Turning waste to energy INL researchers began working with Idaho Falls-based Cogent Energy Systems through a DOE-funded Small Business Voucher. The project aims to improve the company’s small-scale gasifier for distributed waste-to-energy applications and markets. INL will help to properly homogenize and size the feedstock material so that it can be continuously fed into the gasifier and meet real-world feedstock processing requirements. 31 “…very interesting and educational, and a valuable effort missing in the electric industry.” – Technical collaborator regarding an on-site cybersecurity assessment at Washington state’s Snohomish Public Utility District (SnoPUD). directive for utility companies to support reduced energy consumption by funding research and technology development. Speeding tech transitions to market INL partnered with the Northwest- based business accelerator program Cascadia CleanTech to launch the lab’s pilot national lab accelerator training. Thirteen INL teams — all working with industry mentors — met at CAES to learn lean innovation-to- market techniques such as customer discovery and validation. This led to a “pitch competition” where teams gave presentations and answered questions from a six-judge panel. Evaluating solar battery performance Pocatello-based Inergy Solar makes portable solar energy collection and storage systems, and better performance hinges on more powerful, longer-lasting batteries. Researchers at INL’s Battery Testing Center helped the company determine how an advanced generation of lithium-ion battery cells would perform under various conditions that mirror those seen in Inergy’s products. Inergy’s chief technology officer said INL’s test results will figure into the company’s plans, which may eventually involve building a li-ion battery factory in the Pocatello area. Researchers at INL’s BatteryTesting Center helped Inergy Solar test its batteries’performance.