Photon Marine Receives $1 Million Inaugural MegaBoost Award to Launch Marine Electrification Ecosystem in Upstate New York

NSF Energy Storage Engine’s first MegaBoost investment will bring together production-grade electric workboat, fast-charging infrastructure and first-of-its-kind floating energy storage

BINGHAMTON, N.Y., Sept. 28, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The National Science Foundation (NSF) Energy Storage Engine in Upstate New York today announced that Photon Marine has been selected to receive the Engine’s inaugural $1 million MegaBoost award, launching a major commercial-scale demonstration of marine electrification and distributed energy storage in New York State. Photon Marine’s project will create an integrated marine electrification ecosystem with three connected technologies: a production-grade electric workboat, new marine fast-charging infrastructure and a first-of-its-kind floating energy storage and charging platform.

The award represents a significant expansion of the Engine’s work to accelerate promising energy storage technologies from development into the marketplace. Building on the success of its SuperBoost program, MegaBoost provides substantially larger investments for U.S. companies that have proven their technologies and are ready to demonstrate performance, manufacturability and commercial viability with real customers.

“Commercial marine electrification will only scale when operators can see that the technology works in the conditions they face every day,” said Marcelino J. Alvarez, Co-founder and CEO of Photon Marine. “This project gives us the opportunity to demonstrate an entire electrification ecosystem, from the propulsion system to the charger to mobile energy storage, while building on the real-world operating experience we have developed with NYPA. Just as importantly, we are doing it on one of America’s most iconic waterways and working with New York partners to create a model that can ultimately be replicated far beyond the Erie Canal, from international sailing races to Caribbean fishing fleets to dual-use and autonomous applications.”

“This is an important moment for the NSF Energy Storage Engine because MegaBoost takes our commercialization model to an entirely different level,” said Meera Sampath, Ph.D., CEO of the NSF Energy Storage Engine in Upstate New York. “It’s about market-making: moving beyond supporting individual technologies and helping companies demonstrate complete systems, with customers, infrastructure and a path to commercial scale. Photon Marine is exactly the kind of ambitious, customer-driven project we want to bring to Upstate New York as we build the market for new energy storage technologies here.”

Marine Electrification Ecosystem

At the center of the project will be a 24-foot electric workboat equipped with Photon Marine’s Gen-7 P300 electric propulsion system. The vessel has operated on the New York State Canal System as part of Photon Marine’s existing pilot project with the New York Power Authority and New York State Canal Corporation, generating real-world operating data that can help inform the electrification of additional commercial and government marine fleets. The project will also advance the development and deployment of a 40-kilowatt marine DC fast charger, designed to support electric commercial, government and recreational vessels using New York’s waterways.

The third component, known as the ChargeBarge, takes the project beyond vessel electrification and into distributed energy storage. The 32-foot floating platform will carry battery energy storage and high-power charging equipment, allowing it to move energy to where it is needed rather than requiring every waterfront location to have permanent fast-charging infrastructure. Designed to support vessel-to-vessel charging, remote fleet operations, temporary events and potentially emergency power needs during grid disruptions, ChargeBarge will be fabricated in New York State by Derecktor Shipyards.

“MegaBoost is about closing the gap between a technology that works and a product or system that customers will actually deploy at scale,” said Fernando Gómez-Baquero, Director of Translation for the NSF Energy Storage Engine in Upstate New York. “Photon Marine brings together several pieces that are usually addressed separately: the vessel, the propulsion system, energy storage, charging infrastructure and real-world operating experience. That integration is what makes this such a compelling first MegaBoost award.”

A New Model for Commercial Marine Electrification

Commercial and government workboats operate in ports, canals and waterways throughout the United States, performing functions ranging from maintenance and environmental monitoring to harbor operations and public safety. Electrification of these fleets has lagged the automotive sector in part because operators require high-power, durable propulsion systems and access to charging infrastructure in locations that were never designed for electric vessels.

Photon Marine’s project is intended to demonstrate a different model: combining production-grade electric propulsion with both fixed and mobile charging infrastructure so fleets can electrify without waiting for a comprehensive waterfront charging network to be built.

The project is expected to generate a comprehensive operational dataset covering vessel performance, battery state of charge and health, charging utilization, duty-cycle requirements, vessel-to-vessel energy transfer and potential grid applications. Photon Marine will also develop a fleet-electrification playbook designed to help other operators evaluate and deploy similar systems.

From SuperBoost to MegaBoost

The $1 million investment also marks the next stage in the evolution of the NSF Energy Storage Engine’s commercialization strategy. Through programs including SuperBoost, the Engine has helped emerging companies overcome critical technical and scale-up barriers. MegaBoost is designed for the next step: larger, customer-driven projects that demonstrate technologies at commercially relevant scale and create a direct path toward deployment, manufacturing and revenue.

“We have been very intentional about building an NSF Engine that does more than fund research,” Dr. Sampath added. “Our goal is to create the conditions in which technologies are developed, tested, manufactured and bought here. MegaBoost gives us another powerful tool to make that happen and to reinforce Upstate New York’s position as America’s battery and energy storage tech capital.”

The Photon Marine MegaBoost project is expected to culminate in late 2027 or early 2028 with a fully integrated demonstration of the electric workboat, marine charging infrastructure and ChargeBarge, alongside a roadmap for expanding marine electrification across New York State waterways and other U.S. commercial fleets.

About Photon Marine

Photon Marine is a U.S.-based marine technology company developing high-performance electric propulsion systems and supporting infrastructure for commercial and recreational vessels. The company’s technology platform is designed to enable reliable, production-scale marine electrification across a range of vessel types and operating environments.

For more information, visit photonmarine.com.

Contact:
Marcelino J. Alvarez
Co-founder & CEO
Photon Marine
marcelino@photonmarine.com

About the NSF Energy Storage Engine in Upstate New York

The NSF Energy Storage Engine in Upstate New York, led by Binghamton University, is a National Science Foundation-funded, place-based innovation program. The coalition includes over 60 academic, industry, nonprofit, government and community partners across Upstate New York, including Cornell University, Rochester Institute of Technology, Griffiss Institute, Syracuse University, Launch NY and NY-BEST.

The Engine works across research and development, technology translation and commercialization, workforce development, and test beds and infrastructure to accelerate the next generation of energy storage technologies and strengthen U.S. energy independence, economic competitiveness and national security.

Its mission is to establish Upstate New York as America’s battery technology capital, creating an internationally competitive ecosystem capable of developing, manufacturing and deploying energy storage technologies in the United States.

For more information, visit upstatenyengine.org.

Contact:
Fernando Gómez-Baquero, Ph.D.
Director of Translation
NSF Energy Storage Engine in Upstate New York
fernando@cornell.edu