The Dominion Energy Innovation Center in Ashland has started to actively recruit and develop young Virginia companies in the energy sector through a new program.
In January, the group was awarded a $50,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy and was named a semifinalist in the agency’s EPIC Prize Challenge. For the submission, the DEIC proposed SPARK Virginia, a program designed to identify, educate and support early-stage energy startups in the state. The organization specifically identified nuclear and hydrogen fields but will also seek advanced battery technology, solar and other leading energy technology.
“We have one of the most sophisticated energy landscapes of any state in the United States,” said Braden Croy, the DEIC program director. “We have the engineering and the tech talent. We have the design talent. We have the manufacturing and workforce talent. It’s playing into the strengths that Virginia already has.”
The goal is to hold events across the state and identify energy companies with potential, offering education, site tours, networking and pitch opportunities. In February, SPARK Virginia, in conjunction with the da Vinci Center at Virginia Commonwealth University, held an event. Additionally, a six-week virtual course was organized with Smart City Works in Northern Virginia.
Last month, SPARK Virginia held a micro-conference and pitch competition in Newport News in conjunction with Jefferson Lab, a national laboratory. The event was a chance for DEIC personnel to learn about promising energy startups in the region and award $8,500 in grant funding. N-Smart, an Internet of Things applications company, took the top prize of $2,500, and Edenic Energy, which focuses on reducing energy loses in buildings, took second place.
Croy said N-Smart fits the profile of the type of company the DEIC is seeking. The company had applied to the organization’s accelerator program last year but didn’t make the cut. The founder of N-Smart was also at the Richmond SPARKS Virginia event. Croy said the organization is working with the founder and helping him take the next step.
“We want to start being able to support these entrepreneurs across the state,” Croy said. “It’s mainly about building that community.”
Energy technology is a challenging space to build a startup. The industry is heavily regulated, especially when working with utilities, and startups are a long journey.
“Energy stuff, especially energy hardware stuff, is not like a software company where you can have a minimum viable product in six months,” said Adam Sledd, executive director of the DEIC. “Energy Tech might take a decade.”
The Dominion Energy Innovation Center was founded in 2009 as a public-private partnership between Activation Capital, Dominion Energy, the town of Ashland and Hanover County. The organization has a coworking space and at that time worked with companies in a variety of sectors.
In 2020, the organization decided to focus on energy sector startups and created an accelerator program for more established startups in that field. The program pairs companies with mentors at Dominion Energy (NYSE: D). The goal is to get a company to a place where a pilot project can be undertaken with a utility.
“We look at these companies and try to figure out where they would fit within Dominion and what that pilot would look like,” Croy said. “The goal is a paid pilot project at the end of the accelerator.”
Croy said the SPARK program can help with spinning off technology from a national lab or a university or work with founders who have an idea. He said the DEIC is talking with a company working on developing fusion energy and another company that wants to use grass to capture carbon.
He said Richmond-based Linebird is a perfect example of a company the organization has helped. Linebird makes tools that drones use to assess the maintenance needs of a power line. The company has gone from a concept to now building units at the DEIC facility.
“Linebird represents the soup and nuts of all the service Dominion Innovation Center provides,” Croy said. “They won our pitch competition. Then they came into our accelerator. Now they have our entire back workshop and R&D space to manufacture their drone payload systems, and they have a number of utility contracts. Dominion was the first flag in the ground.”
The Dominion Energy Innovation Center has future SPARKS Virginia events planned. An event is scheduled in the fall at Virginia Tech and others are in the early stages of being developed. The goal is to complete an event in all nine GoVirginia regions over the next year. Croy said his hope is that a large event will take place that features representatives from each region next year.
