Brite Awarded $50K Prize from Department of Energy

WARREN, Ohio – Brite Energy Innovators has been awarded a $50,000 grant by the U.S. Department of Energy as part of the agency’s Energy Program for Innovation Clusters initiative. 

The funds, one of the 20 awards made nationwide, will support energy storage projects at the incubator.

“Once again the Voltage Valley has proved to be a national leader in future-facing energy  technologies,” said Brite’s president and CEO, Rick Stockburger, in a statement. 

The Energy Program for Innovative Clusters, or EPIC, initiative awards funding to business incubators, accelerators, co-working communities and other models that work toward developing regional networks for energy-related technologies and entrepreneurship.

The EPIC Prize is the first portion of a $5 million effort by the Department of Energy’s Office of Technology Transitions. The second, $4 million phase of the EPIC program will be awarded to five incubators next month; Brite is also in the running for that $600,000 award.

“This grant will be instrumental to continuing to keep our community on the forefront of energy  innovation,” said U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, D-13 Ohio. “There is a reason our community is now being called ‘Voltage Valley.’ Between the incredible work Brite is doing in energy storage, Lordstown Motors’ new electric truck, and the GM-LG Chem electric vehicle battery plant, we are taking a leading role building the jobs of  the future.”  

Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.