In The News

Investor owned utility selects PowerMarket to help implement their clean power program.

Released: June 15th, 2018
Details of this press release are pending the utility's approval.

U.S Department of Energy's Small Business Innovation Research Awards $1,000,000 to PowerMarket

Released: August 7th, 2017
BROOKLYN, New York - PowerMarket, a Brooklyn-based solar technology provider and member of business incubator ACRE at the Urban Future Lab (UFL) at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering, today announced it has been awarded $1,000,000 from the U.S. Department of Energy as part of the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II program. Building upon its successful Phase I application in 2016, PowerMarket will use this award to further the development of its community solar platform and fill in other gaps in the current green energy market.

PowerMarket' submission, titled "Middleware Oriented Community Solar Platform," aims to expand the maturity of the software and offer a more advanced product to utilities, developers, and energy retailers. PowerMarket will focus on expanding its advanced application programming interface (API) framework to better coordinate the complicated flows of data and to leverage complementary service providers and systems. As demand for community solar continues to grow nationwide, PowerMarket sees its Open Energy Platform™ as key to delivering this cost-effective clean energy product.

"Relative to the residential rooftop solar market, there is a dearth of useful software tools available to the shared renewables industry," said Eric Dahnke, founder and CEO of PowerMarket. "We couldn't be happier to collaborate with the Department of Energy to build these much needed tools to support the industry and drive commercial innovations in the shared solar market. The result will be lowered costs for community solar and other distributed solar models, which would unlock massive opportunities for the already strong renewable energy industry."

"This is the latest example of how ACRE is helping New York become a leader in the clean energy sector and finding innovative solutions to pressing energy challenges," said Pat Sapinsley, managing director of cleantech initiatives at the UFL. "This research award will help PowerMarket continue to offer intuitive software solutions aimed at helping the energy industry more efficiently implement and administer distributed generation programs and technologies."

Large investor owned utility selects PowerMarket in collaboration with 3Degrees Inc to help implement their community solar program.

Released: April 25th, 2017
Details of this press release are pending the utility's approval.

The PowerMarket Announces First Community Solar Project To Go Live In The Greater New York City Area.

Released: February 15th, 2017
BROOKLYN, New York - The PowerMarket, a platform and marketplace that allows households in the Greater New York City Area to participate in local community solar projects, announces the first ever project to go live in ConEdison service territory. Community solar allows individuals and businesses the ability to share in the benefits of solar with no upfront cost and without installing panels on their roof.

Over thirty households in Westchester have already signed up. "Through the PowerMarket, people save money on their monthly electricity bill while supporting renewable energy development in their communities," says Eric Dahnke, CEO and Founder of the PowerMarket. Customers can expect to see the benefits of participation in the project in March 2017.�

The PowerMarket is a product from PowerMarket Inc, a community solar solution provider and member of ACRE at the Urban Future Lab (UFL) at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering. ACRE is New York City's business incubator for smart cities, smart grid, and clean energy. UFL hosts several programs focused on educational, policy, and market solutions to the issues of sustainability.

"Initiatives such as the PowerMarket will help New York continue to be a place for pioneering energy solutions and a leader in the clean energy sector," said Pat Sapinsley, managing director of cleantech initiatives at the UFL. "The optimization of renewable energy distribution systems such as community solar will help reduce dependence on fossil fuels, remove barriers to renewable energy support and allow all individuals access to clean and local solar power.

The PowerMarket
The PowerMarket allows households and business to participate in local community solar projects. We provide customer acquisition, management and billing solutions for solar developers, community groups, and municipalities looking to develop community solar projects in their communities. The PowerMarket is a product of ProjectEconmics Inc, a provider of community solar solutions. They are based out of ACRE at the Urban Future Lab.

Large midwestern utility selects PowerMarket in collaboration with 3Degrees Inc to implement a new community solar program.

Contract Signed: Nov 15th, 2016
Details of this press release are pending the utility's approval.

Sunpower Corporation selects PowerMarket' Open Energy Platform™ to implement its community solar product offering.

Contract Signed: Oct 5th, 2016
Details of this press release are pending Sunpower's approval

ENGIE Retail LLC ("Think Energy") and PowerMarket partner to deliver one of the first community solar product offerings by a Retail Energy Provider.

