Does Buffalo's next boom run on clean energy?
Yesterday, we profiled Viridi, one of Buffalo’s most exciting cleantech wins. They are scaling fast, bringing a safe and reliable energy storage to a practically endless market. A bunch of people have some pretty cool jobs because of it, and some local investors stand to see significant returns in the not-so-distant future.
Viridi is just one in a cluster of cleantech companies growing across Western New York. We list a handful more below. And with climate change, energy dominance, and global competitiveness in the everyday conversation, Buffalo’s growth in the cleantech sector could be critical.
These companies aren’t thriving in Buffalo by happenstance. We offer a compelling business case that’s led many of them to start or relocate here.
We have that manufacturing heritage you so often hear about – a talent pool with excellence in manufacturing, engineering, and tech. Our positioning on the Great Lakes allows us access to 20% of Earth’s fresh water. We’ve been dubbed a potential refuge from climate change. And, when your business is about enabling or storing clean energy, you want your business powered by it as well. According to EPA eGRID data, Upstate New York has the cleanest electric power profile in the country. Hydropower accounts for 33% of our electric power profile, compared to 6% average nationally.
The Falls and those Great Lakes are more than just something nice to look at.
Now, about the companies leveraging those assets. Though this burgeoning cluster includes dozens, we chose five additional to profile below.
Electrovaya designs and manufactures high-performance lithium-ion batteries, with a focus on heavy-duty equipment like e-forklifts, e-trucks, and e-buses. The company is also developing next-generation solid-state battery technology. This publicly-traded Canadian company is headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario and chose Western New York for its first U.S. gigafactory in 2022. The 137,000-square-foot plant sits on a 52-acre campus near Jamestown and is powered by 100% renewable hydropower from Niagara Falls. The company plans to scale to 250 employees in Western New York.
Worksport manufactures solar powered truck bed tonneau covers and a portable power system that, together, form a “nano-grid”, making pick-up trucks able to power worksites, campsites, and…yes, tailgates. The company relocated its headquarters from Canada to Buffalo and has grown significantly since.
We recently hosted co-founder Steve Rossi on The Series B Podcast to discuss why Buffalo has been a perfect fit for Worksport.
In April 2026, Tesla announced that its Buffalo plant was focusing again on its solar business - producing solar panels and the latest generation of its electric vehicle superchargers. At the end of 2025, the company had over 2,000 employees at its Riverbend facility.
Stepwise is a clean energy startup making home electrification simpler and cheaper. Its flagship product is a dynamic load management device that lets homeowners add EV chargers, heat pumps, and other high-power appliances without expensive electrical panel upgrades by intelligently balancing energy use in real time. It’s a 43North portfolio company and landed a spot in the American Council on Renewable Energy's Accelerate.
CleanCapital is an independent power producer focused on distributed clean energy, developing, building, owning, and operating middle-market solar and energy storage projects across the country. They have several projects across Western New York, and just brought a 3.59 MW solar project online at Elk Street in downtown Buffalo. They have deployed over $1.5 billion in clean energy investments across their portfolio.
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