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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 245 (Friday, December 20, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 104129-104132]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-30390]

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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Notice of Availability: Draft Energy Storage Strategy and Roadmap

AGENCY: Department of Energy (DOE).

ACTION: Notice of availability; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE or the Department) seeks 
public comment to inform development of its Energy Storage Strategy and 
Roadmap (SRM). DOE is seeking input from the public, especially from 
interested individuals and entities, such as industry, academia, 
research laboratories, government agencies, and other stakeholders in 
the energy storage sector, on its draft Energy Storage SRM. This 
opportunity is solely for information gathering and planning purposes; 
it does not constitute a

[[Page 104130]]

Request for Proposals (RFP). Information received may be used to assist 
DOE in planning the scope of future technology studies, deployment, or 
technology commercialization efforts and may be shared with other 
Federal agencies. DOE may also use information received to expand and 
facilitate public access to DOE's resources, and to mobilize investment 
in U.S. energy storage technologies as well as ancillary technologies 
and efforts that will enable commercialization and widespread adoption. 
The information collected may be used for internal DOE planning and 
decision-making to ensure that future activities maximize public 
benefit while advancing reliable, sustainable, and affordable energy 
storage solutions.

DATES: Written comments and information are requested on or before 
February 3, 2025 and must be received no later than 11:59 p.m. eastern 
time (ET) on that date. Written submissions received after the deadline 
may not be considered. DOE will not reply individually to responders 
but will consider all comments submitted by the deadline.

ADDRESSES: 
    Instructions: Comments must be submitted electronically to 
[email protected], with the subject line ``Energy Storage SRM--
Comments''. Only electronic responses will be accepted. DOE will not 
accept hand-delivered submissions.
    Requirements for Submissions: To be assured of consideration, 
submit any written comments by the deadline. All submissions must be in 
English. Responses must be provided as a Microsoft Word (.doc) or 
(.docx) attachment to the email with no more than 10 pages in length. 
Comments submitted should be machine-readable and should not be copy-
protected. Comments must include the following responder information: 
company/institution name (if applicable); company/institution/
individual contact name; contact's address, phone number, and email 
address; and a self-identified respondent category (see SUPPLEMENTARY 
INFORMATION). This information may be used if there are issues or 
questions with the comment submission. DOE may not consider submissions 
that you do not make in accordance with these instructions.
    Response Guidance: To facilitate comment submission, DOE is 
providing a comment template at https://www.energy.gov/oe/draft-energy-storage-strategy-and-roadmap-stakeholder-comment. Use of this template 
is not required; however, any comments provided must reference the 
relevant page and line number in the draft Energy Storage SRM. If a 
comment addresses a table or figure, that cross-reference should be 
provided. To assist DOE's review of submitted comments, for each 
comment, please indicate a comment type from the following list: 
editorial; technical; reference; or other. See the provided template 
for guidance on each comment type.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information 
may be submitted electronically to Caitlin Callaghan at 
[email protected], or at (202) 586-1411. Please direct media inquiries to 
DOE Office of Public Affairs, (202) 586-4940 or [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    In January 2020, DOE launched the Energy Storage Grand Challenge 
(ESGC) to facilitate a department-wide strategy to accelerate the 
development, commercialization, and use of next-generation energy 
storage technologies and sustain American global leadership in energy 
storage. The ESGC executes DOE's overarching strategy to address energy 
storage for the benefit of all Americans. In December 2020, DOE 
released the ESGC Roadmap (https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/2020/12/f81/Energy%20Storage%20Grand%20Challenge%20Roadmap.pdf), the 
Department's first comprehensive energy storage strategy. The ESGC 
seeks to create and sustain American leadership in energy storage. In 
addition to concerted research efforts, the ESGC 2020 Roadmap's 
approach includes accelerating the transition of technologies from the 
lab to the marketplace, focusing on ways to competitively manufacture 
technologies at scale in the United States, and ensuring secure supply 
chains to enable domestic manufacturing.
    The ESGC 2020 Roadmap was developed to align DOE's energy storage 
activities toward a common goal of developing new energy storage 
technologies to help tackle challenges associated with our evolving 
electricity grid's ability to accommodate increasingly diverse energy 
sources to meet consumer needs. The ESGC 2020 Roadmap provided 
strategic direction to DOE's program activities related to energy 
storage based on the state of the industry and the research and 
development (R&D) community at that time. Since 2020, DOE has 
determined updates to the ESGC 2020 Roadmap are warranted to help 
improve the effectiveness and efficiency with which the Department 
executes its energy storage activities.
    This draft Energy Storage Strategy and Roadmap (SRM) update 
conforms to the language set forth in the ``Energy Storage System 
Research, Development, and Deployment Program'' as required by the 
Better Energy Storage Technology (BEST) section of the Energy Policy 
Act of 2020 (42 U.S.C. 17232(b)(5)). Specifically, this draft Energy 
Storage SRM updates the ESGC 2020 Roadmap (the original energy storage 
strategic plan) in consideration of the progress made across the energy 
storage sector since 2020, as well as to reflect DOE's recent 
activities in support of its energy storage mission and vision. The 
draft Energy Storage SRM can be found here: https://www.energy.gov/oe/draft-energy-storage-strategy-and-roadmap-stakeholder-comment.

