Clean Energy Cybersecurity, Clean Energy Tech Startups, and Clean Energy & Manufacturing Innovation in Underserved Communities – CleanTechnica

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The US Department of Energy (DOE) is out with another round of cleantech announcements today.

Clean Energy Cybersecurity

First of all, the Clean Energy Cybersecurity Accelerator (CECA) program, working with the US DOE’s Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER) as well as some utilities, is moving forward with work on how to improve cybersecurity in the electric sector.

“Following a successful first cohort, CECA convened a second round addressing the complexity of industrial control systems (ICS) and risks arising from incomplete system visibility,” the DOE reports. “A newly released summary report details CECA’s evaluation of Asimily’s risk management platform, tested by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The platform raised visibility of connected devices by bolstering capabilities in device inventories, device vulnerability mitigation, risk modeling, threat detection, and incident response.”

Hmm, interesting. I think.

“The report stems from a collaborative effort between industry and Federal stakeholders that provides innovators with a comprehensive platform to develop and test cybersecurity technologies for an increasingly diversified grid that includes clean energy technologies.”

Okay, I’ll be honest — after reading through the whole press release on this, I’m none the wiser. They are working to improve cybersecurity in the electric sector, particularly in a new era with more renewable energy. I get that. But the details are beyond my pay grade (which, I’ll admit, isn’t very high). If you want to dive into them, though, here’s the full report. (Side note: Should we be publishing the full report on these cybersecurity matters for the bad guys to read?)

Clean Energy Tech Startups

Moving on to something simpler, the DOE’s Office of Technology Transitions (OTT) today announced five Phase 2 winners in the Energy Program for Innovation Clusters (EPIC) Round 3. (Phase 2 and Round 3? Huh? This was supposed to be getting simpler.) “EPIC Round 3 is a multi-phase funding opportunity that aims to encourage energy innovation ecosystems, increase local clean energy business productivity, and improve the commercial success of energy tech startups. Now in its third consecutive year of competition, the EPIC program has gained recognition as a valuable resource for organizations supporting clean energy innovation and entrepreneurship,” the DOE notes. Well, that makes it more clear.

Skipping a bunch of quotes from notable people praising the program they’re associated with, I wanted to see who these five winners were, and figured that’s what interests you, too. Happily, the DOE provided a map of where they — and previous winners — are headquartered, and then a nice summary of the five winners that is mostly in plain English.

• Arrowhead Center at NMSU, Las Cruces, NM — Arrowhead RenewTech Incubator will build on in-house incubator offerings, focusing on emerging energy and water technologies. Cohorts will either work with National Lab technologies available for licensing or solve community/industry challenges with their own or lab technologies.
• ClimateHaven, Inc., New Haven, CT — ClimateHaven MVP will provide business support services to companies in Connecticut, focusing on early-stage companies, with sector-specific support in the field of green chemistry/engineering. The award for this team is co-funded by the Energy Industrial Efficiency and Decarbonization Office.
• Dominion Energy Innovation Center, Ashland, VA — DEIC Hyperscaled will focus specifically on startups related to or supporting data center energy usage.
• Puerto Rico Science, Technology and Research Trust (PRSTRT), San Juan, Puerto Rico — Project Switch will build on PRSTRT’s success with its Parallel18 accelerator program, with the goal of centering Puerto Rico as the premier hub of energy innovation in the Americas. The award for this team is co-funded by the Grid Deployment Office.
• Spark Innovation Center, Knoxville TN — SparkShop will provide product development support, resources, and training designed to help cleantech startups accelerate market entry, validate technology, and boost investor confidence.

Clean Energy & Manufacturing Innovation in Underserved Communities

Lastly for today, we hear that $2 million is being distributed across 19 Community Energy Innovation Prize teams focused on trying to “support innovation, entrepreneurship, capacity building, and economic development in communities historically underrepresented in clean energy funding.” Each team got $10,000 or more. The teams deemed most impactful got $310,000.

Here are the winning teams in this round of awards:

Clean Energy Ecosystem Track

• Requity Foundation (Baltimore, Maryland) awarded $310,000
• Community Through Colors (Vieques, Puerto Rico) awarded $310,000
• East Phillips Neighborhood Institute (EPNI) and Cooperative Energy Futures (CEF) (Minneapolis, Minnesota) awarded $160,000
• People Power: Energy Security/Ownership (Fort Smith, Arkansas) awarded $160,000
• Team Bean (New Orleans, Louisiana) awarded $160,000
• Convivencia Hispana Energy Navigator (St. James, Minnesota) awarded $100,000
• Shake Energy Collaborative (Honolulu, Hawaii) awarded $100,000
• LEI Foundation (Waianae Moku, Hawaii) awarded $100,000
• Pomona Direct-to-Renter (Pomona, California) awarded $100,000
• RESCo Innovation Team (RIT) (Rosebud, South Dakota) awarded $100,000

Manufacturing Ecosystem Track

• Eighth Generation Consulting (Osage, Oklahoma) awarded $260,000
• The PDX Clean Industry Network (Portland, Oregon) awarded $110,000
• CEIP Warren (Warren, Ohio) awarded $110,000
• Clean Tech Innovation Network (Chicago, Illinois) awarded $60,000
• Green Leap Riverside (Fullerton, California) awarded $10,000
• APLUS (Arlington, Texas) awarded $10,000
• IMPACTT (Evansville, Indiana) awarded $10,000
• Metals Innovation Initiative (MI2) (Four counties in Kentucky) awarded $10,000
• Scale for ClimateTech (New York City, New York) awarded $10,000

Overall, the Community Energy Innovation Prize gave out $7.5 million. It wrapped up with this round of awards.