US: SBV pilot round three deadline looms

The deadline to apply to the third call of the Small Business Vouchers (SBV) pilot program is approaching with the due date set for November 10, 2016.

The third call of SBV pilot initiative, launched by the US Department of Energy (DoE) to help small business accelerate the commercialization of their technologies by working with national laboratories, has been opened on October 10, 2016.

In the first two rounds, 76 small businesses received vouchers for approximately $15 million in technical assistance from national labs to help bring the next generation of clean-energy technologies to market.

When it comes to marine and hydrokinetic developers, the companies that have been selected to participle in the SBV pilot in the last two rounds include Columbia Power Technologies, Oscilla Power, Northwest Energy Innovations, and Ocean Renewable Power Corporation.

Over rounds three and four, $12 million has been made available for vouchers across DoE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) clean-energy sectors.

The total of $20 million has been allocated for the SBV pilot, out of which $2.2 million for products using waves, tides and waterways for environmentally safe power in voucher opportunity areas of marine and hydrokinetics, and hydropower.