Ultra Long Duration Energy Storage Project Development Studies

Official Guidance

Describe your project briefly and be clear about what makes it innovative. We use this section to assign the right experts to assess your application.

Official Guidance

Describe your project in detail and in a way that you are happy to see published. Do not include any commercially sensitive information. If we award your project funding, we will publish this description. This can happen before you start your project.

Official Guidance

Describe how your project fits the scope of the competition. If your project is not in scope, it will not be sent for assessment. We will tell you the reason why. You must briefly summarise how: how your technology fits within our definition of electrochemical ultra long duration energy storage (ULDES), including its chemistry, intended discharge duration, and expected working life; how your project and technology meet the requirements of your selected stream (Stream 1 or Stream 2 as described in the Scope section), including the relevant cost target or benchmark; how your project development study supports a planned UK demonstration project by 2030, meeting the scale and timetable requirements of your selected stream, and the subsequent pathway to scalable deployment in the UK energy system; how your proposed team has, or will secure, the core capabilities needed to complete the project development study and progress the proposed technology through demonstration to deployment.

Official Guidance

You must state the name and full registered address of your organisation and any partners or subcontractors working on your project. We are collecting this information to understand more about the geographical location of all applicants.

Official Guidance

Will your project involve any trials with animals or animal testing? You must select one option: Yes, No. We will only support innovation projects conducted to the highest standards of animal welfare.

Official Guidance

Will you have the correct permits and licences in place to carry out your project? We are unable to fund projects which do not have the correct permits or licences in place by your project start date. You must select one option: Yes, No, In the process of being applied for, Not applicable.

Official Guidance

Does your proposed work involve any international collaboration or engagement? You must provide details of any expected international collaboration or engagement. You must include a list of the names and the countries, any international project co-leads, project partners, visiting researchers, or other collaborators are based in. You must also include details of any subcontractors or service providers. If your proposed work does not involve international collaboration or engagement, your answer must confirm this.

Official Guidance

You must indicate whether an export control license is required for this project under the academic export control guidance. You must select one option: Yes, No.

Official Guidance

You must explain if your proposed project work relates to UKRI’s Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I) Principles, including: a list of any dual use (both military and non-military) applications to your research; a list of the areas where your project is relevant to one or more of the 17 areas of the UK National Security and Investment (NSI) Act; whether an export control license is required for this project under the academic export control guidance and the status of any applications; a list of any items or substances on the UK Strategic Export Control List. If your proposed work does not relate to UKRI’s TR&I Principles, your answer must confirm this.

Official Guidance

Which stream does your project fit into: You must select one: Stream 1: near commercial scale-up, Stream 2: system innovation and low cost pathways.

Official Guidance

Describe your proposed ultra long duration energy storage (ULDES) technology, its current stage of development and its suitability for the energy system functions required under your selected stream. Explain: the electrochemical storage mechanism or chemistry, principal system components and architecture, and how the technology stores and discharges energy; the current maturity of the technology and its principal components, including the system boundary, scale and operating conditions at which it has been developed or tested; the research, innovation, testing or deployment completed to date, the evidence generated, and the principal technical developments and evidence still required to progress towards demonstration and deployment; how the technical characteristics and operating profile of your technology meet the needs of your selected stream; how the technology is differentiated from other relevant ULDES or electrochemical storage technologies addressing similar system needs; how the technology could interface with relevant grid infrastructure, generation assets, storage assets or demand users; the principal contribution the technology could make to the UK energy system, and the evidence or analysis supporting this.

Official Guidance

What is your pathway to delivering a UK demonstration project of at least 100 MWh by 2030 under Stream 1, or at least 100 kWh by 2030 under Stream 2? How will your project development study help make this demonstration deliverable? Explain: the proposed demonstration, including its capacity, power, duration, intended operation, location or type of host site, and principal engineering characteristics; its current development status, including evidence, designs, agreements, engagement and other preparations completed to date; the proposed pathway for securing a suitable site or host location, grid and infrastructure arrangements, engineering design, and relevant planning, permitting, environmental and regulatory approvals; the organisations expected to develop, finance, construct, host, operate or use the demonstration, including the status of their involvement and any remaining capability or partnership gaps; the principal stages, dependencies, decision points and critical path to construction, commissioning and operation by 2030; the main technical, operational, engineering, site, grid, regulatory, commercial, financing and delivery risks, and how the project development study will address them; the evidence, designs, decisions and agreements the study will produce to allow the demonstration to progress, including the proposed route to securing the necessary finance and funding.

