GOLDEN, COLORADO—JULY 23, 2026— Today, the Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator program announced the recipients of a pool of $750,000 in philanthropic funding as part of its second Scalable Tech Track. Through its Scalable Tech Track, IN2 helps corporations, municipalities, universities, and nonprofit organizations pilot validated technologies that deliver operational efficiency and measurable business impact.
IN2 awarded funding to four out of nine organizations for pilot projects of innovative energy technologies with expert support from NLR researchers. From affordable housing to grid modernization, the winning projects address real-world energy demands and market challenges.
“These organizations are eager to deploy technology,” said Sarah Derdowski, the IN2 program manager. “This funding helps end-user companies implement innovative solutions into their portfolio of buildings and campuses with the expert support and siting from the lab, all while generating insights for others to follow.”
Awarded Pilots:
- Habitat for Humanity of Greater Los Angeles (Habitat LA) is focusing on integrating efficient building solutions into affordable housing for wildfire-impacted communities. With the pilot funding, Habitat LA will leverage three technologies to streamline their planning and building efforts and ultimately expand their capacity to address the growing housing burden in Los Angeles County.
- National Grid is exploring new approaches to enhancing the speed and flexibility with which energy demands connect to America’s constrained grid distribution infrastructure. Through this pilot project, National Grid will enable an automated connection study tool to connect new customers faster and improve speed-to-power lag times while maintaining safe and reliable service.
- WinnCompanies aims to utilize new data streams and automated controls to make multifamily housing more affordable and efficient. Through this pilot project, WinnCompanies will implement networked building controls across affordable housing properties to shift and shed electricity loads, lowering utility costs for residents.
- Tucson Electric Power (TEP) is partnering with the City of Tucson to build a more resilient microgrid-powered cooling center, which can ultimately save lives in the extreme heat of Pima County, Arizona. With their IN2 funding, TEP will pilot two new technologies including using artificial intelligence tools to quantify microgrid benefits and enhance overall system reliability.
“We are proud to embrace innovative solutions that can help wildfire-impacted families return home faster and strengthen the way affordable housing is delivered across Los Angeles County,” said Erin Rank, President and CEO of Habitat for Humanity of Greater Los Angeles. “By combining emerging technology with Habitat LA’s decades of housing expertise and deep community partnerships, we have an opportunity to accelerate recovery, reduce barriers to rebuilding and create a model that can serve communities facing housing challenges well beyond this disaster.”
A panel of judges selected these four winning organizations based on their feasibility, impact, pilot readiness, and dedication to knowledge sharing. Pilot projects will launch within six months, demonstrating the program’s focus on rapid results and actionable insights to advance adoption.
Read more about the organizations and their projects on NLR.gov: Affordable Homes, Cooling Centers, and a Faster Grid? Yes, Please
Additional Innovation-Leading Organizations:
As part of IN2’s Second Scalable Tech cohort, a total of nine organizations received support from IN2 and NLR over the past six months to help evaluate and scale new technologies to bridge the gap between technical development and commercial deployment. All nine organizations will join an “adoption-ready” network of Energy Champions to gain curated access to NLR and a community of peers committed to collaborative innovation:
- Colorado Energy Office
- Edge Core
- Habitat for Humanity of Greater Los Angeles
- Haskell
- National Grid
- SLB Global
- Stoneweg
- Tucson Electric Power
- WinnCompanies
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