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Harvey-Cleary Builders, Kirksey Architecture, and Arup collaborate on design of the new Grid Storage Launchpad at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

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Jackie Wei Green Jackie Wei Green Americas Head of Communications,Los Angeles
20 April 2022

To modernize the power grid and unlock a broad array of economic and societal benefits, the US Department of Energy (DOE) is making it a national priority to accelerate the development of next-generation energy storage technology. The DOE’s Office of Electricity selected Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) as the site for a new $75m national grid energy storage research and development facility, now being called the Grid Storage Launchpad (GSL). 

Harvey-Cleary Builders, Kirksey Architecture, and Arup are supporting the design and engineering of the new GSL energy storage research facility, collaborating to deliver high-performance infrastructure that will support leading research spanning the entire energy storage development cycle, from basic materials synthesis to advanced prototyping. 

The new facility will be a critical component for researching and achieving a more resilient, reliable, secure, and flexible power grid. Bringing together the DOE, multidisciplinary teams of researchers, and industry partners, the GSL facility will be a collaborative research environment that lowers the barrier to innovation and deployment of grid-scale energy storage technologies. 

The Grid Storage Launchpad, a new national grid energy storage research and development facility. The Grid Storage Launchpad, a new national grid energy storage research and development facility.
Grid Storage Launchpad at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (Credit: Kirksey Architecture)

The GSL laboratories will also enable independent testing of energy storage materials and systems under realistic grid operating conditions, allowing the acceleration of the development of next-generation grid storage technologies. Key features of the research facility will include:

  • Modern wet chemistry laboratories for materials synthesis

  • High-resolution dynamic characterization capabilities

  • Highly specialized, state-of-the-art instruments

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Everyone on the team played a critical role in developing effective design solutions that promote collaboration and discovery while accommodating the complicated, highly-technical demands of these signature projects. We are all proud to be creating space to accelerate next-generation grid energy storage technologies. ” Skye Smith Senior Project Manager at Kirksey Architecture

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Designing and building 82 unique labs within two world-class buildings on a national lab campus is wrought with unique challenges and opportunities, and there are not two better partners for us to deliver well above the bar than Kirksey Architecture and Arup. ” Scott Paden Director/Shareholder at Harvey-Cleary Builders

The team of Harvey-Cleary, Kirksey, and Arup recently collaborated to deliver the Energy Sciences Center (ESC), a research facility at PNNL focused on experimental and computational research programs that drive innovation in chemistry, catalysis, materials science, energy, and quantum sciences. Through a design-build approach, the team worked closely on the 140,000 square foot facility to ensure that it was specifically tailored to DOE’s and PNNL’s vision of flexibility, efficiency, sustainability, and collaborative research. Featuring research laboratories, flexible-use open space, conference rooms, and offices for 250 PNNL researchers, visiting scientists and engineers, and support staff, the facility is designed to foster collaboration and to allow for the application of new knowledge to advance energy technology development. The ESC recently opened and currently serves as a Department of Energy Office of Science signature lab on PNNL’s main campus.

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Following the recent completion of the Energy Sciences Center, we are excited to partner with Kirksey and Harvey-Cleary again to help bring PNNL’s newest project to life. We look forward to bringing new thinking around decarbonization, resilience and advanced controls to the design of the Grid Storage Launchpad facility to help achieve our team and PNNL’s common goal of advancing the frontiers of energy storage. ” Yacknowitz Josh Joshua Yacknowitz Principal