Over the last year, the teams competing in the second phase of the inaugural Inclusive Energy Innovation Prize have been hard at work engaging disadvantaged communities in the clean energy transition. They have been supporting solar startups in marginalized regions, balancing clean energy development with traditional principles of land stewardship in rural areas, and developing an acceleration support ecosystem for climate solution innovators from Black and underrepresented communities. Their strategies have been as diverse as the communities they are aiming to serve.
Those strategies took center stage during the prize’s finale event on June 13 and 14, where six Grand Prize winners were awarded $250,000 each. During the two-day Presenting Impact Through Communities at Home (PITCH) event, held at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado, the finalist teams showcased their yearlong efforts to advance equitable and just clean energy ecosystems within their communities.
Tebughna Foundation’s project uses traditional principles of land stewardship for Alaska Native communities to create and identify technical assistance resources for renewable energy technologies and pilot a solar array at Tyonek’s tribal center.