WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Office of U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine) announced that Senator King, a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, led a bipartisan group of 10 Senators, including Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine) in a letter advocating for long-term energy storage funding and research and development coordination as the Department of Energy (DOE) works with associated National Laboratories throughout the country. In the letter to Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette, the Senators highlight their support for the Energy Storage Grand Challenge (ESGC), which aims to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign sources of energy, develop the clean energy economy, and decrease use of fossil fuels.

“There is broad, bipartisan consensus that energy storage is the key to achieving a clean energy economy,” wrote the Senators. “Whether long-duration or mobile, storage will reshape our energy future—through the deployment of a suite of energy storage technologies, we’ll have the ability to integrate variable resources like wind and solar which will increase load balancing and avoid costly transmission buildouts; help electrify our transportation sector; and reduce our reliance on foreign fossil fuels.”

“The Energy Storage Grand Challenge will increase coordination across the DOE on energy storage issues through the program’s focused, cross-cutting goals, and help expand our ability to leverage expertise and funding within the Department, at our National Labs, and with our partners in academia and the private sector,” continued the Senators. “We applaud the ESGC’s attention to RD&D of long-duration energy storage and the creation of a stable and reliable domestic supply chain for storage technologies and the materials required to build them. Innovation in both of these areas will be critical for the U.S. to maintain and strengthen its leadership in energy storage.”

“As residents of a resource development state with often-extreme weather conditions, Alaskans have long embraced an all-of-the-above energy strategy and recognize that energy storage can reduce emissions while improving grid resilience and reliability," said Senator Lisa Murkowski, Chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. "I thank Secretary Brouillette and his team for their continued leadership in accelerating the deployment of advanced energy storage technologies.”

“The U.S. needs a roadmap for energy storage innovation with strong bipartisan support, and DOE’s Energy Storage Grand Challenge is a good start in that direction,” said Robert Cowin, Director of Government Affairs, Climate and Energy, Union of Concerned Scientists. “Our electricity grid is aging, vulnerable to outages, and inadequate to the task of integrating high levels of clean energy and new technologies.  Advancements in energy storage, driven by federal R&D, will fundamentally change the way we produce and use electricity, strengthening our national security and energy security, while helping to create a cleaner, more resilient electricity grid.”

"The United States can be the global leader of the energy storage industry,” said Addison Stark, Associate Director for Energy Innovation, Bipartisan Policy Center. “We have always led through innovation, and the Department of Energy’s proposed Energy Storage Grand Challenge roadmap correctly highlights the need to aggressively and strategically invest in the full energy storage innovation lifecycle. This is an area of clear bipartisan agreement. We look forward to working with Congress and the DOE to advance this important clean energy technology.”

“The DOE has historically tackled some of the nation’s most complicated energy challenges by aligning the U.S. innovation machine’s resources and competencies towards ambitious goals,” said Rich Powell, Executive Director at ClearPath. “Over $100 million annually is spent on the research and development of different energy storage technologies across the DOE, but that work was not always aligned towards unified outcomes. The Energy Storage Grand Challenge is a bold outcome-oriented program. Focusing on the various storage-related R&D programs around the development of grid-scale non-lithium ion storage technologies would increase stewardship of taxpayer dollars, facilitate efficiency and reliability improvements for the American electricity grid, and provide the best shot at an innovation breakthrough.”   

A forceful advocate for clean energy solutions wherever they can be found, Senator King is a founding member of the bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus, and a lead sponsor on a range of bills that encourage energy efficiency and research on clean energy technologies, such as the Battery and Critical Mineral Recycling Act which aims to incentivize the recycling of rechargeable and electrochemical batteries needed to meet the United States’ growing clean energy needs and decrease dependence on critical mineral imports, and the Joint Long-Term Storage Act, which seeks to speed up deployment of long-duration energy storage technologies through strategic collaboration between federal agencies.

Senator King is a cosponsor of the Renewable Electricity Standard Act of 2019 which would put the U.S. on a trajectory to decarbonize the power sector by 2050, and the Clean Economy Act which would address the need for bold climate action and at the same time boosts American competitiveness, promotes healthier communities and fosters a growing economy that works for everyone. Senator King focused the December 2019 edition of Inside Maine on the impact of climate change in Maine, as well as emerging bipartisan solutions to address this global existential crisis. In July, Senator King took to the Senate floor to urge bold and meaningful action to mitigate the threat of climate change. He also continues to speak out to encourage the administration to rejoin the Paris Climate Accord and reaffirm U.S. leadership in the fight against global climate change.

In addition to Senators King and Collins, the following U.S. Senators signed the letter: Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Richard Burr (R-N.C.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-N.M.), and Martha McSally (R-Ariz.).

The full letter can be read below or downloaded HERE.

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Dear Secretary Brouillette,

We write in response to the Request for Information (RFI) published by the Department of Energy (DOE or the Department) regarding the Energy Storage Grand Challenge (ESGC). As members of Congress and strong supporters of efforts to accelerate the research, development, and deployment (RD&D) of advanced energy storage technologies, we are glad that the Department is taking the issue of storage seriously and refocusing its efforts through this comprehensive, cross-cutting roadmap.

There is broad, bipartisan consensus that energy storage is the key to achieving a clean energy economy. Whether long-duration or mobile, storage will reshape our energy future—through the deployment of a suite of energy storage technologies, we’ll have the ability to integrate variable resources like wind and solar which will increase load balancing and avoid costly transmission buildouts; help electrify our transportation sector; and reduce our reliance on foreign fossil fuels.

The Energy Storage Grand Challenge will increase coordination across the DOE on energy storage issues through the program’s focused, cross-cutting goals, and help expand our ability to leverage expertise and funding within the Department, at our National Labs, and with our partners in academia and the private sector. We applaud the ESGC’s attention to RD&D of long-duration energy storage and the creation of a stable and reliable domestic supply chain for storage technologies and the materials required to build them. Innovation in both of these areas will be critical for the U.S. to maintain and strengthen its leadership in energy storage.

Congress remains deeply engaged on energy storage policy, and we will continue to seek out ways to reduce barriers to its deployment at grid-scale. We look forward to working with the Department as the final ESCG Roadmap is released, and want to recognize the promising research that has already come out of our National Labs and projects like ARPA-E’s DAYS program. Effective and long-lasting energy storage technologies will reduce our carbon footprint, increase the reliability, flexibility, and resiliency of our electric grid, and improve our national security. With so many benefits and opportunities, advancing innovation in energy storage is something we can and must work together on.