DoD launches energy storage systems campus to build domestic capacity

The Department of Defense's Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Base Policy, through its Manufacturing Capability Expansion and Investment Prioritization (MCEIP) office, awarded a three-year, $30 million project to establish an energy storage systems campus. The project will accelerate transition and scaling of next generation batteries, while reducing dependence on scarce critical materials.

The University of Texas at Dallas spearheaded the successful bid, with a diverse consortium comprising multiple universities, emerging and established businesses, and four national laboratories. The energy storage systems campus is part of DoD's Scaling Capacity and Accelerating Local Enterprises (SCALE) initiative which stimulates commercial investment and builds robust, sustainable markets in technologies that are essential to national security. It is part of a portfolio of new MCEIP programs designed to lower barriers for emerging domestic companies, while making it easier for commercial industry to expand their production in support of DoD and other national security customers.

"The SCALE initiative is built on robust research that indicates market pull is needed to transition innovative technologies into new domestic industrial base capability and capacity," says Dr. Laura Taylor-Kale, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Base Policy. "Our approach of aggregating demand across national security and commercial markets will generate that market pull, drastically reducing timelines to transition and scale emerging technologies."

The energy storage systems campus will leverage and stimulate over $200 million in private capital, to accomplish three complementary objectives: optimizing current lithium ion-based battery performance, accelerating development and production of next generation batteries, and ensuring the availability of raw materials needed for these batteries. It incorporates workforce development as a key pillar, bringing together universities, trade schools, and businesses to create job growth while upskilling the domestic workforce.