America's Next Top Energy Innovator, Round 2

News release from the U.S. Department of Energy:

Secretary Chu Announces Second Round of “America’s Next Top Energy Innovator” on One Year Anniversary of the White House Startup America Initiative

January 31, 2012 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, on the one year anniversary of the Obama Administration’s Startup America Initiative, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced that the Department of Energy (DOE) is kicking off a second year of “America’s Next Top Energy Innovator,” a program that allows startup companies to license groundbreaking technologies developed by DOE’s 17 national laboratories for $1,000 and build successful businesses. As part of this effort, the Department reduces both the cost and paperwork requirements for startup companies to obtain an option agreement to license some of the 15,000 patents and patent applications held by the national laboratories.

The White House Startup America Initiative is a multiagency effort across the Obama Administration to promote high-growth entrepreneurship by expanding access to capital, cutting red tape, and accelerating innovation through agency action.  Additional information on the program’s one year anniversary and new steps the Obama Administration is taking to support job-creating small businesses is available HERE.

“America's future competitiveness depends on our ability to innovate and advance American products and businesses,” said Energy Secretary Chu. “Through America’s Next Top Energy Innovator, we are allowing brilliant ideas to fully develop and giving startup companies the opportunity to bring inventions from our national laboratories to the market.”

Under the previous round of America’s Next Top Energy Innovator, thirty-six companies in total signed option agreements with the national laboratories.  An online contest for the top picks is currently underway, where Americans can vote online for the most innovative and promising technologies supported by the program by visiting www.energy.gov/topinnovator. The top startup companies– based on the public vote and an expert review – will be invited to be featured at the premier annual gathering of clean energy investors and innovators around the country, the ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit at the end of February.

Under the next round of the “America’s Next Top Energy Innovator” program:

1.      Wednesday, February 1, 2011, the Department will kick off the second round of the competition.  Entrepreneurs and start-ups must identify the technology of interest and submit a business plan to be considered for the program. Participants will have until December 10, 2012 to make their submission to the laboratory.
2.      Any of the 15,000 unlicensed patents and patent applications held by the national laboratories will be available for licensing by startup companies.
3.      From February 1 to December 10, the Department will reduce the total upfront cost of licensing DOE patents in a specific technology to a $1,000 upfront fee for portfolios of up to three patents from a single laboratory. This represents a savings of $10,000 to $50,000 on average in upfront fees.
4.      Other license terms, such as equity and royalties, will be negotiated on a case by case basis and will typically be due once the company grows and achieves commercial sales. These fees help support the Department's continuing research activities to develop new technologies.
5.      The Department has simplified the option and licensing process and has established a standard set of terms for start-ups, who generally lack the resources, time or expertise to negotiate individual licensing agreements.
6.      In early 2013, the Department will give Americans the chance to vote online for the most innovative and promising technologies supported by the program.

Learn more about DOE’s America’s Next Top Energy Innovator program HERE. Learn more about the Obama Administration’s Startup America initiative HERE.

From the U.S. Dept. of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL):

Lease Option Increases Rooftop Solar’s Appeal, Study Says Low Down Payment, Immediate Savings, Lure a New, Less Affluent Demographic Friday, January 20, 2012 Rooftop solar panels are attracting a new demographic of customers who are choosing to lease rather than buy, and enjoying the low upfront costs and immediate savings. The new third-party-lease business model lets homeowners save money the very first month, rather than breaking even a decade later after an initial investment of $10,000 or $20,000. Analysts with the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) found that the solar lease models are surging in southern California. And they're being adopted in less affluent neighborhoods that had few customer-owned systems. The NREL study, "The Transformation of Southern California's Residential Photovoltaics Market through Third-Party Ownership," is in the current edition of the journal Energy Policy. The study indicated an attraction for third-party leasing in neighborhoods with less affluence than those most likely to go for the customer-owned option. It found a positive correlation between customers outright buying solar energy systems and customers living in neighborhoods where the average household income was $150,000 or more. But with third-party-leased photovoltaic (PV) panels, that positive correlation appeared in neighborhoods where the average household income was just $100,000 or more. If what's true in southern California proves true for the nation, it means that rooftop solar power could prove tempting for an additional 13 million Americans who live in households that earn between $100,000 and $150,000 per year. "What is so interesting about the southern California data is that the strong decrease in PV prices – from lower retail costs and stronger federal incentives – didn't pick up a new demographic. But the new business model – leasing – did pick up a new customer demographic," NREL's Easan Drury, the lead author of the report, said. Repackaging the value of photovoltaics as a simple savings on the monthly bill is an attractive alternative to the pitch that it will pay for itself in a decade, he said. "If someone comes up to you and says you can make money next month and forever, that totally changes how people see the value of solar." Among Drury's other findings: Third-party leasing usually eliminates the need for home-equity-style financing and, thus, the need for significant equity in the home. Without the hurdle of financing, more people can adopt solar, Drury said.  Along with the lower income threshold, Drury found a surge in solar leasing in neighborhoods with younger families. In the Los Angeles and Orange county markets, customer-owned PV was five times more prevalent than third-party owned in 2009. In 2010, the ratio had dropped to 2 to 1. And for the first quarter of 2011, the ratio was almost even. Homeowners can put as little as $3,000 down and see an immediate drop in their electricity costs,  albeit that first year the drop may be just a couple dollars a month. The real benefits come over the next two decades, when the $40 or $50 per month they're paying to lease the solar panels stays constant, while, presumably, the cost of electricity goes up. Third-party companies are touting potential customer savings of $10,000 to $15,000 over two decades. NREL is the Department of Energy's primary national laboratory for renewable energy and energy efficiency research and development. NREL is operated for DOE by The Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC. ###