Senator Collins Announces $500 Million to Promote Energy Storage Technology Included in Government Funding Law

Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator Susan Collins, a senior member of the Appropriations Committee, announced that the government funding package that was recently signed into law included $500 million to support the development of energy storage technology.  This historic level of funding will support programs authorized by the Better Energy Storage Technology (BEST) Act, a new law Senator Collins authored that will support grid-scale energy storage research and development and improve the efficiency of the nation’s electric grid, while helping to align research efforts on energy storage technologies. 

“Energy storage technology holds great promise in our efforts to combat climate change. By strengthening current technology and advancing next-generation energy storage, we can integrate more renewables, such as wind and solar, which in turn will help to reduce emissions,” said Senator Collins.  “This investment in clean energy storage technologies—in conjunction with the Better Energy Storage Technology Act I authored to guide battery research efforts—will help substantially reduce the cost of these technologies, improve the efficiency of our nation’s electric grid, and bring us closer to a clean energy future.  I am delighted that this new funding will help make energy supplies more secure, abundant, and affordable while creating new jobs.”

The $500 million to promote energy storage activities authorized under the BEST Act within the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) includes:

• $347 million for the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
• $120 million for the Office of Electricity
• $5 million for the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management
• $4 million for the Office of Nuclear Energy
• $24 million for the Office of Science

Senator Collins has been a longstanding champion of clean energy and battery storage technologies.  In December 2020, her bipartisan BEST Act was signed into law, accelerating the development of next-generation energy storage.  In March 2021, Senator Collins introduced the Energy Storage Tax Incentive and Deployment Act to establish an investment tax credit (ITC) for business and home use of energy storage. The Infrastructure, Investments, and Jobs Act (IIJA), which Senator Collins co-authored with a bipartisan group of nine of her colleagues, created the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations at the Department of Energy.  This office will oversee the $20 billion in funding provided in the IIJA for clean energy demonstration projects, including those for energy and battery storage technologies.   

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