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Albany, NY – The Clean Energy Alliance (CEA) is pleased to announce the addition of the Virginia Clean Energy Business Incubator (VCEBI) as CEA’s 14th U.S. business incubator focusing on clean energy technology development. The Virginia Incubator is located within a 60,000 square foot facility at Riverstone Technology Park, a 165-acre site in Halifax County. The energy research, development, and commercialization initiative at Riverstone is led by Dr. Carole Cameron Inge of Virginia Tech. Capabilities available to support clean technology development and commercialization inclue state-of-the-art modeling and simulation tools, information technology, engineering design, broadband telecommunications, geospatial informatics, and two-way interactive telepresence technology. VCEBI’s initial clean technology projects focus on distributed energy grid technologies, TriGen power generation with cellulosic materials, agribusiness research looking at alternative crops as fuel sources with Virginia State University, and small wind technologies that have the potential to enable distributed wind power to be produced economically, even in low wind regimes like Virginia.
VCEBI is part of the Modeling and Simulation Center for Collaborative Technologies (the ModSim Center), established with funding from the Virginia Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission (Virginia Tobacco Commission). Dr. Inge, who is also Executive Director of the ModSim Center, said she is extremely pleased with the recognition by CEA:“Admission to this prestigious group validates the organizing concept for the Virginia Incubator and the expectations for developing green energy technologies that will help secure our nation’s energy future. We are looking forward to bringing many new technologies from the inventor stage to the pilot stage and then to the commercial reality. We’re confident that the benefits of the Virginia Tobacco Commission’s fiscal contribution will soon be realized and we thank them for their faith in our leadership”.
Mr. Frank S. Ferguson, Virginia’s Deputy Attorney General and Chairman of the Center’s steering committee, said: “The admission of the Virginia Incubator into Clean Energy Alliance is a wonderful step forward for Virginia’s scientific research community. It is a terrific tribute to the efforts of Dr. Inge and her dedicated team in launching Riverstone. As chairman of the steering committee for the modeling and simulation project there, I know great things are coming and it is gratifying to see this prestigious national recognition.”
CEA, originally named The National Alliance of Clean Energy Business Incubators (NACEBI), was established in 2000 by the U.S. Department of Energy under the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Since its founding, CEA has served as an association of leading technology business incubators dedicated to helping clean energy-related startup and developmental businesses grow. CEA was incorporated in 2006 as a non-profit organization to enhance its ability to provide its members with access to the best business development and related services tailored to the needs of the clean energy business community. The incubators help client companies refine their business cases and develop their enterprises, thus making them more attractive to private sector investors and, ultimately, commercial deployment.
Dr. Lawrence Murphy, Manager of the Enterprise Development Program at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and an associate member of the CEA, said “I want to welcome the Virginia Clean Energy Business Incubator (VCEBI) to the Clean Energy Alliance. This is a great and energetic addition to our Alliance network that adds exciting new capabilities and expertise while broadening our geographic band-width. With the new national focus on jobs and workforce development, as well as the commercialization of clean energy technologies and the associated infrastructure, I anticipate that VCEBI along with the current members are well positioned to demonstrate CEA’s key role and potential huge contribution to this national objective.”
For more information, see www.virginiaenergynetwork.com and www.cleanenergyalliance.com/mission.php.
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