Rochester Business Journal

Battery and energy storage companies from throughout the state were joined by industry partners and university representatives Friday at Eastman Business Park to launch the New York Battery and Energy Storage Technology Consortium.
 
The business park is slated to be the headquarters for a clean energy commercialization center for advanced battery and energy storage.
 
The center, labeled NY-BEST, will work with private-sector companies and research institutions to research and develop clean energy technology manufacturing statewide, Executive Director William Acker said.
 
“By creating a set of shared resources at this new center, our companies will be better able to compete globally, and the center will act as a powerful beacon to the world that New York means business when it comes to developing and manufacturing advanced energy storage solutions,” Acker said in a statement.
 
NY-BEST, a non-profit established in 2010, hopes to retrofit Building 308 at the business park and install testing and prototyping equipment that can be used by partnering companies, officials said.
 
The center’s hub-and-spoke design will allow specialized resources and facilities to be available to individuals and companies statewide, said Michael Alt, the business park’s director of business development.
 
“We have the material and precision manufacturing expertise, skilled workforce and university R&D resources to help NY-BEST provide world-class testing and validation of battery energy storage solutions,” said Mark Peterson, president and CEO of Greater Rochester Enterprise Inc.
 
The Finger Lakes Regional Economic Development Council received $3.5 million in state funding for the center. Storage technologies include advanced batteries, ultracapacitors and fuel cells.
 
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