Battery maker Inlyte Energy and developer CutPeak Energy have announced plans for an iron-sodium BESS of up to 80 MWh at Berkshire East Mountain Resort in Western Massachusetts. The project has been selected under the state's $40.3 million AMP Energy Storage Grant Program, and it is targeted to come online in 2028.
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Inlyte Energy, a US-based manufacturer of iron-sodium BESS, has announced plans with CutPeak Energy, a developer of storage projects at ski resorts, for a battery of up to 80 MWh at Berkshire East Mountain Resort in Western Massachusetts. The plan was made public on 1 October 2026. It is one of the two long-duration storage demonstrations that have been selected under the Healey-Driscoll Administration's $40.3 million Advancing Massachusetts Power (AMP) Energy Storage Grant Program.
Under the award, Inlyte will develop an iron-sodium battery system that is capable of delivering up to 80 MWh of stored energy, with an online date targeted for 2028. The project remains subject to final commercial agreements, financing and the customary development approvals.
The case for the battery rests on the resort's unusual energy profile. At Berkshire East, snowmaking can push electricity demand as high as 4 MW, but those peaks occur during only a small part of each year. The original project design had identified snowmaking as the resort's largest source of peak demand, and demand charges as its second-largest operating cost. A long-duration battery can therefore recharge during the long hours of low demand and then supply power through extended snowmaking runs. During a prolonged grid outage, it can also switch to the resort's critical loads, so that Berkshire East can continue to serve as a shelter, a warming centre and a staging site for emergency services.
The partners and the resort have made that case themselves. "Snowmaking is what keeps this mountain running in the winter, but it is also what drives our biggest electricity costs," said Andy Cornish, General Manager at Berkshire East. Ben Kaun, Chief Commercial Officer of Inlyte Energy, said that the project showed what becomes possible when the company's battery "does more than one job". Brett Miller, Chief Executive Officer of CutPeak Energy, said that the chemistry, which is built from iron and salt and mitigates fire risk, was an important consideration at a mountain that serves as a public recreation and community destination.
The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) will provide independent monitoring and verification, and it will share the lessons from Berkshire East for future long-duration deployments. For Inlyte, the project marks the next stage in scale. The company says that its projects with Southern Company and the University of California, Irvine, are advancing the field work on its batteries, and that Berkshire East will take the technology to a multi-megawatt scale.
Inlyte Energy has built its batteries from two simple ingredients, iron and salt, and it sells them to utilities, factories, data centres and other critical sites. Its partner, CutPeak Energy, helps ski areas put their spare grid capacity and flexible loads to work.