Kodak, the tech company best known for producing photographic film and imaging equipment, has inaugurated the Kodak Cell Assembly Center, a new facility aimed at accelerating development and scale-up of advanced batteries for energy storage.
A grand opening was held at the centre, which is at Eastman Business Park, Rochester, New York. The event was attended by officials from Kodak, formally trading as Eastman Kodak Company, with local and state representatives.
Also in attendance were representatives from New York’s public benefit economic development group, Empire State Development Corporation, which through a grant has funded US$1.2 million of the centre’s total cost of around US$5.9 million. The centre’s launch was announced at the beginning of this year.
Empire State Development CEO and Commissioner Howard Zimsky said the Assembly Center “further establishes New York as a world-class hub for energy storage and technology”.
Collaboration with NY BEST and DNV GL
Kodak has collaborated with trade group and technical development association NY BEST on the creation of the battery centre. NY BEST, in addition to being a trade association advocating for the views of its stakeholder members across the industry, is also heavily involved in technology commercialisation initiatives and has its own battery testing facilities.
Previously, the group has hailed the efforts of New York and in particular the administration of Governor Cuomo, who initiated New York REV, a wide-ranging grid modernisation and clean energy transition plan for the state. In a 2015 interview, NY BEST chief William Acker said REV (‘Reforming the Energy Vision’) could be a “valuable lesson” for the rest of the world, while the trade group has said that the state needs 2GW of multi-hour energy storage by 2025 and 4GW by 2030 to achieve its renewable energy target of 50% renewables by the latter of those two years.
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