New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on July 24 announced that New York State will receive U.S. Department of Energy funding for a long-duration energy storage demonstration project that will use fire-safe battery technology.
The project will be developed by the New York Power Authority, Rockland County-based Urban Electric Power and the Electric Power Research Institute with an installation at Westchester County’s Grasslands Reservation in Valhalla and another at the State University of New York’s Oneonta campus.
The technology can be used in urban and rural settings to demonstrate a stable energy supply during periods of high demand and in extreme weather conditions.
The project has been selected to receive funding by the DOE with the intent to catalyze impactful long-duration energy storage demonstration projects capable of delivering electricity for 10-24 hours, surpassing the conventional short-duration systems that lithium-ion can typically support.
The funding award of more than $6.5 million will cover half of the $13.1 million project cost and was made possible through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
The Power Authority, the nation’s largest state utility, “has demonstrated expertise in clean energy technologies and will be partnering with UEP, a battery manufacturer based in Pearl River, to help LDES systems overcome the technical and institutional barriers to achieve wider adoption,” Hochul’s office noted.
EPRI, an independent, non-profit energy research and development organization, is providing technical and industry expertise and guidance on technology readiness, safety assessment, test protocol development, techno-economic analysis, operations plan, and the community benefits plan.
“The Power Authority is invested in pursuing the development of the technology needed that will support the integration of renewable generation while also ensuring that power is available during peak demand periods,” said NYPA President and CEO Justin Driscoll. “This cutting-edge, long-duration energy storage project seeks to demonstrate a safer clean energy technology, illustrating New York State’s leadership in accelerating the transition to renewable resources and validating the use of these systems in meeting customer needs and commercial viability.”
The technology is being installed at two regionally diverse sites in New York State to demonstrate viability in varying geographical settings for different load characteristics.
Each system will be 300 kilowatts with 12 or more hours of operation and offer the potential for reducing electric bills through demand charge reduction from peak shaving.
The SUNY Oneonta project will also support a forthcoming on-site solar project, helping to achieve the campus’ long-term clean energy plans.
The exact site location on each campus will be determined as part of the first phase of work.
Construction will begin in 2026 and the facilities will be operational in 2028.
NYPA will support the storage projects with energy education outreach programs to under-resourced communities located near the demonstration sites.
NYPA, through its established environmental justice program, will support a community benefits plan focused on educational programming, providing STEM, career and college readiness, and adult energy literacy workshops on energy storage.
A community stakeholder working group will be formed involving local schools, governments, universities, community colleges, and community organizations.
The working group will steer the development and deployment of programs that will prioritize underserved populations.
The selected projects will also help achieve DOE's nationwide goal of reducing storage costs by 90 percent within the decade and demonstrating the potential for creating long-term, high-quality jobs in clean energy manufacturing, installation and maintenance, Hochul’s office said.
New York aims to deploy 6,000 megawatts of storage by 2030 and last year, Hochul convened an inter-agency fire safety working group to make recommendations regarding battery safety issues.
The projects will demonstrate the viability of UEP’s zinc manganese dioxide batteries in large-scale and long-duration energy storage systems, Hochul’s office said.
The batteries utilize a fire-safe chemistry using low-cost and largely domestically available, earth abundant raw materials that can be readily provided through existing supply-- and more than 75 percent of UEP’s raw material vendors are based in the U.S.
The batteries have the same chemistry as household batteries and are expected to show comparable performance to lithium-ion batteries without the inherent safety and supply chain issues.
A successful demonstration could enable market adoption of UEP’s technology by proving decreased technology risk and reducing demand on grid infrastructure through reduced peak demand load.
The batteries have been successfully piloted on smaller scales at several energy storage installations.
