Dive Brief:

• A new partnership led by the New York Power Authority (NYPA) will focus on finding and assisting startup businesses focused on electric vehicle and energy storage technologies, aiming to help meet the state's Green New Deal goals, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, D, announced yesterday.
• Dubbed the "NYPA Innovation Challenge," the partnership between the utility and New York University Tandon's Urban Future Lab will launch in May with an application deadline in June and winners announced a month later.
• The challenge will support NYPA's $250 million EVolveNY electric vehicle adoption initiative, as well as New York's goal to add 3 GW of battery storage by 2030.

Dive Insight:

New York is continuing to search for innovative ways to enable clean energy businesses, working to leverage investments in new technology alongside improvements to the environment and electric grid.

"Investments in clean energy technologies are advancing our aggressive clean energy goals and resulting in economic growth across the state," Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul, D, said in a statement.

The state is rushing to modernize its grid and electric industry through its Reforming the Energy Vision (REV) initiative, searching for new utility business models that will grow investment in technologies like solar, wind and energy efficiency.  The state's Green New Deal builds on the REV strategy and aims for New York's power to be 100% carbon-free by 2040.

The NYPA Innovation Challenge will help new companies implement projects that benefit both utilities and ratepayers, "and put them on a path to more widely scaling their businesses and operations," Cuomo's announcement said.

The challenge will "recruit and support" businesses focused on two technology areas: EVs and related infrastructure; or long-duration energy storage, defined as six-hour storage or greater. NYPA says it will be "seeking additional public and private partners with expertise in innovation, energy efficiency and clean energy generation," as part of the challenge.

"This program has enormous benefits for both NYPA and the startups," Pat Sapinsley, the Urban Future Lab's managing director, said in a statement.

"Once the startups have proven the reliability and benefit of their business offerings, it can still take years to attract early customers and to build confidence in the industry," Sapinsley said. "This program can shorten the time to commercialization at scale, helping the utility, the early-stage company, and the climate."

The state has taken other creative steps to help coax new technologies into being.

Two years ago, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority launched the REV Connect portal, aimed at linking businesses and electric utilities, and fostering the development of new ideas and profit models between them. And NYSERDA's 76 West clean energy competition was announced four years ago in an effort to fund development in the state's southern tier.