The push to make Hawaii a test bed for energy research is taking a step forward with the creation of a workspace in downtown Honolulu designed to foster the growth of startup companies participating in the state’s Energy Excelerator program.

The 2,000-square-foot space in the Cades Schutte Building at 1000 Bishop St. will serve as home base during the coming year for 15 companies that make up the latest members of the Energy Excelerator, a nonprofit that provides government and private funding, mentorship and other support to help energy startups at both the growth- and seed-stage level.

The location, which is being developed with a $250,000 grant from Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc., is designed to serve as a collaborative workspace that will allow participating companies to showcase their technologies, said Dawn Lippert, Energy Excelerator senior manager.

"Hawaii has made significant progress in developing and integrating new energy solutions, but where do you go to see that? Our vision is for this new space to be a physical symbol of Hawaii’s leadership in energy innovation and a gathering place for the local, national and international energy startup companies," Lippert said.

The renovation of the workspace is expected to be completed this summer, although some program participants have already moved in and are working on folding tables while construction work continues.

One of the beneficiaries of the new workspace is Scott Cooney, a Energy Excelerator cohort who welcomed the opportunity to move his base of operations from a table in the living room of his one-bedroom apartment.

Cooney launched Pono Home six months ago to conduct "substantability audits" at customers’ homes. For an $80 flat fee, the company conducts a two- to three-hour review of a home and suggests a range of improvements that result in energy and water savings with a payback period of between two and six months.

In addition to replacing wasteful lighting and plumbing fixtures, Pono Home will clean dirty components of refrigerators, air conditioners, washers and driers that hamper performance and affect air quality, he said.

The Energy Excelerator workspace will also serve as a meeting place for companies in the energy field that come to Hawaii to do work for entities such as the state Public Utilities Commission and Hawaiian Electric Co., Lippert said.

"There are a lot of high-level people coming to Hawaii to work on energy issues," she said. "Companies from outside Hawaii really understand that this is the place to roll out. They’re not here just for the money. Many of them have done research on this market for a year or two. They understand the unique aspects of this market."

Several of the program participants are working on projects that attempt to address the difficulty HECO is having in allowing more energy from rooftop solar panels onto the utility’s grid.

Having HECO as a partner in the program allows some of ideas being developed at the Energy Excelerator to be tested in a real-life situation, Lippert said.

The Energy Excelerator is a program of the nonprofit organization Pacific International Center for High Technology Research, based in Honolulu.