Published: 11 Mar 2021, 12:41 By: Grid Storage Launchpad rendering. Image: Pacific Northwest National Lab. A US$75 million national research and development (R&D) facility for energy storage is expected to be up and running by 2025, the US Department of Energy said yesterday. Called the Grid Storage Launchpad (GSL), 30 separate research laboratories will be hosted at the site including technology prototype testing chambers and other test labs that put energy storage technologies through their paces in real world electric grid conditions. It will also have workspaces where different teams can collaborate. There will be a particular focus on accelerating the development and deployment of long-duration and low-cost energy storage. The Launchpad will be built at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), in Richland, Washington state. The DoE selected PNNL as the host for the facility, which is also being financially supported with investments from the State of Washington, non-profit science and tech development group Battelle and PNNL itself.