Notice

Longer Duration Energy Storage Demonstration competition: Stream 2 first-of-a-kind prototypes (contracts) (closed to applications)

Stream 2 of this competition aims to accelerate commercialisation of innovative longer duration energy storage projects through to first-of-a-kind (FOAK) full-system prototypes.

This publication was withdrawn on

This competition is closed: see the resulting projects.

Documents

Longer Duration Energy Storage Demonstration Programme, Stream 2 Phase 1 projects

Longer Duration Energy Storage Demonstration Programme, Stream 2 Phase 2 projects

Details

This competition aims to accelerate commercialisation of innovative longer duration energy storage projects through to actual demonstrations (Stream 1) or to first-of-a-kind (FOAK) full-system prototypes (Stream 2).

We looked for proposals for electrical storage, thermal storage and power-to-x technologies which can provide novel grid services and demonstrate cost reductions and improvement in technology performance.

They were not to include commercial solutions such as pumped hydro or lithium ion.

The competition had 2 Streams. See Stream 1 for pre-commercial demonstrator grants

Stream 2: Pre-commercial first-of-a-kind prototype proposals (contracts) - overview

Stream 2 of the competition was focused on pre-commercial FOAK prototype proposals.

To be in scope technologies must:

  • not be commercially deployed in the UK or elsewhere
  • be at technology readiness level (TRL) 4 or 5

£30.5 million of competition funding was available for Stream 2 and was awarded using the Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) contracts approach:

  • a maximum of £1.5 million for Phase 1 feasibility studies, with a maximum value of £150,000 per project. We intend to fund around 12 projects in Phase 1
  • £29 million allotted to Phase 2 demonstration projects, with the maximum expected funding per project of £9.45 million. We intended to fund around 3 projects in Phase 2

The competition closed to applications in September 2021. We held a competition event on 17 June 2021 to support applicants in developing their application.

Updates to this page

Published 3 June 2021
Last updated 17 September 2021 + show all updates
  1. This competition is now closed to applications.

  2. Competition guidance updated: academic, research, public, third sector and/or community organisations can apply to the competition as sole applicants, they are not required to partner with private sector organisations - see criterion 10, section 5.1 on p. 32 of the Stream 2 competition guidance.

  3. Competition guidance updated to change submission date to 13 August 2021. Annex 4: Project cost breakdown form added.

  4. First published.

Sign up for emails or print this page