Several businesses gather for BU’s Battery Week

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. (WIVT/WBGH) – Businesses and academia committed to making New York State a leader in energy storage gathered in Binghamton recently to share ideas and collaborate.

New York Battery and Energy Storage Technology consortium, or NY-BEST, held its Fall conference at the DoubleTree Hotel as part of Binghamton University's Battery Week activities.

New Energy New York and the National Science Foundation Upstate Energy Storage Engine sponsored the gathering of about 300 people for panel discussions and speeches from the likes of Nobel Laureate and BU professor Stan Whittingham who is credited with inventing the lithium-ion battery.

NY-BEST Executive Director Bill Acker says Upstate New York and the rest of the country is in a race with China for market share in the growing energy storage sector.

"The energy storage industry is going to create hundreds of thousands of jobs. It's going to transform not just the energy sector, but also the economy. We have the opportunity, here in New York, to take advantage of that and build back the economy in order to create these great jobs here in New York that support the clean energy sector," said Acker.

Both Engine and NENY have been actively working on a talent pipeline for the industry, coordinating tours of manufacturing and engineering businesses for teens and establishing a Battery Academy which has already enrolled more than 1,300 people.