The NSF Energy Storage Engine in Upstate New York has selected Portland, Oregon-based electric marine innovator Photon Marine to receive its inaugural $1 million MegaBoost award. It will put a production-grade electric workboat, a marine fast charger and a first-of-its-kind floating energy storage platform into service in New York State.    It follows a pilot in which a small leased workboat, fitted with electric outboards from Photon Marine has been quietly doing ordinary things on the New York State Canal System, including pulling buoys, towing dredge pipe and carrying crews out to job sites. All without burning fuel.    That boat, a leased hull fitted with electric outboards from Photon Marine, was a pilot project with the New York Power Authority and the New York State Canal Corporation. The crews wanted to know something practical. Not whether an electric workboat could exist, but whether it could get through a Tuesday. (29 Sep)   The NSF Energy Storage Engine says that the next chapter is considerably more ambitious.    Building on real-world operating experience from the pilot, Photon Marine will develop something American waterways have not yet had: a complete marine electrification ecosystem, with the boat, the charger and the energy storage all designed to work together.    The first piece of the ecosystem is the vessel: A 24-foot workboat equipped with Photon Marine’s Gen-7 P300 electric propulsion system, which delivers up to 300 peak horsepower.    The second piece is a 40-kilowatt marine DC fast charger, designed to support commercial, government and recreational vessels using New York’s waterways.    “This sounds mundane,” says the NSF Energy Storage Engine, but “it is arguably the most important part of the project. A boat without a charger is a boat with a deadline.”    The third piece of the ecosystem is the ChargeBarge: a 32-foot floating platform carrying battery energy storage and high-power charging equipment. Instead of requiring every dock and lock and boat launch to be wired for fast charging, the ChargeBarge moves the energy to wherever the work is happening.    It is designed to charge vessels directly, support fleets working far from shore power, serve temporary events, and potentially supply power during grid disruptions. It will be fabricated in New York State by Derecktor Shipyards.     “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.”