Start-up compresses air in tanks for energy storage
Date: 11/20/2009
Company: SustainX
Source: Cnet News
BOSTON–While hundreds of other companies are trying to make a better battery, start-up SustainX Energy Solutions is trying to find better ways to compress and store air to help utilities take full advantage of intermittent sources of energy like wind.
Dax Kepshire, president of SustainX, sketched out the company’s technology and product plans here Thursday at the Fifth Annual Conference on Clean Energy. SustainX was spun out of Dartmouth College last year and received $4 million in funding from Polaris Venture Partners and Rockport Capital in August of this year. It now has 10 employees.
There are already a few compressed-air facilities in the world where off-peak electricity is used to pump air underground for storage. During peak-demand times, the air is released and pushed through a turbine to make electricity.
It’s a method that’s getting more attention now as a way to store several hours worth of wind power, for example.