DOE to Help Fund Innovative Energy Storage Systems

The U.S. Department of Energy has announced the selection of 10 projects as part of a new Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) program, Duration Addition to electricitY Storage (DAYS). Awardees will develop energy storage systems to provide reliable, affordable power to the electric grid for up to 100 hours, enhancing grid resilience and performance. Under Secretary for Science Paul Dabbar announced the DAYS awardees today at the Innovation XLab Energy Storage Summit at SLAC National Laboratory.

“The Department of Energy is committed to researching innovative energy technologies and discovering opportunities to make America’s energy infrastructure more competitive and more secure,” said Under Secretary Dabbar. “The DAYS awardees will take a good look at what tomorrow’s grid-scale storage could be, and work to develop the technologies that get us there.”

One of the projects selected that the DOE highlighted in a post were the Improved Laughlin-Brayton Cycle Energy Storage system by Brayton Energy Hampton, NH. The Brayton Energy team received $1,994,005 to develop an energy storage system that combines thermal storage and a gas turbine to generate power.

When the system is charging, an electrically driven heat pump will accumulate thermal energy in a molten salt solution, which can then be discharged later by heating gas and sending it through the generation turbine. Brayton Energy’s innovation lies in their reversible turbine design, in which each turbine acts as the compression stage for the other, whether during charging or discharging. This approach simplifies the system and increases durability.

Click here to see a full list of the projects.