Sign Up
Transform the Future of Hydrogen
With the Low-Carbon Hydrogen Accelerator
Participation in
Through Incubatenergy Labs, EPRI and a group of leading utilities are engaging early stage companies to demonstrate and deploy innovative solutions in targeted areas. Incubatenergy Labs is your opportunity to get behind the scenes with a number of the largest electric utilities in the U.S.
We’ll select a number of companies from Pitch Day to engage in paid demonstrations. There’s no set number of slots. It could be two, it could be the whole cohort. Last year, we chose twenty. For those demonstrations, we’re pushing ourselves to move fast and engage you as a group to facilitate the scale of promising approaches to modernize and decarbonize our grid, delight our customers, communities and workforce and build new business opportunities. We’ll spend six weeks scoping and contracting projects, sixteen weeks executing them and showcasing the results at a Demo Day event.
Why Incubatenergy labs
- Utility Exposure: Present and showcase to utilities and R&D experts from across the U.S.
- Paid Demonstrations: Compete for paid demonstrations with leading utilities in North & South America and Europe
- Rapid Execution: Scope demonstrations in 6 weeks, execute in 16
- Demonstrate with one, get traction with many: While companies generally engage a single utility in a demonstration, all participating utilities are involved in the demonstration scope, progress, and results.
Successful candidates will access data, gather insights, scope demonstration trials, and test their products/services in live customer environments.
WHAT WE OFFER
Direct engagement with major utility business leaders and subject matter experts
Demonstration of your tech on-site with some of the largest energy providers in North & South America and Europe
The opportunity to grow your catalog of contacts through EPRI’s Incubatenergy Network
Time to develop a relevant use case with senior stakeholders prior to Pitch Day
Engage utility and industry investment groups
Accelerated, paid demonstrations on-site between startups and utilities
ADVISORS
Selected startups will have access to experienced electric industry subject matter experts throughout the course of the LAB.
Tony SPATH
AEP, Innovation Program Manager
ken patrick
Ameren, Senior Manager, Electrification Policy and Innovation
ERIK STEEB
EPRI, Incubatenergy Lead
KEVIN WOODBURY
Fortis, Director, Business Development
Amy Burke Henry
TVA, Director of Transformative Innovation
Al Choi
Xcel Energy, Manager Business Innovation Innovation and Transformation Office
Topics OF INTEREST
IncubatenergyLabs is focused on the following innovation challenges:
Customer and Community Engagement
Customers and their satisfaction lie at the core of any business. As an industry, we want to be more proactive to better serve our customers, particularly those that are vulnerable or disadvantaged, provide more personalized communications and information, and offer services and solutions targeted to individual needs. Bring us your solutions that help us create grid-interactive smart communities, enable broad community benefit and economic development. These solutions help our customers become more proactive and informed participants in a cleaner, more integrated and resilient energy system and create new lines of business for our utilities.
- Virtual Assistants, automated dispatch, rapid response and assistance for vulnerable customers
- Seamless integration and management of connected energy devices
- Price signaling or transactive energy platforms
- Advanced customization / targeted customer engagement
- Predictive behavioral and adoption analysis
- Connected communities
- Public benefit use of rights-of-way under power lines and other infrastructure
Decarbonization and Sustainability
The world is on a path to decarbonize and the electric power industry is leading the charge. Since 2005, the US reduced its carbon footprint one gigaton, primarily by switching to cleaner fuels, expanding renewables and driving efficiencies. To get the next gigaton, we need solutions to integrate and manage more low carbon energy generation: from distributed to utility scale solutions covering wind, solar, hydro and nuclear; to systems that help us optimize their output. Circularity in our operations and materials are also critical. As we deploy these solutions, our controls, financing, accounting systems and materials options help us better track environmental impacts and support a shift to zero carbon. Our path to deep decarbonization also includes a focus on low-carbon hydrogen. For startups focused on green hydrogen solutions, please apply through our Low Carbon Hydrogen Accelerator.
- Sector-coupling clean energy fuel programs
- ESG reporting solutions
- Green energy finance
- Circularity and low carbon materials (vegetation waste, plastics, concrete, SF6 replacement, etc)
- Satellite imagery for environmental resource monitoring (water, air, habitat, vegetation, etc)
- Identification of aquatic and terrestrial species of concern for planning, compliance monitoring, and reduction of impacts in real time
Electric Mobility
Electrification is a key component of our decarbonization strategy and transportation represents our biggest emitter. To get a gigaton out of transportation, we need solutions to enable low cost, ubiquitous and manageable charging; comprehensive fleet-as-a-service solutions and charging infrastructure wherever we drive and park. And as adoption scales, we need the ability to manage charging and to call on vehicles to switch from energy consumer to supplier and back depending on the need.
- Charging balance-of-system cost reduction
- Low-cost charging for multi-family, underground and public parking
- Reduced grid impact for home and fast charging
- EV charger detection, grid planning and charge management
- EV fleet and fleet-as-a-service
- V2G
Fixed Premise Electrification
Building systems and commercial / industrial process represent significant opportunities for decarbonization. Utilities have long been active in innovations around building envelope, device efficiencies and demand response programs. As we add intelligence, load disaggregation and flexible load solutions help match energy consumption to grid availability without sacrificing comfort or performance. As these solutions become more integrated and complex, there is also need for comprehensive Electrification as a Service solutions that guide customers through the design, deployment and operation of solutions.
