The University at Albany Announces Key Capture Energy Joins START-UP NY Program

The Battery-Storage Developer Will Invest $250,000 to Establish Operations, Create 10 Jobs

Dan Fitzgerald, co-founder and chief development officer of Key Capture Energy, speaks at the KCE NY 1 Project groundbreaking on Sept. 26 in Stillwater, N.Y. Photo by Matt Grattan.

ALBANY, N.Y. (Oct. 9, 2018) – The University at Albany has announced that Key Capture Energy has joined the START-UP NY Program. The company, which is being sponsored by UAlbany, plans to invest more than $250,000 and create at least 10 jobs locally in the Tax-Free NY Area.

Originally based in Houston, Texas, Key Capture Energy will re-locate its headquarters to Albany, N.Y.
Key Capture Energy is an independent developer of utility-scale battery storage projects. The company identifies, prospects, develops and deploys energy storage applications which address:

• Wholesale market revenues
• Capacity
• Energy arbitrage
• Ancillary services
• Non-wires alternatives

Dan Fitzgerald, co-founder and chief development officer of the company and a UAlbany alum, said joining the START-UP NY Program will allow Key Capture Energy to contribute to the state’s economic development as well as its clean energy future.

“As a lifelong resident of New York State and a graduate of the state university system, I am pleased for Key Capture Energy to join START-UP NY in this endeavor,” Fitzgerald said. “In my career as a developer of renewable energy in New York, I’ve had the pleasure of harnessing clean energy resources within the state, and I look forward to the great opportunity to utilize the intellectual resources of the state university system.”

As a START-UP NY participant sponsored by UAlbany, Key Capture Energy will collaborate with faculty from the University to develop energy storage technology, and it will offer employment and internship opportunities for students, according to Matt Grattan, director of community and economic development at the University.

“Key Capture Energy’s partnership with UAlbany under the START-UP NY Program is a testament of our commitment to developing high-demand programs that grow companies with a strategy of hiring the University’s world-renowned faculty,” Grattan said. “We look forward to a long and mutually-beneficial relationship with Key Capture Energy.”

Key Capture Energy hired Ryan Andrews, a 2016 graduate of the University’s School of Business, following an internship this summer.

New York’s Largest Battery Storage Project

KCE will locate in other areas of the Capital Region outside of the Tax-Free NY Area, contributing to job creation. The company broke ground on its KCE NY 1 Project on Sept. 26, in Stillwater, N.Y. The event marked the start of construction of the largest lithium-ion battery storage project in New York State, according to Grattan.

“While this project falls outside of the approved tax-free area for Key Capture Energy, and will not receive tax benefits from other locations, the project demonstrates the significant economic impact and investment they are making in New York State,” he said.

Fitzgerald said the project is a “key part of the next generation of the New York electric grid,” saying the result of which will enhance the power grid’s performance and reliability with reduced carbon emissions, while promoting economic and job growth in upstate New York.

For more information, visit Key Capture Energy’s website.

For more news, subscribe to UAlbany's RSS headline feeds