Senate hears bill to extend, raise funding for State Energy Research Center; EERC testifies on commercialization progress

Senate Bill 2143, introduced in the Appropriations - Education and Environment Division by Senator Dale Patton, would extend the State Energy Research Center’s continuing appropriation and increase its biennial funding from $7.5 million to $10 million. The committee held a bill hearing and received supporting testimony from the Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC).

The bill and scope Senator Dale Patton (District 26) opened the hearing, describing SB 2143 as “very simple” and saying the bill would do two things: extend the center’s continuing appropriation from June 30, 2029, to June 30, 2033, and raise biennial funding from $7,500,000 to $10,000,000. He said members of the EERC were present to answer questions on programming.

EERC testimony and accomplishments Tom Erickson, director of the State Energy Research Center, and Charles Garecki, CEO of the EERC, testified in support. Erickson summarized the center’s mission as funding early-stage “invention and innovation” research that federal programs typically will not support, explaining the State Energy Research Center’s role is to take many exploratory ideas and “fail early” on those that do not advance.

Key prog…