News Release: 2025 NREL Industry Growth Forum Celebrates 30 Years, Unlocks Value for Attendees
6 Entrepreneurs Took Home Top Awards After Presenting During 30th Anniversary of Event
Hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), the 2025 NREL Industry Growth Forum (IGF) celebrated its 30th anniversary by awarding six top innovators of emerging technologies on March 26–28, 2025. With this year’s theme of “Unlocking Value,” the IGF provided more programs than ever before.
In addition to the one-on-one meetings between startups and investors and the pitch competition, this year’s event featured reverse pitches, where industry partners expressed their needs from the innovation ecosystem. Also new this year, a spotlight event showcased 10 companies that are part of NREL’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center (IEC) programs. The IEC hosted more than 1,000 attendees at the IGF.
“We wanted to find new ways to bring members of this community together,” NREL IEC Director Trish Cozart said. “NREL has this incredible convening power, so when we do bring people together, we are unlocking the maximum value for high-quality startups, committed investors, and other industry professionals.”
For this year's awards, a panel of judges made up of investors deliberated to identify the winners from a field of 52 companies that pitched their technologies during the event, which had been selected by the IGF team from 247 applicants earlier in 2025.
The Industry Growth Forum is the premier advanced energy technology event that brings together entrepreneurs, investors, and industry experts to forge new partnerships. The event allows them to share cutting-edge technologies, emerging resources, and models to bring new innovations to the market. In addition to the pitch competition, the IGF hosted nearly 3,000 one-on-one meetings between startups, investors, and energy ecosystem leaders.
The pitch competition allows startups to stand out and give investors and industry partners a deeper understanding of innovative technologies.
The 2025 IGF award winners:
Best Growth Venture
Ampersand—Daniel Ketyer, VP of Corporate Development and Strategy, Kigali, Rwanda
Best Commercialization Venture
Sepion Technologies—Peter Frischmann, Co-Founder and CEO, Alameda, California
Best Pre-Commercialization Venture
Tandem PV—Scott Wharton, CEO, San Jose, California
Best Early Venture
Palanquin Power—Michael Solomentsev, Co-Founder and CEO, Golden, Colorado*
Best International Venture
Ampersand—Daniel Ketyer, VP of Corporate Development and Strategy, Kigali, Rwanda
People’s Choice Award
Ecotone Renewables—Dylan Lew, Co-Founder and CEO, and Kyle Wyche, Co-Founder and COO, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Best Overall Venture
Sunchem—Daniel Sun, Co-Founder and CEO, Berkeley, California
For a list of participating companies and sponsors, and for more information on the IGF, visit us online at www.nrelforum.com.
*Palanquin Power is part of NREL’s Lab Embedded Entrepreneurship Program, West Gate.
NREL is a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory operated for the Energy Department by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy LLC.