The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced the creation of two new energy innovation hubs, one of which, the Energy Storage Research Alliance (ESRA), will be led by Argonne National Laboratory. ESRA will be co-led by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.
ESRA brings together nearly 50 researchers from three national laboratories and 12 universities to address critical battery challenges. The center’s primary focus is to advance energy storage science to drive technological innovation and enhance U.S. economic competitiveness.
Key objectives of ESRA include:
- Developing safer, high-energy density, and long-duration batteries using inexpensive, abundant materials.
- Pushing the boundaries of current lithium-ion technology to meet growing demands in heavy-duty transportation and electric grid applications.
- Enabling transformative discoveries in materials chemistry and fundamental understanding of electrochemical phenomena at the atomic scale.
The DOE has committed up to $62.5 million in funding for ESRA over a period of up to five years.
Shirley Meng, ESRA director and chief scientist of the Argonne Collaborative Center for Energy Storage Science, emphasized the importance of robust research and development initiatives grounded in basic science to achieve transformative leaps in energy storage technology.
ESRA also aims to cultivate a diverse, next-generation battery workforce through innovative training programs involving industry, academia, and government partnerships.
The collaboration includes 14 partners from various universities and national laboratories, ensuring a comprehensive approach to energy storage research and development.
The ESRA partners are:
- Columbia University
- Duke University
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
- Princeton University
- UC San Diego
- UChicago
- University of Houston
- University of Illinois Chicago
- University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
- University of Michigan
- Utah State University
- Xavier University
Source: BusinessWire
