Innovation Crossroads startup revolutionizes wildfire prevention through grid hardening

Witching Hour founder Lance Adler pitches at the Opportunities in Energy conference in Knoxville, TN in November 2025. Through Innovation Crossroads, startup founders receive coaching in marketing and communication, helping them evolve their ideas from R&D to marketplace reality. Credit: Shawn Poynter Photography

Witching Hour, a hard tech startup and member of Cohort 2025 of Innovation Crossroads, is wielding the support of the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory to develop technology that reduces wildfire risk by retrofitting powerlines with insulation in fire-prone areas. ORNL is the site of the Powerline Conductor Accelerated Testing Facility, one of the only facilities in the country where companies can try out new transmission line technologies for long time periods in a real-world environment.