Request for Written Comments

    This Notice of Availability (NOA) is to solicit feedback from 
interested individuals and entities, such as industry, academia, 
research laboratories, government agencies, and other stakeholders to 
assist DOE with identifying opportunities and challenges--both 
technical and financial--for the development, commercialization, 
production, and deployment of energy storage technologies. This notice 
is intended to improve DOE's understanding of public stakeholder views 
on how the Department could advance its energy storage activities to 
meet the needs of the American people. This notice is a general 
solicitation for public comments. This is solely a request for 
information. In issuing this NOA, DOE is not seeking to obtain or 
utilize consensus advice and/or recommendations. Comments will be 
reviewed by DOE staff and, as appropriate, DOE contractors, and may be 
used to inform DOE's energy storage activities.

Disclaimer and Important Notes

    This NOA is not a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) announcement 
or RFP for a procurement contract; therefore, DOE is not accepting 
applications or proposals at this time in response to this NOA. DOE may 
or may not elect to develop programs in the future and solicit 
contracts based on or related to the content and responses to this NOA. 
There is no guarantee that an RFP or NOFO will be issued as a result of 
this NOA. Responding to this NOA does not provide any advantage or 
disadvantage to potential applicants if DOE chooses to issue a NOFO or 
solicit a contract related to the subject matter.

[[Page 104131]]

    Any information obtained through this NOA is intended to be used by 
the Government on a non-attribution basis for planning and strategy 
development. Your responses to this NOA will be treated as information 
only. DOE will review and consider all responses as it formulates 
program strategies related to the subjects within this request. DOE 
will not provide reimbursement for costs incurred in responding to this 
NOA. Respondents are advised that DOE is under no obligation to 
acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to 
respondents with respect to any information submitted. Responses to 
this NOA do not bind DOE to any further actions related to this topic.
    Respondents are requested to provide the following information at 
the start of their response to this NOA:
     Company/institution name (if applicable);
     Company/institution/individual contact's name;
     Contact's address, phone number, and email address;
     Respondent Category.
    For the Respondent Category, please select the category that best 
represents the individual or organization from the following list: 
individual; industry; academia; research laboratory; government agency; 
other. If other, please also self-identify an appropriate category.

Proprietary Information

    Because information received in response to this NOA may be used to 
structure future programs and/or otherwise be made available to the 
public, respondents are strongly advised NOT to include any information 
in their responses that might be considered business sensitive, 
proprietary, or otherwise confidential. If, however, a respondent 
chooses to submit business sensitive, proprietary, or otherwise 
confidential information, it must be clearly and conspicuously marked 
as such in the response.

Freedom of Information Act

    Responses received under this NOA are subject to public disclosure 
under the Freedom of Information Act. Because information received in 
response to this NOA may be used to structure future programs, NOFOs, 
RFPs and/or otherwise be made available to the public, respondents are 
strongly advised to NOT include any information in their responses that 
might be considered business sensitive (e.g., commercial or financial 
information that is privileged or confidential), trade secrets, 
proprietary, or otherwise confidential.
    Consistent with 10 CFR 1004.11, DOE requires that any person 
submitting information that they believe to be confidential and exempt 
by law from public disclosure should submit two well-marked copies: one 
copy of the document marked ``confidential'' which must clearly and 
conspicuously identify the business sensitive, trade secrets, 
proprietary, or otherwise confidential information, and one copy of the 
document marked ``non-confidential'' with the information believed to 
be confidential deleted. Failure to comply with these marking 
requirements may result in the disclosure of the unmarked information 
under the Freedom of Information Act or otherwise. The Government is 
not liable for the disclosure or use of unmarked information and may 
use or disclose such information for any purpose.
    If you choose to provide business sensitive, trade secrets, 
proprietary, or otherwise confidential information, you must include a 
cover sheet marked as follows identifying the specific pages containing 
business sensitive, trade secrets, proprietary, or otherwise 
confidential information:

    Notice of Restriction on Disclosure and Use of Data: Pages [List 
Applicable Pages] of this response may contain business sensitive, 
trade secrets, proprietary, or otherwise confidential information 
that is exempt from public disclosure. Such information shall be 
used or disclosed only for the purposes described in this NOA. The 
Government may use or disclose any information that is not 
appropriately marked or otherwise restricted, regardless of source.

    In addition, (1) the header and footer of every page that contains 
business sensitive, trade secrets, proprietary, or otherwise 
confidential information must be marked as follows: ``Contains Business 
Sensitive, Trade Secrets, Proprietary, or Otherwise Confidential 
Information Exempt from Public Disclosure'' and (2) every line and 
paragraph containing such information must be clearly marked with 
double brackets or highlighting. DOE will make its own determination 
about the confidential status of the information and treat it according 
to its determination.

Marketing Information

    Any submissions that could be considered advertising or marketing 
for a specific product will be excluded.

