Vinit Chaudhary, co-founder of Aligned Composites Technology, presents his vision for natural fiber, nonwoven mats, which can be used for everything from ceiling tiles to pickleball paddles. Credit: Piper Communications
Advanced energy is a crosscutting field that includes businesses, researchers and entrepreneurs working to make energy safer, more secure and more efficient. In November, state leaders from across the advanced energy industry gathered in downtown Knoxville to recognize current and future leaders and celebrate innovation at the 11th annual Opportunities in Energy conference, held by the Tennessee Advanced Energy Business Council, or TAEBC.
TAEBC Board President Steve Seifried opened the conference by asserting both Tennessee’s business-friendly climate, from Mountain City to Memphis and a commitment to continue to move the state and national energy agenda forward. A presentation of the 2024 Tennessee Advanced Energy Economic Impact Report reaffirmed the significance of the advanced energy sector, detailing that despite Tennessee’s growth in population, economy and industries, the average state income trails the national average. Advanced energy could bring state wages in line with national standards, as the sector is credited with both paying high wages and contributing $55.9 billion to Tennessee’s state GDP, impacting all 95 Tennessee counties.
Jeff Lyash, Tennessee Valley Authority CEO, said that he was "not sure there’s another state in the nation that has positioned itself as well as Tennessee around advanced energy…We’ve got a system of collaboration that is not equaled anywhere else… The strongest economy has to have the strongest energy system, and that energy system has to be extremely diverse and… innovative."
Panel topics included fusion and fission energy, investing in the future and advancing energy solutions. Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Mickey Wade, associate laboratory director for the Fusion and Fission Energy and Science Directorate, spoke on the historical ties between the East Tennessee region and cutting-edge energy: “Oak Ridge was born of the nuclear age, and ORNL still attracts people with ideas to come here."
Spark Innovation Center Director Lilly Trench shared that Knoxville is ranked in the top 20 hubs in the United States for clean technology—in large part because of the work of Knoxville-based organizations, such as ORNL’s Innovation Crossroads, a Department of Energy Lab-Embedded Entrepreneurship Program that offers a two-year fellowship for researchers working to address and solve energy and manufacturing challenges. Dan Miller, director of Innovation Crossroads, explained how the program is "growing high-impact businesses in energy and advanced manufacturing. We marry early-stage technical entrepreneurs with the capabilities and assets at a national laboratory… Of the 45 startups that Innovation Crossroads has supported, over half have stayed in East Tennessee."
Pitch sessions allowed startups in a variety of sectors — circular economies, advanced manufacturing, battery storage and energy and the environment — to promote their work before investors. Alumni of Innovation Crossroads and the Spark Incubator Program presented their companies throughout the day. The pitches culminated in an award presented by Curt Jawdy, TVA senior manager of Operational Research and Support, to AluminAiry, a Spark Incubator Program startup.
The Thomas Ballard Advanced Energy Leadership award, which recognized leadership and success in championing Tennessee’s advanced energy economy, was awarded to AESSEAL.
UT-Battelle manages ORNL for DOE’s Office of Science, the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States. The Office of Science is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit energy.gov/science. – Brynn Downing