Released: August 8th, 2016
Think Energy, the retail arm of Engie (formerly GDF Suez) has selected PowerMarket to help manage the delivery of its community solar product offering. The service coming online this fall will provide Think Energy customers in New England the ability to go solar without the need for panels on their roof. Instead customers subscribe to a portion of a larger commercial scale array and receive the benefits from that array credited directly to their monthly utility bill.

PowerMarket is deploying its best-in-class community solar platform to provide customers with an engaging community solar experience through an online portal. Customers will have access to a dashboard with details about their participation in terms of savings and environmental benefits, as well as receipt of monthly billing statements. In addition to providing a digital customer experience, PowerMarket will leverage its platform to help manage the backoffice fulfillment and billing of customers.

Think Energy will be employing two innovative community solar product designs. Along with a traditional community solar structure where solar benefits are realized as a discount on the utility bill, Think will also be employing a unique design where customers pay their normal utility bill and receive a separate check each month for their share of the generation benefits. Eric Dahnke of PowerMarket states, "We are thrilled to provide Think Energy with a management tool to give their customers a great solar experience, and excited to see this innovative community solar program model scale".

Department of Energy's (DoE) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) awards $150,000 to PowerMarket

Released: June 13th, 2016
PowerMarket, a startup in the NYU Tandon School of Engineering cleantech incubator NYC ACRE, has been awarded $150,000 from the DoE's Small Business Innovation Research Program. PowerMarket will use this award to expand on their existing community solar platform, developing a comprehensive solution for solar developers, community groups and households to participate in community solar.

PowerMarket submission, titled "Middleware Oriented Community Solar Platform", proposes to connect the disparate components of community solar into a more cohesive process. They look to do this by leveraging an API layer that allows larger entities to connect their existing IT infrastructure into the community solar management process. PowerMarket currently employs its platform in New York and Massachusetts, but looks to engage more households around the US with the next generation of its platform.

Founder and CEO Eric Dahnke said, "We're excited to work with the Department of Energy, and are happy that they recognize our platform as a way to help bring community solar access to more households around the country".

Awardees of SBIR's Phase I grant will be eligible to submit an application for SBIR Phase II, with a $1,000,000 award.

Part of NYU's Tandon School of Engineering, the Urban Future Lab (UFL) is New York City's hub for smart cities, smart grid and clean energy and hosts several programs focused on educational, policy and market solutions to the issues of sustainability. NYC ACRE is the City's premier cleantech business incubator, housed at UFL. ACRE supports innovative startups that provide solutions to our most pressing climate and energy challenges, all while creating green jobs in the New York area. ACRE is dedicated to growing an ecosystem of mission-driven start ups that advance the city as a role model for a low-carbon future. For more information on NYC ACRE, visit www.ufl.nyc , and on NYU Tandon incubators, visit:engineering.nyu.edu/business/incubators

PowerMarket Partners With Syncarpha Capital

Released: April 16th, 2016
PowerMarket, a startup in the NYU Tandon School of Engineering cleantech incubator NYC ACRE, has partnered with Syncarpha Capital to deliver the benefits of community solar toMassachusetts. Syncarpha's two megawatt solar array, to be located on a former quarry site in the town of Bolton in central Massachusetts, will provide approximately 150 households with the ability to participate in Massachusetts' community solar program. Syncarpha is developing subsequent arrays to expand the program and improve access to this innovative solar solution in Massachusetts, New York, and other community solar states.

"Community solar is a way for customers, who might not have suitable roof space on their homes or who don't not own their home, to take advantage of the benefits of solar" stated CliffChapman, Managing Partner at Syncarpha. "A large, community-based solar 'farm' provides the benefit of lower-cost large-scale construction and applies it to reducing the higher electricity costs of residential customers."

Using PowerMarket' software, Syncarpha's community solar subscribers will be able to engage with their local community solar array to track their savings and the environmental benefits. The solar project is expected to become operational in the fall, and subscribed customers will see credits on their electricity bills almost immediately. The program requires no capital investment from customers who, instead, will be provided with discounted credits that offset their utility costs for twenty years.

