UTEP To Lead Clean Energy Project
The University of Texas at El Paso will lead a new clean energy technology incubation program in El Paso, the Texas State Energy Conservation Office (SECO) recently announced.
The University will receive a generous grant to head the project.
UTEP and the Paso del Norte Regional Technology Incubator (The Hub) will work with SECO and UT Austin’s Austin Technology Incubator (ATI) to establish one of two new clean energy technology incubation programs in Texas. To start these programs, SECO will provide $200,000 of federally sourced support to UTEP, and ATI’s Clean Energy Incubator will provide training, experience and networks based on its 12 years of experience.
“We are delighted to be a part of this program and are looking forward to working more closely with SECO and the (ATI) Clean Energy Incubator,” said Gary Williams, Ph.D., director of UTEP’s Center for Research Entrepreneurship and Innovative Enterprises (CREIE). “We believe that our Clean Energy Incubator will have an impact on economic development in our region.”
UTEP and The Hub plan to use technologies from regional agencies including Sandia and Los Alamos national laboratories in New Mexico, Fort Bliss, the City of El Paso and some factories in Jurez, Mexico, as initial test beds.
El Paso, along with San Antonio, was chosen from a competitive field of six regional applicants. Each applicant team was anchored by a university – a model that has proven successful for the ATI’s clean energy program. The programs will foster the growth of clean energy businesses and the commercialization of clean energy technologies.
“Over the past two years alone, our Clean Energy Incubator has identified a pipeline of over 200 clean energy companies, incubated 15, helped those companies attract external capital investment totaling nearly $20 million, and created partnerships for five companies with the local electric utility,” said ATI Director Isaac Barchas. “We want to help other regions build the capability to have similar impact.”
Staff from the El Paso incubator will attend training and strategy workshops in Austin this summer.
