About the CalTestBed Program

New Energy Nexus works with our partners at the University of California Office of the President (UCOP) and Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBNL) to coordinate an unprecedented collection of assets, facilities, infrastructure and resources. Commitments have been signed by UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UC Irvine, UC Los Angeles, UC Merced, UC Riverside, UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara, and LBNL representing more than 70 eligible testbeds. The team will also build the organizational capacity of additional testbeds throughout the state, and connect with others nation-wide.

Public and private testbed resources in California are organized under a unified CalTestBed Network that will standardize entrepreneur-facing services. A robust pipeline of long-term, sustainable public and private support for CalTestBed’s voucher recipients will be developed to accelerate their commercialization.

Applications are solicited from entrepreneurs throughout the California. More than $16.7 million worth of vouchers will be distributed to companies with clean energy prototypes with a TRL between 5-7. The companies will use these vouchers at one of the facilities listed in the CalTestBed Facilities Directory to test and de-risk their innovations.

An innovative Uniform Contracting Mechanism (UCM)—including Standard User Agreements, Standard Terms and Conditions, and a Voucher Recipient Agreement— is used to streamline the process of contracting and invoice management by and between New Energy Nexus, entrepreneurs, and multiple campuses and testbeds.

Applicants are guided through the solicitation, review, selection and consultation processes developed collaboratively by New Energy Nexus, the University of California Office of the President, and the California Energy Commission. Successful entrepreneurs will develop their Statement of Work in consultation with a principal investigator, and will conduct their testing at a participating facility.

A powerful customer engagement effort connects entrepreneurs with targeted audiences, including investors, customers, and pilot/demonstration and manufacturing partners, to catalyze the commercialization and deployment of clean energy innovations.

Broad outreach is conducted to ensure that California’s underrepresented communities are informed about voucher opportunities to maximize diverse leadership in innovation and meet the energy needs of all Californians.