The New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) and Newlab are developing energy storage pilot projects in New York City, in conjunction with local entrepreneurs, community organizations, energy experts, and other industry players.
“The Resilient Energy Studio envisions a future state in which a robust energy storage ecosystem is helping to foster a sustainable, resilient, and more equitable New York City,” said the project sponsors. “Through entrepreneur-led pilot projects, the Studio aims to catalyze this transition by building momentum around these future state opportunities to set the City on a path toward a just transition to a sustainable energy future.”
The Resilient Energy Studio is in collaboration with Con Edison, and the projects will piloting WATTMORE, a climate tech start-up building an adaptive Energy Management Software platform, to manage and operate the projects, Urban Electric Power, innovator of an alkaline battery, for the energy storage component.
“To quote Frank Sinatra, if you can make it in New York, you can make it anywhere,” joked WATTMORE CEO JW Postal. “This award is a massive opportunity for WATTMORE to show major partners Lendlease, Con Edison, and NYCEDC the power of intelligent, flexible EMS software to drive the deployment of energy storage across construction and urban-built environments. We are excited to partner with Urban Electric Power to bring a safe, scalable and optimized solution to Lendlease and the New York market.”
Urban Electric Power was founded by a team at the City College of New York to commercialize their invention of a rechargeable alkaline battery. The battery avoids the use of lithium and any associated fire risks. It has been certified to UL standards as fire-safe and is now making its first installations in dense urban environments. This year the San Diego Supercomputing Center installed a 2-megawatt-hour backup system using this battery.
“Our batteries are a good fit for this project because they can meet the Fire Department of New York’s permitting requirements for fire-safe indoor energy storage,” said Ann Marie Augustus, Vice President of Operations and Co-Founder of Urban Electric Power. “We make them nearby in Pearl River, New York. And we source our materials from alkaline batteries’ existing global supply chain, which is already well-developed and affordable.”
Tags: commercial and industrial, Urban Electric Power, Wattmore
