§16315 Electricity Storage Research Initiative

Summary

The Secretary must set up and run a program called the Electricity Storage Research Initiative to improve basic science about how to store and convert electricity and chemical energy, to study what happens inside solids, polymers, and liquids, and to help the United States stay competitive while reducing environmental harm. The program must use people and tools from the Office of Basic Energy Sciences, the Advanced Scientific Computing Research program, the Biological and Environmental Research program, the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, and other Energy Department offices. It must form teams from National Laboratories, colleges, and the private sector, give them enough money, and set clear research milestones. The Secretary can also use Energy Frontier Research Centers, Energy Innovation Hubs, or other structures. The Initiative must run three focused research programs. One studies multivalent ion materials and requires the Office of Basic Energy Sciences to investigate electrochemical behavior while EERE supports development and testing; it gets $50,000,000 each year for fiscal years 2023 through 2027. A second models organic electrolytes at the molecular and atomic level and directs Basic Energy Sciences and Advanced Scientific Computing Research to build high-performance computing tools, with EERE supporting development; it also gets $50,000,000 each year for fiscal years 2023 through 2027. A third studies electrochemistry in confined mesoscale spaces, with Basic Energy Sciences and Biological and Environmental Research leading the science and EERE supporting development; it gets $20,000,000 each year for fiscal years 2023 through 2027. The Secretary must review each program’s progress against technical milestones.