The application is due on August 26, 2009 at 3:00 PM Eastern Time. Please note: Important information regarding registration and other pre-submission requirements are included in the funding opportunity announcement (FOA). Please refer to the FOA for details.

Anticipated Notice of Selection: November 2009
Anticipated Award Date: December 2009-January 2010
Total Funding Available: $615,000,000
Award Instrument: Cooperative Agreement
Period of Performance: 3-5 years

Eligibility Requirements

All types of domestic entities are eligible to apply, except other federal agencies, Federally Funded Research and Development Center Contractors, and nonprofit organizations described in section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 that engaged in lobbying activities after December 31, 1995.

Participants receiving grants under Section 1306 of the Energy Independence and Security Act, “Federal Matching Fund for Smart Grid Investment Costs” (Smart Grid Investment Grants, DE-FOA-0000058), may apply to this program only for distinctly different projects and may not use federal funds from both programs toward the same project.

Program Description

Through this FOA the Department of Energy (DOE) seeks to support smart grid projects that include regionally unique demonstrations to verify smart grid technology viability, quantify smart grid costs and benefits, and validate new smart grid business models, at a scale that can be readily adapted and replicated around the country. Specifically, the DOE seeks to demonstrate smart grid technologies, including energy storage technologies, across the United States that embody essential and salient characteristics of each region and present a suite of use cases for national implementation and replication. From these use cases, the goal is to collect and provide the optimal amount of information necessary for customers, distributors, and generators to change their behavior in a way that reduces system demands and costs, increases energy efficiency, optimally allocates and matches demand and resources to meet that demand, and increases the reliability of the grid.

Areas of Interest
Applicants may submit more than one application; however, applicants must select and target only one Area of Interest per application.

1) Smart Grid Regional Demonstrations: Smart grid technologies of interest include advanced digital technologies for use in planning and operations of the electric power system and the electricity markets such as microprocessor-based measurement and control, communications, computing and information. Each regional demonstration project should be carried out in cooperation and collaboration with the regional electric utility. An integrated team approach that includes members of utilities, product and service suppliers, end users, state and municipal governments, Independent System Operators (ISOs) or Regional Transmission Operators (RTOs), the financial community, and others is strongly encouraged.

2) Grid-Scale Energy Storage Demonstrations: Major, utility-scale energy storage demonstration projects will help to establish costs and benefits, verify technical performance, and validate system reliability and durability, at scales that can be readily adapted and replicated around the country. Projects are also sought to demonstrate promising utility-scale storage technologies in order to advance their market readiness in the U.S. rapidly.

2.1) Battery Storage: Applications are sought to demonstrate an 8-15 MW / 4-8 hour battery storage system placed in the grid for utility load shifting or reliability. The system may be centralized or consist of aggregated, distributed units controlled centrally. Applications are also sought for systems in the same power and duration regime, for storage systems operating directly in conjunction with an established wind farm in order to make the renewable source more fully dispatchable.

2.2) Frequency Regulation Ancillary Services: Frequency regulation ancillary services are important to balancing areas, ISOs, RTOs and electricity market operations. Technology application areas include balancing generation and load to maintain system frequency within North American Electric Reliability Corporation-defined limits, maintain power transmission and distribution stability and reliability, improve regional energy efficiency, and reduce CO2 greenhouse gas emissions.

2.3) Distributed Energy Storage for Grid Support: Distributed energy storage funding should encourage applications on both the utility and customer sides of the meter. Utilities use storage to defer equipment upgrades and to reduce loads at congestion points. Customers use energy storage to improve power quality, reduce demand charges and to participate in demand response programs. This funding opportunity seeks to demonstrate energy storage projects placed on distribution circuits. The storage project should be at least 1-3 MW in size with storage discharge durations of 30 minutes to 8 hours, depending on application. Aggregated systems, centrally controlled and operated as a fleet will be considered.

2.4) Compressed Air Energy Storage: Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) plants use off-peak electricity to compress air into an air storage system. When the grid needs additional electric power, air is withdrawn from the store, heated, and passed through an expansion turbine driving an electric generator. Both above ground and below ground CAES projects will be considered for demonstration under this announcement. For above ground systems, projects in the range of 10 MW to 50 MW and 2 to 5 hours nominal energy storage capacity, or better, are desired. For below ground systems, all projects meeting the scheduling requirements of the electric service utility or ISO/RTO will be considered.

2.5) Demonstration of Promising Energy Storage Technologies: Successful applicants will deliver a prototype system that can be grid connected and electrically charged and discharged. They should seek to bring promising technologies rapidly to demonstration scale and ultimately towards market readiness. Projects submitted under this subarea shall address concepts that could revolutionize the grid-scale energy storage landscape. Proposed projects should be based on known processes and products, proven in the lab, but not yet applied and demonstrated for energy storage market application. Teaming with an industrial, university, or National Laboratory partner is desirable.

Cost Sharing

The cost share must be at least 50% of the total allowable costs for demonstration and commercial application projects and must come from non-federal sources unless otherwise allowed by law.

Topic Area	Title	Total Funding Available	Number of Awards
1	Smart Grid Demonstrations	Up to $100M	8-12
2	Energy Storage	See below	12-19 total
2.1	Battery Storage for Utility Load Shifting or for Wind Farm Diurnal Operations and Ramping Control	$40M- $50M total	1-2
2.2	Frequency Regulation Ancillary Services	$40M- $50M total	1-2
2.3	Distributed Energy Storage for Grid Support	$25M total	4-5
2.4	Compressed Air Energy Storage	$50M- $60M total	1-4
2.5	Demonstration of Promising Energy Storage Technologies	$25M total	5-6