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The Clean Fight Announces Selected Projects for the Energy Storage Capital Challenge

The Clean Fight is thrilled to announce the selection of six innovative energy storage projects for the Energy Storage Capital Challenge. These development-stage projects bring business model and technology innovations to the New York energy storage market, helping to accelerate the State towards its goal of 6 GW by 2030.

Beacon Power will provide energy savings and emissions reductions for New York City Transit by installing 1 MW of kinetic energy storage on the 7 subway line. Its flywheels will capture and discharge passenger car braking energy, resulting in significant reductions in energy demand, usage and cost.

Convergent Energy and Power’s Brooklyn-based battery storage systems will provide critical infrastructure that can reduce the city’s reliance on fossil fuels and accelerate the clean energy transition. The systems will substantially increase the reliability of ConEd’s electric grid in Brooklyn, serving as an invaluable resource to the community.

NineDot Energy is leading community-scale, battery storage development in the New York City metropolitan region. NineDot’s first-of-its-kind project will demonstrate how to provide power where it's needed, when it's needed, by combining bi-directional EV chargers with energy-dense and cost-effective mobile storage units, providing both grid, and field-deployed temporary power support.

Orenda Power is seeking to expand the options for energy storage in New York City, by developing an energy storage project in the Bronx featuring an innovative platform construction. By opening up options in site-constrained areas, Orenda aims to support a clean and dependable power grid. 

Power Edison is developing mobile and stationary battery energy storage systems on land and marine sites that provide scalable flexibility for electrical generation. This project will provide  distributed energy benefits located directly at the point of system constraint on the Con Edison grid.

Sprocket Power’s solar, battery storage, building management, and EV charging microgrid project enables the Hampton Jitney - a longstanding family-owned business - to act as a regional EV charging hub for multiple bus fleets and public vehicles. Such integrated projects are novel in regional small and mid-sized businesses, benefiting those that adopt them and providing system-wide benefits to NY State ratepayers.

These six projects are a unique mix of experienced growth-stage storage developers and new storage technology providers. Each faces barriers to deployment that are typical of energy storage projects across New York State, and a critical development financing gap which the Energy Storage Capital Challenge will tackle.

About the Program

The Energy Storage Capital Challenge is a fast, focused approach to accelerating clean energy adoption in New York. The program will convene our six energy storage projects along with fourteen leading clean energy financiers to collaboratively workshop pathways through key development barriers and align capital to drive projects towards Notice-to-Proceed. 

These fourteen Capital Partners range from infrastructure finance platforms to philanthropy. They bring a wealth of experience in clean energy finance, $1.4 trillion in assets under management, and an eagerness to deploy capital. To add momentum, The Clean Fight will also provide projects with access to bespoke technical assistance and a $200,000 grant pool. 

In the process of supporting projects, the program aims to build consensus around the key sticking points facing energy storage projects in New York and develop replicable capital solutions for the projects in the program, and beyond. Learnings and successes from the program will be shared with decision-makers and the broader energy storage community at a September Climate Week Showcase.

The Energy Storage Capital Challenge comes at a pivotal moment in the clean energy transition. The federal government recently allocated $27 billion to support clean energy projects, while closer to home, the New Energy New York coalition was awarded a federal Tech Hub designation to grow the battery manufacturing industry in the Southern Tier of New York. Combine this with New York’s ambitious goals and recent storage friendly zoning changes in New York City and you’ve got an industry ripe for growth.

The Clean Fight is grateful to be leading this program with support from our partners New Energy New York and NYSERDA, and is presented in partnership with industry experts NY-BEST

"The Clean Fight's ESCC propels innovative energy storage solutions and perfectly aligns with the mission of the New Energy New York initiative, led by Binghamton University, amplifying our collective impacts on New York’s energy storage landscape, strengthening the domestic industry and supply chain, and furthering our climate goals," said Binghamton University Associate Vice President of Innovation and Economic Development and NENY NSF Engine CEO Per Stromhaug. 

“The ESCC comes at a critical point in the New York energy storage sector. With these six innovative projects and leading capital providers, we have the opportunity to open up bottlenecks in the industry and move towards New York’s climate goals.” - Bill Acker, Executive Director, NY-BEST

“This program combines insights gathered from our 2022-2023 energy storage accelerator, deep market research, and expertise around targeted approaches to accelerating clean energy adoption. We aim to position New York as a leader in energy storage development to take advantage of this once-in-a-generation federal funding opportunity.” - Kate Frucher, Managing Director, The Clean Fight


To learn more about the Energy Storage Capital Challenge visit https://thecleanfight.com/programs/capital-challenge. To stay up to date on learnings from this program and our other programs, follow us on LinkedIn.