The Storage Design Strategies to Ease Production (STEP) Prize is a $500,000 two-phase competition explicitly designed to identify and foster innovative solutions for novel energy storage technologies. The Storage Design STEP Prize recognizes innovators who are working on novel energy storage technologies and encourages them to build production readiness into their designs from the start. The U.S. energy storage market installed a record 3.3 gigawatts (GW)/8.4 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of battery energy storage systems in Q1 2026, surpassing the previous Q1 record by 54%, with utility, commercial, and residential installations all hitting new highs, according to the latest U.S. Energy Storage Monitor report released by the American Clean Power Association (ACP) and Wood Mackenzie. Supply chain resilience as a design principleThe STEP Prize reflects a shift in how federal energy officials are thinking about storage development. Next steps for applicantsPhase 1 of the Storage Design STEP Prize closes on October 8, 2026.