Energy continues to be a hot area for entrepreneurs. Two Seattle companies won grants from the Washington Technology Center to help commercialize their technology. 3TIER provides tools to analyze renewable energy resources like wind, water and solar power. The company, which we profiled a couple of weeks ago, is collaborating with the University of Washington's Civil and Environmental Engineering department to develop forecast techniques for stream flows used in hydropower, which generates 76 percent of the state's electricity.

EnerG2 develops carbon-based material for high-performance capacitors used in energy storage, which could improve the way alternative fuel vehicles capture energy. The company is partnering with the University of Washington's Materials Science and Engineering Department.

3TIER and EnerG2 were among 11 companies receiving a total of $952,000 in grants. Clean energy is also the topic of a breakfast forum Aug. 17 with Rep. Jay Inslee and Martin Tobias, CEO of Imperium Renewables.