SBIR Phase II: Pneumatic Energy Storage with Staged Hydraulic Conversion for Low Specific Cost Renewables Support

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). This Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project will develop and evaluate a Beta prototype 50 kW 300 kW-hr novel energy storage system. No current energy storage technology can provide low specific cost, high energy density, and long lifetime operation in the mid-capacity range (100kWh - 10 MWh). Particular opportunities exist with renewable energy providers (e.g., wind and solar), commercial & industrial consumers, as well as utilities for services such as capacity firming, consumption smoothing, energy arbitrage, and power regulation. SustainX intends to develop, manufacture and market a disruptive, cost-effective and scalable energy storage device that will serve as an enabling technology for the proliferation of alternative energy generation sources, such as wind and solar power. Having demonstrated technical feasibility through the Phase 1 & 1B effort, the company's Phase II effort will be dedicated to improving system round-trip efficiency, scaling the technology, and ultimately deploying a Beta system at a customer site. Low cost, long lifetime energy storage has the potential to broadly impact grid stability and reliability, commercial and industrial consumer energy costs, and renewable energy generator value and overall market penetration. As the penetration of wind increases due to renewable portfolio standards, rising fossil fuel costs, public sentiment surrounding climate change and other market pressures, the industry faces a number of challenges. These include, but are not limited to, intermittency of supply, errors in forecasting power production, increased regulation requirements, and transmission congestion. As wind becomes a larger percentage of the energy portfolio, these challenges are compounded. Energy storage has the potential to mitigate these integration issues, thereby allowing wind power to be utilized on a larger scale in a more economically-viable fashion. Specifically, wind generators will be able to use SustainX's energy storage technology to firm capacity, increase peak sales, and enhance ancillary service capabilities. Storage capacity therefore not only represents a significant value to current wind production, but should also be seen as an enabling technology that will allow the world to reach its near- and long-term energy management goals.