- Advanced HVAC systems
- Load disaggregation, monitoring and control
- Flexible load control solutions
- VPP and virtual battery solutions
- Standards and solutions for behind-the-meter interoperability
- Comprehensive Electrification-as-a-Service
- LMI & DAC targeted programs
Intelligent, Predictive & Prescriptive Operations
With the growth in renewables, distributed energy systems and electrification, modeling and managing our grid is more important than ever. Digital overlays and AI/ML are fundamentally transforming the electric power system and we seek solutions that provide more intelligent and autonomous power plants, as well as automated, data-driven and optimized operations, maintenance, and planning while building a safer, more efficient, equitable, decentralized, secure, and decarbonized grid that better serves our customers.
- Predictive asset monitoring, maintenance, prognostics, planning and management
- Grid flexibility and automated management for distributed energy resources and baseload generation
- Dynamic degradation and failure prediction on renewable generation assets
- Unmanned systems and digital imagery capture and analytics
- Advanced atmospheric and weather modeling
- AI-enhanced IT/OT hardening and cyber threat mitigation
- Resilient, secure communications to support ubiquitous connectivity
CUSTOMER AND COMMUNITY RESILIENCE
Extreme weather, flooding and other related events are becoming all too common. Preparing for such events and keeping customers and communities safe, informed and with access to power through them is a top priority. Bring your solutions that help us better prepare, predict localized events, prevent outages where possible and, when they happen, communicate with our customers and restore power quickly.
- Extreme weather events mitigation, risk analytics and dynamic response systems
- Anti-icing, anti-corrosion, self-healing and undergrounding
- Resilience planning, situational awareness, communications and dispatch automation
- Automated and responsive event and restoration effort information systems
- Utility-scale long duration storage (LDS)
- Mobile/Transportable LDS
- Off-grid, isolated energy solutions
- “Plug-and-play” or “as-a-Service” customer energy storage systems, microgrids and energy management platforms
- Distributed analytics and controls for balancing and operation of islanded microgrids
- DER / DERMS control
- Disadvantaged & LMI community resilience
Wildfire
While we typically think of wildfire preparedness and response in terms of resilience, there are many elements required to integrate complete solutions from prediction and detection, through OT integration and coordination with community and first responders. Wildfires have become such a pervasive issue that we’re highlighting it as a top priority engagement area.
- Drought detection, advanced weather and wildfire prediction
- Energized line disturbance detection and response
- AI enabled smoke and wildfire detection and characterization
- OT integration
- Community and first responder coordination and support
- Crew safety (PPE, communications, ground and aerial support)
- Grid Infrastructure hardening (materials, undergrounding, etc)
WORKFORCE OF THE FUTURE
Technology can help our workers perform their jobs more safely, efficiently, and effectively. Wearables, augmented reality, the convergence of information and operational technologies, the internet of things (IoT), and big data solutions are being combined in creative new ways to help our workforce thrive. We’d like to see what you have in this space.
- Wearables for personnel and/or environmental monitoring and safety
- Robotics, exoskeletons, and unmanned systems for completion of hazardous tasks
- XR for immersive, remote training, information accessibility, and task efficiency
- Digital worker enhancements and remote, real-time assistance on complicated
OPEN
Do you think we’re missing the boat on something? If you have a relevant technology that doesn’t fit into one of the areas above, we want to hear about it!
TIMELINE
APPLICATIONS open in december 2021
EPRI & Utility Subject Matter Experts will then screen applications thru February 2022.
BOOTCAMP
Up to 30 teams will be selected to join Incubatenergy® Labs for a bootcamp to outline a clear use case for a paid demonstration project.
PITCH DAY
Startups present their technologies and demonstration concepts, get 1:1 interaction and network with EPRI and utility executives, innovation scouts and subject matter experts, as part of the Electrification 2022 Conference in our Charlotte, NC location.
SCOPE
Companies selected out of Pitch Day will work with EPRI and utilities over six weeks to refine their use case, scope and contract a 16-week demonstration project.
EXECUTE
Projects kick off in June 2022 where you’ll work with EPRI and a lead utility on demonstration execution. During those 16 weeks, you’ll also engage the group of utilities and startups for project reviews and create awareness among others active in the utilities sector.
DEMO DAY
Demo Day celebrates all we achieved over the 16-week project period. You and the utility project lead will present the project and build interest in future engagement with EPRI and the participating utilities.
HOST UTILITIES
Participating Utilities
The Electric Power Research Institute, Inc. (EPRI, www.epri.com) conducts research and development relating to the generation, delivery and use of electricity for the benefit of the public. An independent, nonprofit organization, EPRI brings together its scientists and engineers as well as experts from academia and industry to help address challenges in electricity including reliability, efficiency, affordability, health, safety and the environment. EPRI also provides technology, policy and economic analyses to drive long-range research and development planning, and supports research in emerging technologies. EPRI members represent 90% of the electricity generated and delivered in the United States with international participation extending to 40 countries. EPRI’s principal offices and laboratories are located in Palo Alto, California; Charlotte, North Carolina; Knoxville, Tennessee; and Lenox, Massachusetts.
The Incubatenergy® Network is made up of leading clean energy incubators and accelerators from around the world which support more than 1,000 early-stage companies working in clean energy, transportation, built environment, precision agriculture and other electrification-focused sectors. Through Incubatenergy, EPRI has facilitated hundreds of engagements of innovative startups collaborating with utilities and other industry stakeholders.