Energy Program for Innovation Clusters

EPIC 2025

OTT is excited to offer another year of support for small business, incubators, and accelerators via EPIC in 2025. The 2025 program will consist of our highly regarded pitch competitions. All previous EPIC incubator and accelerator awardees will be eligible to nominate an energy technology startup.  Startup finalists will be selected to pitch their ideas to a panel of DOE and industry reviewers for the chance to win cash awards. 

As locations and dates are finalized, Pitch Competition details and nomination information will be communicated to eligible EPIC Prize winners.  

The following pitch competition has been confirmed so far: 

  • Spring 2025 EPIC Pitch Competition at the 2025 Energy Thought Summit in San Antonio, TX from May 19-22, 2025. This is the 12th annual event hosted and produced by Zpryme. View the event webpage here.  

The Spring 2025 EPIC Pitch Competition Finalists Have Been Announced! 

The six startups below have been selected as finalists to compete in the Spring 2025 EPIC Pitch Competition taking place at Energy Thought Summit on May 20 in San Antonio! These teams will face off to compete for a cash prize pool of $105,000.  

  • Anactisis (Pittsburgh, PA) – Enhancing U.S. energy security by developing polymer-based materials to recover critical minerals from industrial waste streams.
  • Dig Energy (Manchester, NH) –  Affordable, compact, fast, and thermally efficient drilling tech enabling geothermal heating and cooling to scale.
  • Infinion Technology (Palo Alto, CA) – AI-powered, high-frequency magnetic sensing for low-cost, real-time grid asset monitoring, enabling a more resilient, reliable grid.
  • Natrion Inc. (Binghamton, NY) – Revolutionary U.S.-made separators for lithium batteries making cells safer, fast-charging, and more cost efficient.   
  • Petra Power (Solon, OH) – Ultra efficient, fuel-flexible power systems converting diesel, natural gas, propane, and more to electricity with 90% greater efficiency.
  • Sage Geosystems (Houston, TX) – Commercializing new geothermal technologies to improve the costs and efficiencies of power, heating, and energy storage.

Congratulations, finalists, and thank you to all of the startups who submitted their impressive pitches on groundbreaking energy technologies! 

EPIC PRIZE Round 3

The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Technology Transitions (OTT), EPIC Round 3 is a $4 million competitive funding program for the nation’s most innovative incubators supporting energy innovation clusters. EPIC Round 3 awarded cash prizes and a three-year cooperative agreement to regional incubator teams that submit the most creative and impactful plans, then implement those plans to develop strong programming, connections, and support for energy startups and entrepreneurs. EPIC Round 3 is no longer accepting applications. The five projects that were awarded 3-year cooperative agreements are now in progress. OTT is looking forward to the exciting future of EPIC in 2025. Stay tuned for updates on prospective opportunities through the EPIC program!  

EPIC Round 3 Logo

Phase 1

In April 2024, OTT announced the Phase 1 winners of the Energy Program for Innovation Clusters (EPIC) Round 3. Twenty-three incubators and accelerators from across the nation were each awarded $150,000 for programs designed to support energy startups and entrepreneurs in their communities. Applicants included traditional business accelerators and incubators, as well as innovative entrepreneurship communities and startup advocacy organizations. 

Read the official announcement.

 

Phase 2

In December 2024, OTT announced the Phase 2 winners of the Energy Program for Innovation Clusters (EPIC) Round 3. Five teams were awarded the opportunity to negotiate and up to $1M 3-year cooperative agreement with DOE. 

Read the official announcement. 

 

EPIC Reports

  • This report describes the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Technology Transitions (OTT) Energy Program for Innovation Clusters (EPIC) program progress and implementation. This report builds off the published report to Congress in June 2022, which provided an overview of the EPIC program and plans for implementation. This report provides an update to Congress on the EPIC program, in its third round of awards and fourth year of programming as of FY 2024, including an overview of its program structure, awardees, as well as key performance measures and select outcomes for the program’s first two rounds

    Read the report. 

  • During Fiscal Year (FY) 2020, Congress appropriated $5 million and tasked the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Technology Transitions (OTT) to fund incubators that support energy technology innovation clusters. This in turn led to OTT's development of the Energy Program for Innovation Clusters (EPIC).  This report presents funding activities, award status and preliminary outcomes for EPIC through 2021.

    Read the report. 

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