Wednesday, February 6, 2019
Ice Energy Completes First Phase Of Big Deployment
Costa Mesa-based Ice Energy, which develops energy storage technology based on storing energy for air conditioning in the form of ice, has completed the first phase of a big deployment for Southern California Edison (SCE), the company announced on Wednesday. According to Ice Energy, it has installed 100 of its "Ice Bear" units across SCE's service territory, the first stage of a 21.6 MW energy storage contract it has with SCE. The company says the first units have a total capacity of 1.9 MW. The contract ultimately calls for the installation of 1200 systems, according to Ice Energy. Ice Energy's energy storage devices are used to create ice during off-peak hours, which is then used to cool air and save the amount of energy needed in HVAC systems during the hottest part of the day The units currently are being installed at businesses, in part to help SCE reduce local energy demands during peak periods. The contract between Ice Energy and SCE provides those "Ice Bear" systems to businesses for free; those systems connect to standard 5-20 ton rooftop commercial AC units. The company says its systems use a "fraction of the energy required" to operate a traditional HVAC system. Ice Energy is venture backed by Argo Infrastructure Partners.