Projects are expected to contribute to all of the following outcomes:

• Demonstrated system-level long-duration energy storage (LDES) solutions, explicitly aimed at enhancing grid stability, resilience, and flexibility in Europe.
• Substantial reduction of Europe's dependence on critical raw materials through the use of abundant, low-cost, and sustainable materials.
• Contribute to strategic insights for a coherent EU-wide stationary storage deployment strategy, enhancing European energy autonomy and sustainability.
• Sufficient and reproducible operational data and insights to serve as reliable input towards detailed technoeconomic analyses.

Scope:

Proposals should focus on system-level demonstrations of innovative long-duration (> 8 hours) battery storage concepts that can effectively support utility-scale energy systems or industrial consumers in achieving energy security and operational sustainability.

Projects are expected to cover all the following points:

• Demonstration of advanced long-duration storage technologies not yet on the market such as novel redox flow batteries (standard or mediated), high-temperature systems, metal-air systems, multivalent chemistries (organic or aqueous), or other non-commercialised technologies or architectures.
• Assessment and definition of use case(s) intended for the proposed technology (front-of-the-meter grid-scale storage, behind-the-meter large industrial energy consumer, firming of renewable generation) along with quantified impact on improved grid resilience, reduced emissions, safety, and lowered energy storage cost.
• Assessment of hybridization potential of complementary energy storage technologies (e.g., redox flow batteries with supercapacitors) to optimize overall system performance for the intended use case(s) and extending system lifecycle.
• Utilization of abundant, low-cost, and sustainable materials, explicitly prioritizing materials with reliable and scalable European supply chains, accompanied by realistic and detailed pathways to production routes at scale.
• Integration of advanced digital technologies, for accurate state-of-charge (SOC), state-of-health (SOH), and lifetime predictions, optimizing battery management systems (BMS), energy management systems (EMS), and overall component performance for extended system longevity.
• Comprehensive techno-economic analyses, including realistic assessments of CAPEX, OPEX, based on measured technical performance metrics (e.g., self-discharge rates, calendar life, cycle life, round-trip efficiency, necessary safety investments) to clearly establish economic viability and competitiveness for the intended use-case in comparison to the commercial, incumbent technology.
• Comprehensive safety assessment at system-level, documenting potential concerns (e.g. flammability, toxicity, explosion potential) and mitigation strategies ahead of widescale adoption of technology.

The Commission initiative for Safe and Sustainable by Design^[1] (SSbD) sets a framework for assessing the safety and sustainability of chemicals and materials which should be considered as a reference for project proposals.

Whenever the expected exploitation of project results entails developing, creating, manufacturing and marketing a product or process, or in creating and providing a service, the plan for the exploitation and dissemination of results must include a strategy for such exploitation. The exploitation plans are expected to include preliminary plans for scalability, commercialisation, and deployment (feasibility study, business plan) indicating the possible funding sources to be potentially used (in particular the Innovation Fund).

Proposals could consider the involvement of the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC)^[2] whose contribution could consist of performing experimental or desk-top research on battery performance or safety. For further information on the JRC’s possible contribution to the projects, please, search for additional publicly available information on the JRC’s website^[3] (EU Science Hub) on the NCP portal, or request specific information from the JRC (JRC-NCP-Network@ec.europa.eu)

JRC will assure that all the other applicants receive the same information on the JRC’s possible contribution to the project (e.g., via the topic-specific FAQs under the Funding and Tenders Portal).

This topic implements the co-programmed European Partnership on Batteries (Batt4EU). As such, projects resulting from this topic will be expected to report on the results to the European Partnership on Batteries (Batt4EU) in support of the monitoring of its KPIs.

[1] https://research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/research-area/industrial-research-and-innovation/key-enabling-technologies/chemicals-and-advanced-materials_en

[2] https://joint-research-centre.ec.europa.eu/laboratories-z/battery-energy-storage-testing_en

[3] JRC NCP | Horizon Europe NCP Portal