SWBR Architects celebrated the grand opening of the BEST Test & Commercialization Center at the Eastman Business Park, a $23 million, 18,000 s/f facility containing equipment and resources to develop new energy storage products, everything from cell phone batteries to huge backup energy sources for industrial sites. Over 100 representatives of companies in the battery and energy storage space were joined by NYS lt. gov. Robert Duffy and other dignitaries in seeing first-hand the center's facility in Building 308 at Eastman Business Park.
The new center includes testing equipment for battery testing of secondary cells and battery packs, as well as testing chambers of all sizes, for single cells to huge megawatt systems. Services including product development, performance validation and certification testing, and a range of environmental testing and battery lifetime testing are designed to accelerate the adoption and growth of energy storage technologies.
"There are currently 3,000 state residents working in the energy storage industry. And we expect that number to grow to 10,000 by 2020 and 40,000 by 2030 and, the center is both highly functional and beautiful," said Dr. William Acker, executive director for NY-BEST.
The state chipped in $6.9 million for the center with the hopes that it will lead to more energy storage companies setting up shop nearby and creating hundreds of jobs in the Rochester area. The support is just one aspect of a plan to help the state profit from the potentially huge renewable energy industry. For instance, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority funds an Entrepreneur in Residence program and NEXUS-NY program created to support clean energy and renewable energy businesses growing at High-Tech Rochester.
"NY-BEST chose Eastman Business Park to establish this Center because of the Park's multiple resources, including deep and strong expertise in coatings and roll-to-roll manufacturing, extensive and scaleable infrastructure and equipment, and a captive high voltage micro-grid to facilitate large-scale system testing," said Michael Alt, director of Eastman Business Park. "The new testing facility will spur innovation in the development of critical next generation energy storage technology, improve the reliability and resiliency of New York's electric grid, and create good-paying jobs in the Rochester area, making EBP a world-class hub for clean, alternative energy."
NYS is a leader in the energy-storage space and this project is an important step forward. Renewable products such as solar panels, and to a certain degree wind turbines, have achieved more acceptance that large scale production is expected. That would lead to more efforts to develop better technologies to efficiently capture the energy they produce. Tags: