Lab selected for new D.O.E. technology assistance pilot
July 10, 2015 
RICHLAND, Wash. - Pacific Northwest National Lab has been tapped as one of 5 national labs to lead the D.O.E.'s new Small Business Vouchers Pilot. SBV will help small clean energy firms get technology assistance from world class scientists, engineers and facilities within the D.O.E. national Lab system.
PNNL was selected to support small businesses in 3 clean energy sectors: bioenergy, water power and buildings. Oak Ridge, Lawrence Berkeley, and Sandia National Labs and the National Renewable Energy Lab were also selected as lead labs in the pilot program. Assistance will also be provided through the pilot to small businesses in other clean energy areas, including advanced manufacturing, solar, wind, geothermal, vehicles and fuel cells.
PNNL will gain approximately $2.7 million of the $20 million D.O.E. is investing in the pilot. The Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy's Small Business Voucher Pilot is part of EERE's Lab Impact Initiative, which aims to significantly increase the industrial impact of national Labs on the U.S. clean energy sector.
Starting this fall, companies with fewer than 500 employees will be able to apply for $50,000 to $300,000 in vouchers that can be used for a variety of technology assistance from PNNL and other D.O.E. labs.
"We will draw on PNNL's award-winning Technology Assistance Program, which has been in existence for in excess of 20 years," said Technology Deployment and Outreach Director Cheryl Cejka. "We've been able to help a lot of small companies who have great innovations but not necessarily all the right resources to move them to the marketplace."
Genifuel Corporation is an example of a small business that initially received technology assistance from PNNL and has worked with the Lab on a process to convert algae to a useful crude oil via a chemical process that takes just minutes in a lab.
PNNL has robust and diverse research and development programs in bioenergy systems, water power and energy efficient building technologies, with a total of in excess of 200 researchers specializing in these areas. That scientific and engineering expertise will be made accessible through the Tech on Call service being developed for the SBV pilot.
"Throughout PNNL's 50-year history of delivering impactful science and technology, we have often collaborated with industry to bring innovations to market to benefit U.S. economic competitiveness," said PNNL Director Steven Ashby. "We look forward to similar contributions in bioenergy, water power, and buildings technologies as part of DOE's new pilot."
PNNL is teaming with a network of 6 partner organizations nationwide to maximize the impact of outreach efforts. The partners, Clean Energy Trust of Chicago, New England Clean Energy Council of Boston, CleanTech Alliance Washington of Seattle, CleanTech of San Diego, SSTI of Westerville, Ohio and CleanTech Open of Redwood City, CA, will help PNNL connect with small clean energy businesses, assist in evaluating applications and provide business assistance and connections to industry networks.
Businesses wishing to gain more information from PNNL, can sign up on our Tech on Call page, or by emailing DOE.
Tags: Energy, Environment, Awards and Recognizes, Technology Transfer and Commercialization, Hydropower, Biofuel
Interdisciplinary teams at Pacific Northwest National Lab address many of America's most pressing issues in energy, the environment and national security through advances in basic and applied science. Founded in 1965, PNNL employs 4,300 staff and has an yearly budget of in excess of $1 billion. It is managed by Battelle for the D.O.E.'s Office of Science. As the single biggest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, the Office of Science is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information on PNNL, visit the PNNL News Center, or follow PNNL on Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn and Twitter.
