NREL Awarded $4.9 Million for Small Business Voucher Pilot

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During the July 8 Clean Energy Manufacturing Initiative's Southeast Regional Summit in Atlanta, Georgia, the Energy Department announced the national laboratories that will be taking the lead in implementing a new $20 million Small Business Vouchers Pilot. Through a competitive selection, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) was awarded $4.9 million for their work on the pilot. A total of five Energy Department national laboratories were awarded, including NREL, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

The pilot is a public-private partnership that will connect clean energy innovators across the country with the top-notch scientists, engineers, and world-class facilities at the national laboratories. This effort will help small businesses bring next-generation clean energy technologies to the market faster by unleashing the vast science and engineering capabilities of the national laboratories to solve small businesses' most pressing challenges.

NREL will provide vouchers to the businesses to allow access to lab expertise and tools. This will help them test, validate, and introduce new products to market, and will also help them grow within the clean energy sector. All of the laboratories will assist the small businesses with developing specific clean energy technologies in advanced manufacturing, buildings, vehicles, wind, water, bioenergy, fuel cells, geothermal, and solar. 

For additional information, visit the Small Business Vouchers Pilot.