New Program To Spur Innovations In Energy Storage And Electric Vehicle Technology

“As a national leader in the clean energy economy, New York State is working to stimulate growth that will generate jobs and economic opportunities, while achieving a healthier environment,” said Governor Cuomo. “This new innovative partnership will recruit and support a new wave of entrepreneurs who have the knowledge and expertise needed to develop new technologies with utilities and help us build a cleaner, greener New York for generations to come.”

“Investments in clean energy technologies are advancing our aggressive clean energy goals and resulting in economic growth across the state,” Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul, who made today’s announcement, said. “This partnership between NYU Tandon’s Urban Future Lab and the New York Power Authority will provide new opportunities for start-up companies to collaborate on innovative ideas and generate solutions to ensure the growth and efficiency of the industry and support a cleaner and greener environment for future generations.”

The joint program, called the NYPA Innovation Challenge, will support advanced pilot programs demonstrating new technology and business models in New York State. As the power grid inevitably transforms and begins to work with more distributed energy resources (DERs) and grid edge solutions, NYPA will be seeking additional public and private partners with expertise in innovation, energy efficiency and clean energy generation.

The Challenge will help startups successfully implement projects that benefit both utilities and ratepayers in New York State and put them on a path to more widely scaling their businesses and operations. To be eligible, entrepreneurs must address technology and business needs in the following two categories:

• Electric vehicles and their related infrastructure.
• Long duration (6+ hour) energy storage technologies.

These areas of focus will help advance the unprecedented ramp-up of renewable energy in the Governor’s Green New Deal that includes deploying 3,000 megawatts of energy storage by 2030 and increasing the number of zero-emission vehicles in New York to 800,000 by 2025, representing nearly one out of every ten vehicles on the road.

The Innovation Challenge supports NYPA’s $250 million EVolveNY initiative that encourages electric vehicle adoption across the state with hundreds of charges to be installed along highways and in New York’s larger cities to help New York reach its goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 40 percent by 2030 based on 1990 levels. The Challenge also supports New York’s nation-leading 3,000 MW statewide energy storage goal by 2030 which will help build the foundation for this burgeoning clean energy sector by adding up to 30,000 jobs statewide.

By creating a technology innovation strategy, this program will help NYPA identify a handful of promising startup companies and prepare them for working with large utilities. Start-up and utility partnerships can lead to significant advances in grid reliability, storage, sustainability, and affordability, all of which benefit ratepayers, utilities, and the environment.

Proposals will be evaluated based on their potential to save money, improve safety or operations, reduce maintenance, improve efficiency or save manpower or time. The solutions need to be viable, replicable and able to be commercialized.

Gil C. Quiniones, President and CEO of New York Power Authority, said, “NYPA takes pride in being a utility of the future, and we are always actively seeking new business models that fit in with our strategic plan and help advance the Governor’s clean energy goals. We are excited to partner with the Urban Future Lab to help us find next generation innovations for the grid, advance EV technologies, and find new energy storage solutions that will help us take full advantage of the new renewable energy options coming online.”

Alicia Barton, President and CEO of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, said, “Building a thriving clean energy ecosystem that supports the goals of Governor Cuomo’s nation-leading Green New Deal requires ambitious public-private partnerships and collaboration. Urban Future Lab’s signature programs are helping us lead the way on advancing new clean energy technology at an unprecedented rate for the benefit of all New Yorkers, and this latest project will help reduce harmful emissions from one of our largest greenhouse gas contributors – the transportation sector.”

Pat Sapinsley, the Urban Future Lab’s Managing Director, said, “This program has enormous benefits for both NYPA and the startups. Once the startups have proven the reliability and benefit of their business offerings, it can still take years to attract early customers and to build confidence in the industry. This program can shorten the time to commercialization at scale, helping the utility, the early-stage company, and the climate.”

Kurt H. Becker, Tandon’s Vice Dean for Research, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, said, “The NYPA Innovation Challenge resonates with the growing body of research on future mobility that is making NYU Tandon a respected leader and New York’s challenging transportation environment an unsurpassed testbed. UFL entrepreneurs are working alongside our students and faculty to shape smarter and more sustainable transportation in the coming years.”

New York State Senate Energy Chairman Kevin Parker said, “As the chair of the Senate Committee on Energy and Telecommunications, I commend Governor Cuomo for leading this initiative to propel startup businesses pursuing electric vehicle and energy storage solutions.  This will help New York further reduce its carbon footprint, while creating jobs and helping small businesses and entrepreneurs thrive.”

