Demonstrations of Long Duration Energy Storage (LDES) technologies are sought to meet DoW energy resilience requirements. All LDES technologies, including electrochemical, chemical, thermal, sub-surface, and others, are of interest. The LDES electric energy duration must meet DoW’s two-week islanding requirement when integrated into a military microgrid to extend on-site generation (such as solar power) and optimize efficiency. The direct use of stored thermal energy to support critical thermal loads is of interest but not required. The objective is to improve energy resilience on military installations to support mission-critical activities by reducing or eliminating reliance on vulnerable diesel fuel supply and distribution systems. 

Demonstration proposals should meet the following criteria: 

• Teams are required to include members with expertise in both the proposed LDES technology and the design and operation of a military microgrid. The team's structure is left to the proposer.
• Proposers should plan to conduct a Hardware in the Loop (HIL) demonstration, which includes the LDES hardware and microgrid controller. Other critical elements, such as on-site generation and load, can be emulated. The LDES hardware should be sized to demonstrate all critical subsystems at the scale expected for commercial deployment. The HIL testing will scale them to the LDES size required for emulating an installation microgrid (typically 5-20 MW for a large DoW installation).
• HIL demonstrations may be conducted at the National Laboratory of the Rockies (formerly known as the National Renewable Energy Laboratory) or at a candidate installation. For LDES technologies that do not plan to use the HIL facilities at the National Laboratory of the Rockies, a mobile HIL testing capability will be provided. Proposers should provide a rationale for where the tests will be conducted.
• Proposers should plan to provide, as an initial deliverable, a conceptual design and cost estimate for a microgrid that meets the 14-day outage DoW requirement for a candidate installation. Both capital and O&M costs should be estimated. The design will establish the metrics to be tested in the HIL demonstration. The cost estimate should use projected LDES costs for an initial deployment around 2030 and one in 2037.
• The demonstration must validate, through HIL testing, the ability to meet all DoW microgrid requirements, including surviving a 14-day outage and cost-effective microgrid operations that are cybersecure.
• The resulting LDES microgrid system should be designed to provide reliable power to all critical loads during a 14-day outage and be optimized for lifecycle cost-effectiveness. Relevant power quality requirements should be met.
• Any safety issue associated with the LDES should be discussed and appropriate mitigations proposed.  

Of particular interest are solutions that: 

• Are verifiably at Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) between 5 and 7; or Adoption Readiness Levels (ARL) between 5 and 7 (energy.gov/ARL).
• Have high potential to improve the resilience of military installations by reducing the need to import energy when commercial utility supplies are unavailable or disrupted.
• Solve challenges unique to enduring installations in regions of particular interest to DoW such as cold regions (e.g., arctic), remote locations (e.g., islands), and arid/water-scarce regions (e.g., southwest US).
• Recognize and take advantage of the interconnectedness and synergy of energy (thermal and electric), water (and wastewater), and control systems.
• Offer innovative business models for financing resilience improvements at installations.
• Recognize and address the cybersecurity aspects of the proposed resilience solution.
• Can clearly articulate a DoW end-user interested in adopting the technology upon completion of a successful demonstration. 

Proposals that will not be considered responsive are solutions that: 

• Are already broadly deployed across the DoW enterprise.
• Require access to large volumes of high-quality DoW data.
• Solve a need for a particular installation and are not broadly applicable across the DoW enterprise. 

A successful LDES microgrid will demonstrate increased energy resilience and reduced vulnerabilities associated with diesel fuel delivery and distribution.  DoW requires installations to implement solutions that provide power to critical loads for a minimum of 14 days in the event of an unplanned utility outage. For most installations, meeting this requirement with a significant portion of the critical load being supported by diesel generators creates an unacceptable risk to DoW missions. Eliminating this vulnerability will significantly improve an installation’s energy resilience.

As defined in 10 U.S.C. § 101(e), energy resilience is the ability to avoid, prepare for, minimize, adapt to, and recover from anticipated and unanticipated energy disruptions. Meeting mission-critical loads for 14 days has historically relied on large volumes of diesel fuel. The cost of storing and maintaining this amount of diesel fuel is high and requires significant logistical support for distribution to emergency diesel generators. Many installations rely on external diesel fuel supplies through commercial contracts.  During an extended power outage, delivery of diesel fuel to the installation is often not made, despite the guarantees in the delivery contract. The vulnerability of relying on large volumes of diesel fuel delivery and distribution is a real-world risk too often unrecognized and requires mitigation. 

Proposers should be aware of the relevant UFCs, 4-010-06 Cybersecurity of Facility-Related Control Systems (ufc-4-010-06), and 3-550-04, Resilient Installation Microgrid Design (ufc-3-550-04). The proposed demonstrations are not required to comply with these UFCs. 

Keith Welch 

Program Manager for Installation Energy & Water (EW) 

Environmental Security Technology Certification Program (ESTCP) 

E-mail: keith.a.welch3.civ@mail.mil