"Managing the electricity generation from a solar farm and delivering energy credits to hundreds of customers through their utility bills creates a plethora of challenges not present in rooftop solar" said Chris Barrett, Managing Director of PowerMarket. "Our platform is specifically tailored to navigate these issues and allows Syncarpha, as the solar energy provider to deliver community solar programs at scale to residential customers."

"We are delighted that PowerMarket, an ACRE company, is able to make community solara reality. Their innovative business model provides everyone with the choice to "go solar" whether they own a roof or not. It is creative business models like this that will help to democratize solar and deploy renewables more widely," said Pat Sapinsley, Managing Director of the ACRE incubator.

About Syncarpha
Founded in 2009, New York-based Syncarpha Capital is an investment company dedicated to developing, owning, and operating commercial and small-utility distributed generation solar photovoltaic ("PV") projects in North America. The company is committed to the widespread adoption of solar energy by utilities, commercial and government electricity buyers, as well as delivering community shared solar solutions for residential customers. Syncarpha works with a variety of organizations to finance and build on-site solar systems that reduce energy costs and ensure a cleaner, greener future. For more information, please visit www.syncarpha.com, and for more information about Syncarpha's community solar offerings, please contact communitysolar@syncarpha.com.

About the Urban Future Lab/ NYC ACRE
Part of NYU's Tandon School of Engineering, the Urban Future Lab (UFL) is New York City's hub for smart cities, smart grid and clean energy and hosts several programs focused on educational, policy and market solutions to the issues of sustainability. NYC ACRE is the City's premier cleantech business incubator, housed at UFL. ACRE supports innovative startups that provide solutions to our most pressing climate and energy challenges, all while creating green jobs in the New York area. ACRE is dedicated to growing an ecosystem of mission-driven start ups that advance the city as a role model for a low-carbon future. For more information on NYC ACRE, visit www.ufl.nyc, and on NYU Tandon incubators, visit engineering.nyu.edu/business/incubators

PowerMarket Partners With Sustainable Westchester

Released: March 25th, 2016
PowerMarket, a clean-tech start-up based out of NYU Tandon School of Engineering's ACRE incubator, has partnered with Sustainable Westchester to offer New York's first Community Choice Aggregation initiative, the Westchester Power Program, to provide competitively priced energy options for 20 municipalities around Westchester.

Using PowerMarket' software platform, Westchester Power will provide 120,000 people with affordably sourced electricity supply starting May 1st. More municipalities will have the opportunity to take advantage of the program in the future. As the program expands and awareness improves, Sustainable Westchester will be able to use the platform to offer their customers additional clean energy programs.

Westchester Power is an innovative community-based bulk energy purchasing program to lower costs and increase access to renewable energy. All eligible consumers within the 20 participating municipalities will be automatically entered into the program, creating significant purchasing power across the county. These customers will have the choice of opting for 100% renewable energy or New York's standard electricity mix. Both rates however will be lower than current rates, saving all participants money each month. PowerMarket will play a crucial roll in managing the program. "Westchester Power's Community Choice Aggregation program will provide thousands of customers with renewable energy supply, and create a fantastic opportunity to engage customers in ways utilities have been unable to do." said President and CEO Eric Dahnke. "We see Community Choice Aggregation as a path to allow New Yorkers a way to participate in other clean energy programs like community solar and energy efficiency".

About Sustainable Westchester
Sustainable Westchester is a membership organization with more than 85% of all Westchester municipalities participating, representing 800,000 county residents. The action group is designed to turn environmental challenges into opportunities to improve the quality of life, economy and future prospects of county citizens. For more information visit: www.sustainablewestchester.org. For more information on the Westchester Power Program, visit: www.westchesterpower.org.

About NYC ACRE
Part of NYU's Tandon School of Engineering, NYC ACRE is a business incubator for cleantech, smartgrid technology and sustainable, smart cities. It supports early-stage business ventures with innovative technologies and new business models for a greener, smarter and more connected world. NYC ACRE is uniquely poised to engage the next generation of engineers in the most pressing problem of the 21st century, climate change. It is located within the Urban Future Lab, an educational and policy hub where lectures, classes, and exhibitions take place. Since 2009, ACRE companies have created approximately 300 clean-economy jobs.