Review by Federal and Non-Federal Personnel

    Federal employees are subject to the non-disclosure requirements of 
a criminal statute, the Trade Secrets Act, 18 U.S.C. 1905. The 
Government may seek the advice of qualified non-federal personnel. The 
Government may also use non-federal personnel to conduct routine, non-
discretionary administrative activities. The respondents, by submitting 
their response(s), consent to the DOE providing their response(s) to 
non-Federal parties. Non-Federal parties given access to responses must 
be subject to an appropriate obligation of confidentiality prior to 
being given the access. Submissions may be reviewed by support 
contractors and private consultants.

Overview of the Draft Energy Storage SRM

    The draft Energy Storage SRM represents a significantly expanded 
strategic revision on the original ESGC 2020 Roadmap. This SRM outlines 
actions that implement the strategic objectives facilitating safe, 
beneficial and timely storage deployment; empower decisionmakers by 
providing data-driven information analysis; and leverage the country's 
global leadership to advance durable engagement throughout the 
innovation ecosystem. The underlying motivation for DOE's strategic 
investment in energy storage is to ensure that the American people will 
have access to energy storage innovations that enable resilient, 
flexible, affordable, and secure energy systems and supply, for 
everyone, everywhere. This updated SRM presents a clarified mission and 
vision, a strategic approach, and a path forward to achieving specific 
objectives that empower a self-sustaining energy storage ecosystem that 
develops, delivers, and deploys breakthrough solutions to meet a range 
of real-world applications, across multiple time horizons. This SRM 
does not address new policy actions, nor does it specify budgets and 
resources for future activities.
    The draft Energy Storage SRM is structured as follows:
    Introduction providing the context for the present draft of the 
SRM.
    Section 1 of this SRM presents the mission and vision driving DOE's 
energy storage activities across various DOE programs and offices. The 
mission identifies the purpose of DOE's coordinated energy storage 
efforts while the vision describes the desired end-state for this SRM.
    Section 2 describes the strategic approach and high-level direction 
for DOE's energy storage research, development, demonstration, and 
deployment (RDD&D) activities that

[[Page 104132]]

establishes the blueprint for DOE's energy storage roadmap (Section 5). 
The roadmap provides more tactical direction, informed by the mission, 
vision, and strategic approach.
    Section 3 presents an overview of the types of DOE activities that 
support DOE's Energy Storage SRM. Activities include not only 
conventional research activities, but also those efforts that are 
foundational and crosscutting in support of the mission and vision of 
the SRM as well as stakeholder engagements. Representative activities 
are identified in the appendix.
    Section 4 describes the portfolio of energy storage technologies 
and highlights opportunities for future DOE investment based on the 
current landscape of technologies and use cases.
    Section 5 describes the path forward to achieve the strategic 
objectives and vision of this Energy Storage SRM. This section 
highlights DOE activities to facilitate technology innovation and 
deployment, to empower decision-makers, and to strengthen collaboration 
throughout the energy storage ecosystem.
    Finally, Section 6 summarizes anticipated outcomes and next steps 
over the next decade as DOE works to implement this Energy Storage SRM.
    The appendices provide additional context for the Energy Storage 
SRM:
    Appendix A identifies DOE offices with relevant energy storage R&D 
programs.
    Appendix B provides a list of acronyms used in this document.
    Appendix C provides a list of key terms and definitions used in 
this document.
    Appendix D provides updates to the ESGC 2020 Roadmap action items 
and targets; it also describes major transitions from the ESGC 2020 
Roadmap to the current SRM.
    Appendix E identifies representative DOE activities contributing to 
DOE's energy storage portfolio.
    Appendix F reviews the relevant 2015 Grid Modernization Initiative 
Multi-Year Program Plan (GMI MYPP) energy storage activities and 
provides updates on recommended tasks. Additionally, relevant elements 
of the GMI MYPP 2020 Update are also discussed.
    Appendix G highlights relevant policy and regulatory drivers 
impacting the energy storage landscape.
    Appendix H highlights representative examples of DOE's 
international energy storage activities and initiatives.
    Appendix I summarizes the recommendations from the Electricity 
Advisory Committee's 2022 Biennial Energy Storage Review, which focused 
on the ESGC 2020 Roadmap.
    DOE is seeking general feedback on the draft Energy Storage SRM as 
part of its process to update the ESGC 2020 Roadmap.

Signing Authority

    This document of the Department of Energy was signed on December 4, 
2024, by Gene Rodrigues, Assistant Secretary for the Office of 
Electricity, pursuant to delegated authority from the Secretary of 
Energy. That document with the original signature and date is 
maintained by DOE. For administrative purposes only, and in compliance 
with requirements of the Office of the Federal Register, the 
undersigned DOE Federal Register Liaison Officer has been authorized to 
sign and submit the document in electronic format for publication, as 
an official document of the Department of Energy. This administrative 
process in no way alters the legal effect of this document upon 
publication in the Federal Register.

    Signed in Washington, DC, on December 17, 2024.
Treena V. Garrett,
Federal Register Liaison Officer, U.S. Department of Energy.
[FR Doc. 2024-30390 Filed 12-19-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P
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