Electric Innovation Initiative, a national 10-year initiative advancing electrification across the U.S. through 2035 by convening leaders across government, industry, and philanthropy to accelerate high-impact solutions, today announced the winners of the 2026 Electric Innovation Awards, a national program recognizing scalable electrification initiatives driving the transition to an all-electric future.
Selected from submissions spanning 32 states, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, Puerto Rico and Tribal Nations, this year’s winners represent four award categories — Design + Discovery, Policy Innovation, Power For All and Scale Catalyst — highlighting approaches that span technology, policy, workforce development and access.
The 2026 selections include:
- Design + Discovery: Voltpost Air by Voltpost - Voltpost Air transforms existing lampposts and utility poles into Level 2 EV chargers. The system installs in a few hours without construction, trenching or major electrical upgrades, offering a way to expand charging access using infrastructure already present in communities. Voltpost has active projects in California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Illinois and Washington, D.C., with additional projects in development across the U.S.
- Policy Innovation: Building Emissions Reduction and Disclosure Ordinance (BERDO), City of Boston - Boston’s building performance standard requires large building owners to annually report energy and water consumption and comply with declining emissions limits, with the goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. While the ordinance applies to only 5 percent of Boston’s buildings, those properties generate more emissions than all cars, trucks and trains operating within the city each year.
- Power For All: Red Cloud Renewable - Located on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, Red Cloud Renewable operates the only Indigenous-led renewable energy training campus in the United States. The program provides training in solar installation, heat pump technology and weatherization, with students deploying these technologies within their communities as part of their training.
- Scale Catalyst: Moon Five - Moon Five is working to bring dedicated at-home EV charging to renters in multifamily housing, representing 44 million U.S. households. The company installs chargers using a building’s existing electrical capacity. Backed by a $3.4 million California Energy Commission grant, Moon Five is deploying more than 400 units across California by the end of 2026, with the project focused largely on low-income and disadvantaged communities.
“Electrification is about more than bringing new technology into a community. Success means making sure people have the skills and knowledge to understand, build, install and maintain that technology themselves,” said John Red Cloud of Red Cloud Renewable. “At Pine Ridge, we’re training people in solar installation, heat pumps and weatherization and putting those skills to work directly in our communities. Recognition like this helps show what can happen when communities have the tools to build their own energy future. We go from energy burden to energy sovereignty.”
The awards are part of the Electric Innovation Initiative’s broader work to elevate promising models and connect the people behind them with leaders who can help expand their impact.
On September 22, ahead of the awards announcement, the Initiative hosted the Electric Innovation Forum, an invitation-only policy convening in New York that brought together 150 bipartisan elected officials, community leaders and executives from technology, finance, business and philanthropy. Through working groups and policy conversations, participants tackled issues spanning transportation, buildings and housing, industrial electrification, energy affordability, data centers and the grid, with an emphasis on building partnerships and identifying actionable next steps.
"The clean electric solutions to today’s energy challenges are already at work in communities across the country. The Electric Innovation Initiative exists to make sure policymakers can see what’s working and build relationships to further good clean energy policies and technologies across the country,” said David Hochschild, Chair of the California Energy Commission. “These awards showcase superior innovation that is ready to scale. Through these awards and site visits throughout the year, we are bringing breakthrough innovation and policy leadership together so these solutions can rapidly expand."
The Initiative carries that work into the field through its Innovation Tours, which give legislators a firsthand look at how electrification technologies are developed, manufactured and put into practice. Following tours in California this summer, the Initiative will continue bringing legislators together with companies and organizations advancing electrification to explore how lessons from their work can inform policy in other states.
To learn more about the Electric Innovation Initiative and explore the 2026 Electric Innovation Award winners, visit https://electricinnovation.org/awards.
The Electric Innovation Initiative is a national, 10-year initiative advancing electrification across the United States through 2035. Co-founded by California Energy Commission Chair David Hochschild and Hawaii State Senator Chris Lee, the Initiative convenes leaders across government, industry, philanthropy, and finance to accelerate the adoption of scalable, high-impact solutions.
Through programs including the Electric Innovation Awards, the Electric Innovation Forum, and immersive policy tours, the Initiative connects innovators directly with policymakers and decision-makers—bridging the gap between breakthrough technologies and real-world deployment. By elevating proven solutions and fostering cross-sector collaboration, the Initiative is helping drive progress toward a more reliable, resilient, and electrified energy future.
To learn more, visit electricinnovation.org or follow Electric Innovation on LinkedIn and Instagram.
