The electricity grid is transforming rapidly due to the large influx of clean energy. Historically, the grid comprised one-way energy transactions from centralized power stations down to the consumers. Today, there are more players in the grid, such as homeowners and business owners with residential solar, wind turbines, microgrids, generators, and on-site energy storage systems (ESS), creating new types of interactions on a two-way grid.

The Beyond the Meter: Energy Storage Integration Prize, funded by U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Electricity (OE), is focused on the grid edge, or where buildings, industry, transportation, renewable energies, storage, and the electric grid come together. Grid edge is a leading area of the electricity evolution, where electricity changes from being a one-way grid to a two-way grid with homeowners and business owners storing and transmitting energy from behind-the-meter. To have a smooth energy transition, the many new and emerging components of the grid must work together. This prize will highlight grid-edge technology solutions around ESS that enable different technologies to integrate and operate together, contributing to a more resilient, efficient, and sustainable energy ecosystem.

Challenge Overview

In this one-phase prize, companies and coalitions will:

Share how their behind-the-meter grid-edge technology solution supports improved integration with different energy systems and vendors in the grid
Outline a plan to partner and integrate with grid-edge technology vendors
Describe their approach to demonstrate their technology and plans to collaborate with other grid industry leaders at DISTRIBUTECH 2025.
Up to two teams will win $100,000 each and the unique opportunity to showcase their technology at DISTRIBUTECH on March 25, 2025, in Dallas. This conference will give winning teams a chance to leverage partnership opportunities and brand recognition with other DISTRIBUTECH attendees. The DOE’s OE will provide winners with ample booth space to demonstrate their products. The winning teams will also have networking opportunities including a “speed-dating” event to connect with grid-edge technology vendors interested in partnership opportunities.

For more information about the goals of this prize, please refer to the Official Rules document.

GRIT Prize Series

The Beyond the Meter Prize is just one impactful component of the Grid Resource Integration Technologies (GRIT) Prize Series, a joint partnership between the Office of Electricity and other DOE offices. This prize series catalyzes partnerships to enable higher integration of grid-edge technologies, improving the overall efficiency and reliability of the power system.

Who Can Participate?

This prize is best suited for companies and coalitions already working on behind the meter grid-edge technology solutions.