West Gate

Introducing the six entrepreneurs in our third West Gate cohort who are ready to embark on a career-changing two-year program soon at the @U.S.-Department-of-Energy-(DOE)'s @National-Renewable-Energy-Laboratory. Representing a range of transformative #energy technologies, Cohort 3 is a diverse class of innovators with promising companies. We are so proud to welcome them to the LEEP (Lab-Embedded Entrepreneurship Program) network!   Julia Curley, EsterCycle, is pioneering a chemical #recycling technology that decomposes both petroleum- and bio-based polyester plastics into their original building blocks, enabling circularity for compostable and non-compostable plastics.   Simon Julien, Latimer Controls, Inc.,-Inc., is enhancing the reliability of utility-scale #solar power by using machine learning to transform intermittent solar generation into a controllable, flexible resource for improved grid stability and economic performance.   Heather A. S. Platt, Mana Battery, is advancing sodium-ion #battery technology by developing a low-cost platform and high-energy design to produce cheaper batteries that will outperform their lithium-ion counterpart in cost, supply chain abundance, and safety.   Michael Solomentsev, Palanquin Power, is revolutionizing #EnergyManagement with a novel architecture that eliminates multiple intermediate power conversion steps, ensuring more power flows to servers, significantly reducing operating costs and enhancing efficiency.   Reamonn L. Soto, Sensatek Propulsion Technology, Inc, is transforming #wind turbine maintenance by using wireless sensors to detect structural damage early, enabling timely repairs that boost turbine efficiency, cut inspection costs, and reduce operational expenses.   Spencer Whitman, Ph.D., Aquarry, is tackling global warming and environmental contamination with pit lake alkalinity enhancement, a scalable technology that adapts ocean carbon dioxide removal (#CDR) techniques to pit lakes, offering a cheaper, easier solution for cleaning up contaminated mine sites.   Read more about all the newest LEEP innovators: https://lnkd.in/gzpEjkEm

Who said camp is just for kids? The National Renewable Energy Laboratory is hosting startup founders and entrepreneurs alongside the nation’s top incubators and accelerators for Camp Cleantech, a startups-only event for climate-tech and #cleantech entrepreneurs. It will offer a series of workshops designed to help #startups thrive AND some campy community activities inspired by Colorado’s innovative spirit. 🎣🏕️🐴 August 12-14 at CSU Spur in #Denver, Colorado. Camp signup is now open: www.campcleantech.com.

🎉🏆 Congratulations to Sustainable Chemicals LLC on being accepted into the Rockies Venture Club Summer 2024 Equal Access HyperAccelerator! By securing a spot in this prestigious program, Cohort 2 innovator Yaman Peksenar and his team are set to receive invaluable support and mentorship, driving forward their mission of developing renewable and biodegradable #plastics to decarbonize the plastic industry and reduce plastic pollution in our oceans and waterways.

This new prize is offering $2.1M in voucher funds and the chance to get technical assistance from an U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) national lab to bring your ideas to market.

Picture a world where old clothes, fabrics, and carpets are transformed into new resources, without the need for most fossil fuels. That future is closer than you think. A total of 92 million metric tons of #textile waste is produced each year. Less than 1% of those textiles are recovered. Cohort 1 innovator Mikhail Konev and his company Tereform are changing that by recycling fabrics with air. This novel process enables textile #circularity by combining three components—oxygen, earth-abundant metals, and waste fabrics—to create fully-recycled textiles while lowering greenhouse gas emissions. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/gkdMXVFv

We are so proud to be a member of the LEEP (Lab-Embedded Entrepreneurship Program) network and love seeing the traditions like these from our peers at CRI! 🦸♂️🦸♀️ Together, we have supported almost 180 innovators who have raised more than $2.6 billion in follow-on funding and created 2,343 jobs. Read more about the program and its successes: https://lnkd.in/gvrHxECQ

Congratulations to Renewell Energy on being named as one of TIME's top greentech companies for converting abandoned oil and gas wells into #RenewableEnergy storage! 🎉🏆 We're so proud of Cohort 1 innovator Stefan Streckfus, who's been validating the technology at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory over the last couple years. https://bit.ly/4e5jYDI

We’re going to camp! Join us and other top incubators and accelerators for Camp Cleantech, a startups-only event for climate-tech and #cleantech entrepreneurs. It will offer a series of workshops designed to help #startups thrive AND some campy community activities inspired by Colorado’s innovative spirit. 🎣🏕️🐴 Hosted by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Wells Fargo from August 12-14 at CSU Spur in #Denver, Colorado. Camp signup is now open: www.campcleantech.com.

Last month, we had the incredible opportunity to witness the future of #cleantech at the LEEP Demo Day in Denver. It was inspiring to see the latest cohort of #entrepreneurs showcase their groundbreaking innovations, each a testament to the transformative power of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Lab-Embedded Entrepreneurship Program (LEEP). LEEP Demo Day highlighted not just the brilliant ideas but also the commercial viability of these technologies. Thanks to LEEP’s robust support—financial stability, world-class facilities, expert networks, and business development coaching—these innovators are fast-tracking their projects to market, ready to make a significant impact. Read the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's full article about this exciting event and learn about the next generation of cleantech entrepreneurs: https://lnkd.in/gvrHxECQ

🌞👏🏆 Congratulations to BrightSpot Automation, LLC on being awarded $1.6 million for its imaging method that detects damage to thin-film solar panels in the field! Cohort 1 innovator Andrew Gabor accepted the funding from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Solar Energy Technologies Office. Automated defect detection helps expand domestic production of #solar panels by reducing investment risks, lowering insurance costs, and improving system performance. Read more: https://bit.ly/4c24VsR