DOE announced three winners of the Manufacture of Advanced Key Energy Infrastructure Technologies (MAKE IT) Prize Facilities Track
Office of Technology Transitions
September 30, 2024
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Today, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced three winners of the Manufacture of Advanced Key Energy Infrastructure Technologies (MAKE IT) Prize Facilities Track. These winners have each received $5 million throughout the prize for demonstrating they are ready to begin building a manufacturing facility that will produce critical clean energy components. To continue supporting U.S. manufacturers, DOE is also announcing another iteration of the MAKE IT Prize, making an additional $30 million available in the next few months.
The Facilities Track of the MAKE IT Prize – made possible by the Office of Technology Transitions (OTT) and the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED) – aims to catalyze the domestic manufacturing of clean energy technology components. The prize asked competitors to prove they have shovel-ready manufacturing facilities, including showcasing site control, permits, financing, and community engagement. Phase 2 winners have proven they are ready to break ground on their proposed projects.
“The MAKE IT Prize will allow these winners to fast-track the construction of their new domestic manufacturing facilities” said DOE Chief Commercialization Officer and Director of the Office of Technology Transitions, Dr. Vanessa Chan. “The critical clean energy components made at these sites will help power the Investing In America agenda to ultimately help ensure that our investments are supported by a US-supply chain.”
OCED Director of Portfolio Strategy, Melissa Klembara, added the importance this prize has on OCED’s portfolio of demonstration projects, “We are excited to see the buildout of the critical supply chains needed for the next wave of infrastructure projects OCED is supporting and for all future clean energy projects. Entire ecosystems need to be built to achieve liftoff success.”
The three winners announced today will use their experience in clean energy technology development and manufacturing, together with their engagement with partners in their communities, to help create new jobs and boost clean energy manufacturing. Winners will leverage prize dollars to create more than $100 million of economic activity directly related to the construction of these three facilities. More than 250 jobs will be created to build and operate these facilities. As a result, the three companies will build more than 250 hybrid inverters/year to upgrade our electric grid and deploy more than 300 MWh/year of long duration energy storage.
These DOE investments will support the Biden-Harris Administration’s efforts to boost domestic manufacturing and competitiveness. Learn more about the winners below and on HeroX.
DOE also announced another iteration of the MAKE IT Prize, making an additional $30 million available. MAKE IT will continue to catalyze domestic manufacturing of critical clean energy technology components and move more manufacturing facilities from planning to shovel-ready. MAKE IT Prize Round 2 will be open to additional critical components in the following areas:
- Upgrades to the electric grid
- Long duration energy storage
- Industrial decarbonization
- Carbon capture and storage
- Direct air capture
- Clean hydrogen
- Advanced nuclear power
DOE intends to publish the new prize rules and open the competition in the fall of 2024. Follow the HeroX page for announcements and more information.
Facilities Track Phase 2 Winners
Congratulations to the Facilities Track Phase 2 winners announced at this event:
- Stryten Energy, Augusta, GA – Stryten Energy plans to repurpose a shuttered facility in Augusta, GA as a new high-volume continuous reactor vanadium electrolyte production facility. This effort will create a cost-effective domestic supply chain for vanadium electrolyte, establish the U.S. as a leader in this critical infrastructure area, and provide the opportunity for rapid adoption of this technology.
- Switched Source, LLC, Chicago, IL – Switched Source aims to expand production capacity for a power-electronics-based hybrid transformer - “Phase-EQ” - which provides flexible solutions for electric distribution circuits, MAKE IT Prize funds will help the team transition from a 5,000 square foot low-volume facility to a ~20,000 square foot manufacturing, high power testing, and warehouse facility capable of producing over 250 Phase-EQ units per year by the end of 2027.
- Urban Electric Power, Kingston, NY – Urban Electric plans to build and operate a rechargeable zinc-manganese dioxide battery plant that will use innovative equipment and methods to produce battery energy storage systems (BESS) for long duration energy storage (LDES) applications. This versatile and resilient manufacturing technology meets market demand for safe, reliable, and American-made turnkey BESS that is essential for a clean energy future.
The winning teams will work to help revitalize their communities by locating facilities in currently underutilized spaces in disadvantaged communities and working with local partners on workforce development initiatives and adding new jobs.
What’s Next for MAKE IT Prize?
Remaining Phase 1 winners in the MAKE IT Facilities Track still have opportunities to submit their shovel-ready plans, with one more Phase 2 award available. The next submission deadline for Facilities Track Phase 2 is Nov. 5th, and additional deadlines will follow in February and May 2025 if funding is available. DOE may consider making additional prizes available in the November deadline. While DOE does not commit to increasing the prize pool at this time, DOE remains interested in supporting high-quality competitors from this iteration of the prize that can accelerate their plans and demonstrate that they are shovel-ready by the next deadline.
The three-phase MAKE IT Strategies Track, which focuses on community-driven strategies for attracting clean energy manufacturing to their regions, is still underway through next spring. The Round 1 competitors are currently in Phase 3: Activate and Round 2 teams are in Phase 2: Create. Teams in both rounds will submit their respective materials for review by Nov. 1st with winner announcements anticipated in December.
Learn More About the MAKE IT Prize
To learn more about the MAKE IT Prize and be notified about future winner announcements, follow the Facilities Track and Strategies Track on HeroX, the official prize platform.
The MAKE IT Prize was developed by the DOE’s OTT, OCED, and Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) and is funded by the Technology Commercialization Fund through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The prize is administered through the American-Made program, a fast track to clean energy innovation that accelerates the transition from ideas into real-world clean energy solutions.
About the Department of Energy Office of Technology Transitions
The Department of Energy Office of Technology Transitions (OTT) is one of the largest supporters of technology commercialization in the federal government. Founded in 2015, OTT bolsters the technology industry's market skills and enables clean energy technologies to progress through research, development, demonstration, and to deployment into the private sector to meet our nation’s climate goals. Visit us at energy.gov/ott to learn more and subscribe to receive our latest opportunities and accomplishments via email. Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.
About the Department of Energy Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations
The Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED) was established in December 2021 to help scale the emerging technologies needed to tackle our most pressing climate challenges and achieve net zero emissions by 2050. OCED is managing more than $25 billion in funding to deliver clean energy demonstration projects at scale in partnership with the private sector to accelerate deployment, market adoption, and the equitable transition to a decarbonized energy system.