Official Guidance

What evidence supports your pathway to meeting the cost target for your selected stream and competing with the relevant benchmark? For Stream 1, this is a total ownership cost of less than $40/kWh by 2030 and competitiveness with installed LFP battery technology. For Stream 2, this is a total ownership cost of less than $15/kWh by the early 2030s and competitiveness with unabated CCGT generation. Explain: your current performance and projected performance at demonstration and commercial scale, covering the metrics material to your selected use case; the system boundary, size, maturity, operating conditions and test duration associated with the evidence, distinguishing measured or independently validated results from modelled, extrapolated or assumed values; your current and projected total ownership cost at demonstration and commercial scale, including the principal cost categories and the cost boundary used; the techno economic methods, evidence and assumptions underpinning your projections, including expected changes between current, demonstration and commercial scale; the principal sensitivities, uncertainties and dependencies affecting your cost and performance trajectory; how your projected cost and performance compare with the relevant benchmark for your stream, including the utilisation, cycling, revenue or avoided cost assumptions used; which critical assumptions the project development study will test and how this will improve confidence in the cost and competitiveness case. You must submit a single appendix as a PDF no larger than 10MB and up to three A4 pages long to support your answer.

Official Guidance

What is your commercialisation pathway for the proposed technology, and how could it achieve repeat deployment at scale in the UK energy system? Explain: the priority applications, customers and energy system needs you are targeting, and the evidence supporting the estimated UK and international market opportunity; your customer proposition and route to market, including who would procure, use or pay for the technology; your proposed revenue and business model, including how the technology could participate in relevant markets or services while meeting the operating requirements of your selected stream; the pathway from the planned demonstration to first commercial deployment and repeatable projects, including the principal adoption, replication and competitive barriers; the regulatory, standards, certification, insurance or other requirements affecting wider UK deployment and commercialisation; the commercial evidence the project development study will generate to support decisions by customers, investors, insurers, financiers and relevant energy system bodies; the staged investment required to progress through demonstration, first commercial deployment and scale up, including the intended sources of finance and status of engagement.

Official Guidance

What is your credible pathway to scalable manufacture and resilient supply chains, and what benefits could this create for the UK? Explain: your current manufacturing approach and readiness, including relevant production processes, facilities, equipment, volumes, quality controls and suppliers; how manufacturing and sourcing would progress from the proposed demonstration through early commercial deployment to production at scale; the principal manufacturing developments, capital investment, partnerships, supplier capabilities and workforce skills required; the key raw materials, components and services required, including constraints affecting their availability, cost, resilience, sustainability or scalability; which manufacturing and supply chain activities could credibly and competitively be undertaken in the UK, and how this pathway supports your cost reduction assumptions; the evidence, decisions, supplier engagement and manufacturing or supply chain roadmap that the project development study will produce; the potential UK benefits, including investment, business growth, employment, skills, supply chain resilience and exports, with the assumptions and timescales supporting your estimates.

Official Guidance

Who is in the project team and what are their roles? Explain: the roles, skills and experience of all members of the project team that are relevant to the approach you will be taking; the details of any vital external parties, including subcontractors, who you will need to work with to successfully carry out your project; if your project is collaborative, the current relationships between project partners and how these will change as a result of the project; any roles you will need to recruit for and how you plan to mitigate against any delays in recruitment. You can submit one appendix, with a short summary of the main people working on the project to support your answer.

Official Guidance

How will you manage your project effectively? Explain: the main work packages of your project covering milestones, dependencies, critical path, outputs and dissemination activities, indicating the lead partner assigned to each and the total cost of each one; your approach to project management, identifying any major tools and mechanisms you will use to get a successful and innovative project outcome aligned with your theory of change; the main risks and uncertainties of the project, including the technical, commercial, managerial and environmental risks and how you will mitigate them; any output likely to be subject to regulatory requirements, certification, ethical issues and other requirements identified, and how you will manage this. You must submit a project plan or Gantt chart as an appendix to support your answer.

Official Guidance

How much will the project cost and how does it represent value for money for the team and the taxpayer? Explain: your total eligible project costs; the grant you are requesting; how each partner will finance their contributions to your project; how this project represents value for money for you and the taxpayer; how it compares to what you would spend your money on otherwise; the balance of costs and grant across the project partners; any subcontractor costs and why they are critical to your project.