The Dominion Energy Innovation Center in Ashland has been awarded $150,000 from a Department of Energy program geared to support incubators working in energy innovation.
The DEIC said it will use the funding to build an accelerator program that will address the energy needs of data centers in Virginia. The 10-week program will be called DEIC Hyperscaled and will be modeled after the DEIC’s virtual Accelerate program for energy and sustainability startups — but will include additional education, mentorship and investor connection opportunities.
Northern Virginia is the world’s biggest data center market, with more than two-thirds of the world’s internet traffic flowing through the area.
In Ashburn’s Data Center Alley, data centers have outpaced the power grid to the point where Dominion Energy in 2022 warned it might need to curtail new connections until additional capacity is in place. That process is well underway: In August, Dominion CEO Robert Blue told analysts that four capacity-building projects have been completed ahead of schedule in eastern Loudoun County and an additional project will be complete by the end of 2023, while a new 500kV transmission line is expected to be put in service by late 2025.
The DEIC said the funding will also underwrite the creation of a pre-acceleration program that will be focused on identifying and supporting startups focused on energy efficiency, water usage, backup power generation and more that are not quite ready for full acceleration.
Partners on the projects include Dominion Energy, data center company QTS Realty Trust LLC and Newport News scientific research hub Jefferson Lab.
The grant program comes from the Office of Technology Transitions, and the DEIC earned its share from a pool of $4 million for a third round of grants. The DEIC was one of 23 winners and the only one from Virginia.
The new award is the second time the DEIC has secured a grant from the program. It used its previous grant to start a program called SPARK Virginia that aims to grow and launch hard-tech energy startups in the state.
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 DEIC decided to focus on energy sector startups and created an accelerator program for more established startups in that field.
Applications for the Hyperscale program are now open. They close May 17.
