PNNL opens DOE-funded Grid Storage Launchpad

On Wednesday, the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) dedicated its new 93,000-square-foot Grid Storage Launchpad (GSL), a facility to accelerate energy storage development.

In an event attended by PNNL scientists, as well as national, state and local leaders, PNNL opened the facility that will support clean energy adoption and help to make the country’s power grid resilient, secure and flexible, officials said. Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Electricity, in collaboration with the Office of Science, the facility will be home to all of PNNL’s energy storage researchers and testing for next-generation technologies.

“Energy storage will be a significant part of a resilient and reliable grid that’s fully decarbonized. And GSL will help us get there,” Vince Sprenkle, energy storage expert and GSL’s first director, said. “GSL is truly an integrated facility that incorporates everything from fundamental materials research to testing 100-kilowatt batteries.”

The facility will allow researchers to accelerate and validate battery materials and systems, and will enable collaboration with research institutions and industry partners to address challenges associated with energy storage, officials said. The facility is equipped to evaluate new battery materials from conception up to 100k battery systems under realistic grid operating conditions. The approach will provide researchers and collaborators with the opportunity to test grid-scale storage technologies in real-world conditions, officials said.

“This new Grid Storage Launchpad is where we will transform the energy storage industry, which is a key to modernizing the U.S. electric grid,” Geri Richmond, DOE Under Secretary for Science and Innovation, said. “The scientists and researchers who test everything from smaller prototype batteries to large, grid-scale battery systems will lead us forward into a new world where energy storage is safer, durable and more affordable. When we bring the smartest minds in the industry and give them the tools to advance energy storage, we move our nation that much closer to a cleaner energy future.”

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