Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage (SMES) Power Interfaces - SBIR Topic DON26BZ01-NV016

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This topic was temporarily posted by the Department of War SBIR Program on March 2nd 2026 and removed the following day.
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Funding Amount:

Est. $240,000

Deadline to Apply:

Est. April 29th, 2026.

Objective:

Develop a Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage (SMES) system to support intermittent pulsed power loads by providing a consistent load to the generation source during pulsed power duty cycle.

Description:

A Navy ship’s electric plant and the electrical load aboard the vessel mimics an electrical microgrid structure to distribute power. Conventional plant designs have separate mechanical propulsion and weapons systems with the electrical plant to support hotel and combat systems. Future all-electric naval ships will require all prime movers to have the functionality of distributed electrical generators to power a wide variety of loads ranging from conventional electronics, electric propulsion systems, and pulsed power systems to drive electric weaponry. The pulsed power systems will draw power from the ship’s electrical distribution to enable continuous operation.

While large-scale energy storage may support operations, high-rate intermittent storage is necessary to ensure the electrical distribution and prime movers are provided with relatively consistent loading. During the charge process of the pulsed power system, a considerable amount of power will be drawn from the electrical grid for time durations on the order of seconds with a lapse in between charges. The large power drawn in an intermittent fashion is difficult to control and difficult for non-stiff electrical generators to supply. Enabling technologies to support a supplemental high-rate storage system is required for pulsed power loads to be effectively used on board the ship without disruption to other loads or damage to the distributed generators.

SMES systems are a relatively new technology that can charge and discharge energy at rates to support the various loads that new Navy ship designs are targeting. Innovative R&D is needed to model and validate novel high-rate, intermittent energy storage and control architectures that can rapidly accept high intermittent currents to load-level prime movers during the pulsed-power duty cycle. The architecture should be designed to minimize the impact this type of operation has on the electrical generators and support the pulsed load modules’ operation. The energy storage must be able to accept rapid charge from the generation system within the constraints of the duty cycle of the pulsed power system and then provide this stored energy on the order of seconds to allow for cyclic capability in a continuous manner. New high-peak power energy storage technologies and designs are needed to accomplish this goal. Control system architectures and algorithms must also be developed to ensure load leveling in all modes of operations while ensuring safety and constant operation. These devices, with the requisite conversion schemes, are necessary in highly dense packages to allow for implementation in volumetrically constrained environments. Proof of principle hardware tests and validated computer design models are desired.

The Navy seeks a full-scale pulsed power SMES system to store energy between 4-10 MJ at a 2-4 MW power level. The energy storage system developed is expected to charge at a rate of > 1 MW and to deliver power > 1 MW. The energy will be pulsed at a power duty cycle > 80% at a discharge/charge ratio of 1:1 and accept power at a sub-second response rate. The Navy desires the energy storage interface to withstand voltages > 1000 V.

Who will win?

If you can achieve the objective above better than any other company on the market, you have a very high-likelihood of success and should apply.

Who is eligible to apply?

Any company that meets the following criteria:

• For-profit company

• U.S.-owned and controlled.

• 500 or fewer employees (including affiliates)

How Can BW&CO Help?

1) End-to-end support including, strategy, writing of the full proposal, and administrative & compliance support.

2) Proposal strategy and review.

3) Administrative & compliance support.

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