Following a successful Round 1 and Round 2 of this prize series, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Electricity is excited to announce the $2.5 million Digitizing Utilities Prize Round 3: Resilient Grid Innovation. Round 3 of this competition aims to incentivize technology development partnerships with interdisciplinary teams of utility and energy sector partners with software developers and data experts to facilitate the transformation of digital systems, data analytics, and grid resource integration for the electric sector.

National Grid is pursuing the potential procurement of resources in its Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation d/b/a National Grid (the “Company”) service territory both system-wide and in specific areas where there is an electric system need to provide load relief when events are called by the Company. This competitive procurement describes the Term-Dynamic Load Management (“Term-DLM”) Program and AutoDynamic Load Management (“Auto-DLM”) Program that the Company will be offering to supplement its portfolio of existing demand response programs. In accordance with the Procurement Order, the Term-DLM Program will be offered system-wide in the Company’s electric service territory. Term-DLM resources will offer peak-shaving benefits to the Company’s system and will be
called on upon no less than 21 hours’ advance notice.

Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation d/b/a National Grid (National Grid or the Company)is an electric and gas investorowned utility committed to providing safe, reliable, and affordable energy to all customers throughout its service territory
in Upstate New York. As a part of providing this service, National Grid is pursuing the potential implementation of NonWires Alternatives (NWA) solutions in its service territory. This request for proposal (RFP) is open to all NWA approaches that have the potential to provide NWA solutions in the area(s) identified in the problem description. National Grid has several long-term goals in consideration (in alignment
with state, federal, and Company ambitions) that impact the viability of any given proposal.

The program will bring together entrepreneurs from across the U.S. and the globe, empowering them to address climate mitigation, adaptation, and resilience. Founders will receive expert training, critical resources to accelerate their ventures, and an 8-week in-person residency at Halcyon in Washington, DC. The cohort is selected of up to 8 ventures from across the U.S. and the globe. Ventures receive training in Halcyon’s methodology on product-market fit, investment readiness, and leadership.

This program brings together founders from across the U.S., empowering them to address climate challenges, health barriers, and equity gaps. Founders gain expert training, critical resources to accelerate their ventures, a one-week in-person residency in Washington, DC, and a one-week in-person residency in Atlanta. The cohort is selected of up to 10 ventures from across the U.S. Ventures receive training in Halcyon’s methodology on product-market fit, investment readiness, and leadership.

The Rice Alliance, the Houston Energy Transition Initiative (HETI) and TEX-E are partnering for the annual Energy Venture Day and Pitch Competition at CERAWeek, set to take place in the Innovation Agora in the George R. Brown Convention Center on March 12, 2025 with a special Pitch Preview event (free to attend) on March 11 at the Ion Houston. The Energy Venture Day and Pitch Competition features pitches from more than 40 energy ventures driving efficiency and advancements toward the energy transition. The fast-paced competition is designed to connect energy startups with venture capitalists, corporate innovation groups, industry leaders, academics, and service providers.

The Joint Assessment of Resilience in Vulnerable Infrastructure Systems (JARVIS) Opportunity will provide funding to utilities to deploy advanced technologies and incorporate modeling to identify and mitigate grid vulnerabilities, enabling greater integration across diverse energy portfolios. Eligible applicants are utilities and partner technical assistance providers (which includes companies/entities, research institutions, consulting firms, technology companies, for-profit and non-profit organizations). JARVIS will provide awards of approximately $1M each and is making $35 million currently available.

Smart Futures Lab offers an invaluable opportunity for growth in the tech space through a free incubator and accelerator program. Open to new majority tech founders, professionals, and students, looking to develop and scale their smart city innovation solutions. The Incubator Program caters to tech startups in the early stages of development, whether they are ideating, designing, or testing their products. The Accelerator Program is for mature companies looking to scale, build government partnerships, refine their business model, and find funding investors.

Launch your electrifying journey into the future of innovation! Join the world’s largest multi-sector commercialization program for emerging deep technologies. Pitch your groundbreaking innovations and connect with top-tier corporate, investment, military and federal leaders for partnering, licensing and investment opportunities. Whether you’re a startup, university TTO, federal lab, or federal awardee, seize the moment. Submit your commercially viable innovation now and connect with the largest gathering of tech-scouts and funding offices worldwide.

The E-Team Program, part of the VentureWell Accelerator, supports student ventures as you embark down the path you’re likely to take as an innovator and entrepreneur. We help you advance your invention through a powerful mix of up to $25,000 in grant funding, entrepreneurship training, mentorship by dedicated staff, national recognition, and networking with peers and industry experts.

Participants travel to NREL’s main campus in Golden, Colorado, for four multiday sessions held June–September. The Energy Execs program provides an in-depth look at solar and wind power, bioenergy, hydrogen and transportation, energy-efficient building technologies, and energy systems integration. Just as energy technology has advanced over the years, the program has continually evolved to incorporate the latest innovations and breakthroughs. Participants will gain access to:

• Briefings by world-renowned researchers and engineers
• Tours of state-of-the-art research laboratories
• Visits to renewable energy installations.

The objective of this NOFO is to enhance grid reliability and resilience in the face of growing uncertainties and in the age of digital information systems and networks. It is critical to quantify and clearly communicate risk and uncertainties to decision-makers and human operators. This NOFO would seek applications to conduct Research and Development and Demonstration (RD&D) activities that advance the state of the art for power system uncertainty and risk metrics to help human operators receive actionable information to better understand, predict, prevent, and mitigate cascading failures in power grids. This is a newly developing field for the power sector with few, if any, commercial tools. It is therefore assumed this topic area will require an academic or research institution to be heavily involved in the project to achieve program objectives. Therefore, DOE is restricting eligibility to universities, colleges, DOE FFRDCs and non-profit research institutions or think-tanks to serve as the prime applicant. Prime applicants are encouraged to apply in partnerships with electric sector partners and technology providers to ensure the research remains relevant to industry.