This week, our team traveled to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory to present at the Innovating Distributed Embedded Energy Prize (InDEEP) final forum. In the past 2 years, we have transformed our novel concept for Polar Ionic Nanogenerators (PINGs) into a demonstrated metamaterial prototype capable of generating electricity from movement. During the Phase III final event, we showcased our results, and demonstrated the potential of PINGs to one day power the future of maritime systems. 

We’re honored to be selected as finalist for the Duquesne New Venture Challenge. Out of over 150 entries, we were among the top 5 competitors for our business plan outlining how we plan to power unmanned underwater vehicles and other submersible systems using our novel ocean energy harvesting technology. 

This week, we showcased our subsea energy harvesting technology at the WEST 2025 conference in San Diego, CA. Founded by Navy veterans, our startup has a vested interested in supporting the warfighter and doing what we can to sure security for our nation. Our ocean energy technology has the capability for powering submersible systems like unmanned underwater vehicles, which has significant implications for the U.S. Navy and defense industry. 

Pittsburgh Coastal Energy was selected as one of the top 15% of applicants of the Defense TechConnect Innovation Challenge chosen to participate in Spotlight Showcase.  

Our team showcased our ocean wave energy technology in Austin, TX were we connected with end-users in the defense sector and validated that our tech solves a huge problem for underwater robotic vehicles by extending their duration at sea. It was a great opportunity to share what we're working on, and we were named a Defense Innovation Challenge winner! Looking forward to attending Defense TechConnect again in the future! 

Pittsburgh Coastal Energy was announced as 1 of the 20 Phase 1 winners for the Power at Sea prize. Our concept to charge underwater drones using ocean waves was awarded $10k to begin prototyping. In Phase 2, we will demonstrate our prototype for a chance to win up to $75k towards building our solution. 

We are proud to announce our grand prize win in the Big Idea Competition! What a great night at the Big Idea Center year end celebration! It's always a good time hanging out with our fellow Pitt entrepreneurs. Thanks to the BIC for all the support you've given us throughout our journey, we truly couldn't do it without you all. Great job to the other teams! 

We are thrilled to announce that Pittsburgh Coastal Energy was named one of 15 teams to win Phase 2 of the InDEEP challenge. We demonstrated the prototype of our new invention, the polar ionic nano-generator (PING), by converting mechanical energy into electrical power on a bench top scale. The win comes with a $80k cash prize and advancement to Phase 3 where our team will show a live demo of our PING technology within a meta-material. 

Pittsburgh Coastal Energy was announced as one of 19 Phase 1 winners of the Innovating Distributed Embedded Energy Prize (InDEEP) contest. We were awarded $15k from the Department of Energy for our concept for polar ionic nano-generators (PINGs) - small devices that convert ocean wave energy into electricity to provide clean energy at sea. Phase 1 consisted of a technical narrative and a technology performance level assessment to evaluate our concept’s technical merit and potential for wave energy harvesting applications. In Phase 2 of the contest, we will construct and test a PING prototype to demonstrate its ability to generate power on a bench top scale.