San Diego Regional Energy Innovation Cluster

This project will provide customized entrepreneurial services; including education/training, business development, testing facilities, and advisory support to the San Diego region.

Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Climate Science

Cleantech San Diego Association

Recipient

San Diego, CA

Recipient Location

39th

Senate District

77th

Assembly District

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$7,518,636

Amount Spent

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Active

Project Status

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Project Update

The Southern California Energy Innovation Network (SCEIN), a program led by Cleantech San Diego, is a California Energy Commission-funded program to support startups with electric energy-focused technologies in San Diego, Imperial, Riverside, and San Bernardino counties. The program provides free resources through a consortium of regional partner organizations to help energy entrepreneurs successfully bring their innovations to market.

As of 2024, SCEIN has supported 78 total companies, with 38 active member companies. Collectively, SCEIN member companies have attracted over $500 million in private capital and $171 million in public capital since joining the program. This combined $672 million represents a quadrupling of the capital that the companies came into the program, with 82% of their total capital raised during the SCEIN Program. An updated list of companies supported through SCEIN can be viewed here: https://cleantechsandiego.org/scein/

The Issue

Clean energy startups face difficulties in making use of the existing programs and resources available in the area, and accessing technology validation facilities, business training, market intelligence, and capital. They also experience increasing challenges navigating regulatory barriers to development and commercialization of entrepreneur's innovations. In order to facilitate the development of new energy innovations and their entry into the market, the Southern California Energy Innovation Network coordinates various entrepreneurial support services available in the region under one directive, optimizing key services to meet the needs of individual businesses.

Project Innovation

This project established the Southern California Energy Innovation Network (SCEIN) as a regional incubator program that provides commercialization support services to clean energy entrepreneurship in San Diego, Imperial, Riverside, and San Bernardino Counties. The program leverages the region's universities, industries, businesses, economic development organizations, and other key stakeholder groups to foster collaborations across the private-public-academic landscape and accelerate equitable deployment of clean technology innovations for the benefit of the economy, the environment, and all members of the community.

Project Goals

Accelerate market traction for energy startups in Imperial, Riverside, San Diego, and San Bernardino counties.

Attract program applications from energy startups that are developing solutions to help California meet its energy goals.

Leverage partnerships to provide energy entrepreneurs with access to resources, capital, and connections with industry.

Project Benefits

This project is advancing the goals of SB 350 (2015) by accelerating the commercialization of new clean energy technologies that can enable the integration of high-penetrations of renewables and distributed energy resources. This project will increase the probability of commercialization and deployment of a portfolio of technologies that can reduce electricity costs, decrease peak demand, and improve system reliability and safety. Intangible benefits to California ratepayers will result from broader, indirect, and multiplicative economic effects that occur from the successful establishment of California-based technology companies.

Affordability

SCEIN helps shorten technology development time and costs by providing a one-stop shop for entrepreneurs to quickly find and access the right services and resources.