New York State Assembly Energy Chairman Michael Cusick said, “Cleaning up New York’s greenhouse gas emissions will require the transformation of the state’s transportation sector, an effort that will see an increased reliance on electric vehicles and energy storage. I’m excited by the collaboration between NYPA and NYU and look forward to seeing new businesses and ideas grow out of these efforts in order to build New York’s resilient, green energy future.”

New York State Assembly Health Chairman Richard N. Gottfried said, “By encouraging the development of new programs and technologies using clean energy, NYPA’s Innovation Challenge program is promoting economic opportunity, better air quality, and a healthier environment for New Yorkers.”

The Urban Future Lab also houses ACRE and PowerBridgeNY, which have been supported by more than $10 million in funding from NYSERDA since 2010. NYSERDA is the founding sponsor of ACRE, New York City’s premier cleantech incubator which helps grow cleantech, smart grid and sustainable start cities companies. PowerBridgeNY is a NYSERDA-funded proof-of-concept center that commercializes university-based technology being developed by leading researchers and entrepreneurs into scalable cleantech solutions. ACRE and PowerBridgeNY help early-stage companies advance innovative technologies and business models that support New York’s clean energy economy and build progress toward the Governor’s clean energy and climate goals.

About the New York Power Authority

The New York Power Authority is the largest state public power organization in the nation, operating 16 generating facilities and more than 1,400 circuit-miles of transmission lines. More than 70 percent of the electricity NYPA produces is clean renewable hydropower. NYPA uses no tax money or state credit. It finances its operations through the sale of bonds and revenues earned in large part through sales of electricity.

For more information, visit us here and follow us on Twitter @NYPAenergy, Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr and LinkedIn.

The Urban Future Lab, part of the NYU Tandon School of Engineering, is the center of cleantech innovation in New York. UFL is leading the way to a more sustainable world by connecting people, capital and purpose to advance market-ready solutions to address climate change. The UFL programs include ACRE, a business incubation program for pre-seed to series A startups, PowerBridgeNY, a proof-of-concept center commercializing research from local universities, and Clean Start, an advanced diploma from NYU for people seeking a transition into the cleantech sector. For more information, visit this website.

About the New York University Tandon School of Engineering

The NYU Tandon School of Engineering dates to 1854, the founding date for both the New York University School of Civil Engineering and Architecture and the Brooklyn Collegiate and Polytechnic Institute (widely known as Brooklyn Poly). A January 2014 merger created a comprehensive school of education and research in engineering and applied sciences, rooted in a tradition of invention and entrepreneurship and dedicated to furthering technology in service to society. In addition to its main location in Brooklyn, NYU Tandon collaborates with other schools within NYU, one of the country’s foremost private research universities, and is closely connected to engineering programs at NYU Abu Dhabi and NYU Shanghai. It operates Future Labs focused on startup businesses in downtown Manhattan and Brooklyn and an award-winning online graduate program. For more information, visit this website.

New York State’s Green New Deal

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo’s Green New Deal, the nation’s leading clean energy and jobs agenda, will aggressively put New York State on a path to economy-wide carbon neutrality. This initiative will provide for a just transition to clean energy, spurring the growth of the green economy and mandating that New York’s power be 100 percent clean and carbon-free by 2040, one of the most aggressive goals in the U.S. The cornerstone of this newly proposed mandate is a significant increase of New York’s successful Clean Energy Standard to 70 percent renewable electricity by 2030. As part of the unprecedented ramp-up of renewable energy, New York has already invested $2.9 billion into 46 large-scale renewable projects across the state as it significantly increases its clean energy targets, such as: quadrupling New York’s offshore wind target to a nation-leading 9,000 megawatts by 2035; doubling distributed solar deployment to 6,000 megawatts by 2025; and deploying 3,000 megawatts of energy storage by 2030. To support this ambitious work, NY Green Bank intends to use its expertise in overcoming financing gaps to foster greater environmental impacts per public dollar by raising over $1 billion in third party funds to expand climate financing availability across New York and the rest of North America.

Reforming the Energy Vision

The Green New Deal builds on Governor Andrew M. Cuomo’s landmark Reforming the Energy Vision strategy to lead on climate change and grow New York’s economy. REV is building a cleaner, more resilient and affordable energy system for all New Yorkers by stimulating investment in clean technologies like solar, wind, and energy efficiency. Already, REV has driven growth of nearly 1,500 percent in the statewide solar market, improved energy affordability for 1.65 million low-income customers, and has led to more than 150,000 jobs in manufacturing, engineering and other clean tech sectors across New York State.

To learn more about the Green New Deal and REV, visit rev.ny.gov, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.