Photon Marine Receives $1M NSF Grant for Marine Electrification

BINGHAMTON, N.Y., Sept. 28, 2026 /CourierPR/ -- 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. 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.

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 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, the ChargeBarge will be fabricated in New York State by Derecktor Shipyards.

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.

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.

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.