Shell launches multimillion-dollar clean tech incubator with NREL

Shell has announced a programme worth millions of dollars to advance emerging clean technologies, in partnership with the US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).

The programme, called the Shell GameChanger Accelerator (GCxN), will work with early-stage startups to develop technologies which look at long-term clean energy solutions, such as energy storage.

Shell and NREL will utilise their resources to help startups de-risk emerging technologies and accelerate their path to market, with GCxN providing up to $250,000 in non-diluted funding to successful applicants.

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Lene Hviid, global manager for Shell’s GameChanger said: “Shell has a 25-year history of supporting early-stage startups and entrepreneurs that are impacting the future of energy. Capitalising on NREL’s world class laboratories and technical expertise, GCxN brings together industry experts and innovative thinking to identify promising new technologies and help move future energy solutions to market.”

Richard Adams, director of NREL’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center (IEC) stated: “We are excited to expand out public/private partnerships with a global leader like Shell in order to address new areas for technology incubation that will be critical to the success of our energy future and leverage our combined expertise in this important work.”

This builds on the success of the Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator, IN2, which has been developed in partnership with NREL over the past few years.

Speaking to Energy Digital for an upcoming feature, NREL’s Trish Cozart, Program Manager for IN2, said that the support offered by these kinds of incubator programmes is worth much more than just the capital on offer.

“Having experts in the lab is like expanding your team to something incredible, more so than they could ever do on their own, and the facilities are sometimes not even possible to get as a startup without something like that,” said Cozart.

“I think the support system is worth twice as much as the money in a lot of ways, maybe more,” she added.

The first round of successful applicants is set to be announced this year.