GE's Smart Grid Sweepstakes: Best Buy and 10 Cleantech Start-ups to Watch

For some insight into what the home of the future might look like, take a gander at the latest winners of GE's smart grid challenge -- a crowd-sourced competition that aims to spur innovation and find the next new new thing. And there's a good chance GE and its VC partners might well have turned it up.

Thousands of basement inventors and cleantech start-ups -- attracted by the $200 million in total investment funds and GE's marketing power and influence -- have emerged to participate in the competition. Folks submitted more than 5,000 business plans in this latest round, which was focused on smart grid tech for the home. Of those, GE and its VC partners chose to invest $63 million in 10 companies and to give $100,000 awards to five additional startups.

Many of these winners already have developed products. It's their market reach that's lacking, which is where GE comes in. The industrial giant has already tapped two products developed from VPhase and Suntulit. GE announced this week a partnership with Best Buy to commercialize the products and fast track them to store shelves.

The 10 companies chosen as commercial partners:

• Ember: The 10-year-old company (and MIT spinoff) makes Zigbee wireless chips and networking tech. Zigbee is a wireless standard that connects home energy devices to each other and then to the smart grid. There's a heated debate within the smart grid world whether Zigbee or Wi-fi is the best communications system for the home area network.

  GE declared Zigbee the superior system -- based on price, performance and power consumption -- after conducting its own study last year. The fight between Zigbee and Wi-Fi isn't over. But GE has clearly made its choice and has already adopted the technology for its own smart appliances.

• GMZ Energy: The company has developed thermoelectric material that can be used on vehicles, solar installs and industrial power generation systems to capture waste heat and turn it into electricity.
• Hara: The California-based software company is well known in VC circles. The company has created a platform that can monitor and track the use of water, gas and electricity. This pick wasn't exactly surprising. Energy Technology Ventures, a joint venture involving GE, NRG Energy (NRG) and ConocoPhillips (COP), have already invested in Hara. Kleiner Perkins -- one of the VC firms that is participating in the ecomagination challenge -- has, too.
• Nuventix: LED lighting can be tough to keep cool. It's one of the major barriers that has prevented LEDs from being widely adopted. Nuventix has developed a device designed to fit into the diameter of a bulb socket that cools the LED with turbulent, pulsated air-jets.
• OnRamp: Another smart grid wireless network system that uses radio tech to connect devices.
• Project Frog: The San Francisco-based design and building efficiency company makes pre-fabricated green structures. The modular structures have an institutional bent to them with a special focus on schools, healthcare, retail and office buildings. This investment was made in conjunction with RockPort Capital.

• SunRun: Of all the solar companies out there, it's telling that GE picked SunRun, a start-up that has created a rent-to-own business model. Homeowners can have a solar system installed without spending a dime upfront. SunRun buys and maintains the system for the homeowner, who then pays a monthly fee over 20 years. This leasing business model has attracted the attention of Google, which has become a huge clean tech investor.

  Earlier this month, Google (GOOG) invested $280 million into a fund with SolarCity (a SunRun competitor) to help finance residential solar installations.

• Viridity: The company's software, described as a virtual power plant, manages power loads on the grid and help integrate renewable energy.
• VPhase: The UK company has created a home device that's installed alongside your fuse box to reduce the voltage coming into the home to a stable level. In the UK, that would 220 volts. Maintaining a steady, stable voltage saves energy and reduces your electricity bill.
• WiTricity: The company has developed wireless charging tech that can be used for cell phones, consumer electronic and electric vehicles.

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• Why General Electric is Pouring $10B into Its Ecomagination Brand