Why Incubatenergy® Labs?
EPRI's Incubatenergy Labs® (IEL) connects utilities with promising early-stage startups to accelerate innovation in the energy sector. Through a collaborative model, IEL offers an agile way to find and validate new technologies with potential to address industry-prioritized innovation challenges.
There’s absolutely no substitute for being able to talk to entrepreneurs and make connections to work on an innovation journey. It’s a privilege to be here and to help this community develop it’s entrepreneurs to solve the problems that we need to solve for our energy future.
Damian Inglin
Grid Research Innovation and Development, PG&E
2026 IEL Challenge Categories

Each year, we work with our utility members to define the most pressing innovation needs shaping the future of energy. For the 2026 cycle, we’re seeking solutions in the following areas for paid demonstration projects:

Grid Modernization and Resilience

Modernize grids to ensure reliability while managing an increasingly dynamic system, extreme weather events and cyber threats.

Examples: System optiminzation, Grid management, line capacity upgrades, cybersecurity, vegetation management, and wildfire risk mitigation, among others.

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Demand Flexibility

Integrate and manage distributed energy resources (DERs) and electric vehicles (EVs) to improve reliability, and flexibility.

Examples: Advanced DER aggregation platforms, smart buildings, managed EV charging, customer-facing tools, among others.

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Smart Load Growth

Support load growth while minimizing system costs and environmental impact.

Examples: energy storage, local generation, on-site backup, among others.

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Advanced Utility Operations

Improve asset management, safety and operational efficiency using sensors, robotics and other advanced technologies.

Examples: Real-time inspection, ongoing monitoring of critical components, immersive training tools, circular economy, workflow automation, robotics, workforce development, among others.

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Open

Have a solution that doesn’t fit the challenges listed? We welcome submissions for technologies that address challenges in new ways. If your innovation can make an impact, we want to hear about it.

Incubatenergy Labs® 2026 Timeline

Our streamlined process is designed to guide innovation from concept to validation in a year. We provide a clear pathway that connects startups and utilities, turning bold ideas into real-world demonstration projects.
1
Identify
Common Innovation Challenges across utilities
2
Discover
Application Open & Startup Evaluation
Fall/Winter 2025
3
Engage

Pitch Day & Project Selection
Spring 2026
4
Activate
Demo Scoping, Contracting & Execution
Summer 2026
5
Scale
Demo Day Showcase & Knowleadge Sharing
Fall 2026
Incubatenergy Labs® Events

Incubatenergy Labs® open innovation process – anchored by Pitch Day and Demo Day - fosters networking and knowledge sharing between utility members and startups, helping accelerate the commercialization of innovative technologies.  
Pitch Day
After undergoing technical evaluations, the 20-25 startups that are best-fit for the challenges selected for live pitches Following rigorous technical evaluations, 20–25 startups that best align with the IEL innovation challenges are selected to present live pitches to IEL’s utility members. Pitch Day gives entrepreneurs the opportunity to showcase their demonstration project ideas and collaborate with utilities to execute paid proof-of-concept technology demonstrations within an 8 to 16-week timeframe.
Demo Day
The results from demonstration projects are presented and celebrated during Demo Day. Demonstration results are shared among all program participants to accelerate industry-wide adoption and commercialization of promising technologies.
Get in Touch
We’d love to hear from you. Whether you’re a startup ready to apply, a utility exploring new solutions, or just curious about the program, reach out and start the conversation today.
Contact Us