SustainX, Inc., a startup developing a new technology for utility-scale energy storage, has received a $5.39m award from the US Department of Energy (DOE).
The award will enable SustainX to develop its technology and eventually deploy a full-scale demonstration of its method for storing large amounts of energy using compressed air. The DOE- and SustainX-funded demonstration will culminate in the deployment of a 1 megawatt, 4 megawatt-hour system hosted at an AES Energy Storage LLC-affiliated site.
The DOE considers energy storage a crucial technology for the Smart Grid, the modernized version of the electrical grid that will be built over the next decade or two. The goals of the Smart Grid are higher efficiency, lower pollution, and lower cost.
The DOE award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Previously, SustainX received a Small Business Innovation Research grant from the National Science Foundation and venture capital funding from Polaris Venture Partners and Rockport Capital Partners.
The company was spun out of Dartmouth College last year and now employs 10 people at its site in West Lebanon, New Hampshire.
FinSMEs
26/11/2009