Ice Energy’s Ice Bear 30. Image courtesy of Ice Energy.
Ice Energy, a provider of distributed thermal energy storage solutions, recently announced that it has completed the first phase of what will be the largest installation of its Ice Bear systems in the US. The company secured a 21.6-megawatt energy storage contract with Southern California Edison (SCE).
Approximately 100 Ice Bear systems have been installed at businesses across SCE’s territory. The two-year deployment project will ultimately see more than 1,200 Ice Bears put into operation, providing the utility with greater flexibility to reduce electricity load during peak demand periods while delivering uninterrupted cooling to users.
Ice Energy’s contract with SCE enables qualifying Southern California businesses to receive free, fully-installed Ice Bears. The Ice Bear lowers electricity costs for businesses, while providing a solution to the problem of peak load management by connecting to one or more standard 5-20 ton rooftop commercial AC units and serving as a thermal battery. Ice Bears use standard tap water that is frozen at night when demand for power is low and electricity is abundant. The stored ice is then used during the high-demand period of the day to provide cooling, using a fraction of the energy required to operate a traditional HVAC system.
This storage project is supported through a sales agreement with Argo Infrastructure Partners LLC that was announced in June 2018. The strategic partnership calls for Argo to pay Ice Energy up to $40 million over a 2.5-year period, with a separate $20-million operating contract to extend over a 20-year period.
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