from Colby College in Biology and Chinese language.

Debbie Weyl, Deputy Director, WRI United States

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Patrice Lahlum, Vice President of Carbon Management, GPI

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Jill Syvrud, Senior Program Manager, Carbon Management, GPI

Jill Syvrud joined the Great Plains Institute in 2017 and serves as the program manager for the Carbon Management Program. In addition to overseeing the overall program, Jill directly supports the Industrial Innovation Initiative, a coalition advancing decarbonization solutions for the Midcontinent region’s most important industrial sectors. Jill earned a bachelor of science in biology from the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire and a master of science degree in science technology and environmental policy from the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs. Jill’s past experience includes multiple graduate research assistantships concentrating on technology innovation and sustainable megacities along and a previous position as an administrative and outreach coordination intern with the Midwest Renewable Energy Association.