Energy and electricity industry startups find success at DISTRIBUTECH 2023

March 31, 2023 Editor

Clarion Event's Sarah Toews (left) stands with the 2023 DISTRIBUTECH Initiate! winners. — Clarion Event’s Sarah Toews (left) stands with the 2023 DISTRIBUTECH Initiate! winners.

One of the most exciting aspects of the annual DISTRIBUTECH is Initiate!, a startup program through which qualified startup companies are invited to exhibit at the event in a special area of the show exhibition area. While at DTECH, in addition to meeting and greeting the thousands of attendees that walk through the exhibition, the startups participate in a pitch competition, which is judged by a committee of electricity industry stakeholders.

The judges score the companies on innovation, technical and financial viability, and how beneficial the solutions are to the community.

For 2023, the three winners represent a diverse set of solutions for the energy industry. Two, Electric Fish and Fast Forward, focus on speeding up working being done by electric utilities and making it more efficient. The third winner, ICE Thermal Harvesting, helps industrial electric consumers become more efficient and lower their carbon footprints by capturing waste heat and using it to augment their electricity use.

Overall Initiate! winner: Electric Fish

The company provides fast EV charging infrastructure coupled with energy storage for easy and quick installations plus grid benefits.

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Initiate! winner #2: Fast Forward

The company automates thermal inspections of distribution lines for utilities, compressing the time it takes a utility to inspect all of its poles and transformers from years to days.

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Initiate! winner # 3: Ice Thermal Harvesting

The company helps industrial organizations like oil and gas refiners, pulp and paper mills, cement manufacturers and others create zero-emission zero-emission power by harvesting the excess heat produced in the processing plant.

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Duke Energy Initiate! award

Utility Initiate! Sponsor Duke Energy also selects a winner and this year, the utility selected Prosumer Grid, which is focused on the operation of a DER-heavy electric grid. The company says its software can be used to simulate optimal short-term DER operation; help with long-term capacity planning considering DER and energy storage; calculate the benefits, costs, net present value, investment rate of return and payback period of a proposed DER investment; and much more.

Learn more about Initiate! here.